How to Be a Dissenting Catholic

I was not raised to believe that being Catholic means strict belief--not just adherence, but belief--in a multifarious set of doctrines. Coming up, I saw faith as more about how you live: you struggle to attain the best, understanding that you might sometimes fail, but always examining your life for how you can love others more and avoid things that are bad for your soul. I've learned, though, that some Catholics see the faith as measured by opinions and as being all-or-nothing: you may love the Sacraments and share all you have with the poor, but if you believe birth control is okay, woe to you: you are not "really" Catholic.

But I learned this week that the magisterium does permit dissent when a person's conscience permits nothing else. (And whatever you may think about the modern divinity schools, no, this was not the first thing we learned about the magisterium.) Here's a quote from the New Dictionary of Theology, believe you me, not a radical text:

To give the required "religious submission" to such ordinary [i.e., non-infallible] papal teaching means to make an honest and sustained effort to overcome any contrary opinion we may have, and to achieve a sincere assent of our mind to this teaching. It is possible that people who have made such an effort, still find that doubts about its truth remain so strong in their minds that they cannot actually give their sincere intellectual assent to it. Since such people have done all that they were capable of doing towards achieving assent, one cannot judge such non-assent or internal dissent, to involve any lack of obedience to the magisterium.

So if you've tried to understand and accept the teaching, but in good conscience can't, you've done your best as a Catholic. Better than most, I would add, who accept doctrine from the Church or their political party or Britney Spears without ever weighing the dissenting voice or the reasons behind it. An important corollary to this message is the fact that not everything the Pope or bishops say is infallible: only some very solemn things, and believe me, you'll hear about it. Can you imagine the poor Pope if the case were otherwise? A Cardinal cuts you in the coffee line and you say "Angelo, you're such a jerk?" Branded forever!

Here are the guidelines we were taught for good dissent.

To arrive at a conclusion:

• Study and understand the issue: its historical and Scriptural background, relation to other Church teaching, and present implications.
• Pray over the doctrine.
• Consult members of the Church who exhibit exemplary lives and trustworthy opinions. (I have never felt so secure in my support for women's ordination as the day my exemplary and trustworthy grandmother agreed that "it would be okay.")
• Weigh the arguments, preferring the few and serious to the many and frivolous;
• Live your decision connected to the Spirit and remaining open to change.

To live your dissent well:

• Decide whether your dissent will be public or private and internal, and know your reasons.
• Have serious reasons for your dissent.
• Show respect for the Church teachers and their role.
• Avoid causing scandal to those less informed about the matter. (The Church often references the possibility of causing scandal, and I think it's a very important criterion. The root of the word "scandal" means a stumbling block. Sure, the Church is concerned about looking bad, but not for image's sake alone: it's because if you believe that to be a part of the Church is good, as I do, then providing people unnecessarily with cause to run away from the Church is wrong. Showing dissent without showing that you still love the Church and that the bishops have their reasons for what you do can be just such a rock to trip on.)

These guidelines have been taken from Authority in the Church by David Stagaman by way of a class handout, provenance upon request. I'm trying to be conscientious about sources without causing any unsought publicity. We do live in suspicious times.

Within the Catholic Church, you see, can be found a holy way to do anything--even to disagree.