have you ever noticed that most Protestants carry their Bibles into church ?That is because we want to check what the scripture says against what we are being told..
How do you check what the pope says to see if it is true?
I don't know about others but I don't check it. It would be a waste of time.
You know the answer to that one.
It follows that the Church is essentially an unequal society, that is, a society comprising two categories of per sons, the Pastors and the flock, those who occupy a rank in the different degrees of the hierarchy and the multitude of the faithful. So distinct are these categories that with the pastoral body only rests the necessary right and authority for promoting the end of the society and directing all its members towards that end; the one duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock, to follow the Pastors. [emp. mine]
All that we do [as must be patent enough now] is to submit our judgment and conform our beliefs to the authority Almighty God has set up on earth to teach us; this, and nothing else. Absolute, immediate, and unfaltering submission to the teaching of God's Church on matters of faith and morals-----this is what all must give.. Henry G. Graham, "What Faith Really Means", (Nihil Obstat:C. SCHUT, S. T.D., Censor Deputatus, Imprimatur: EDM. CANONICUS SURMONT, D.D.,Vicarius Generalis. WESTMONASTERII, Die 30 Septembris, 1914 ); http://www.catholictradition.org/Tradition/faith2-10.htm]
The people at my church sure do. We follow along with what he is preaching from.