Hi,
First of all, when asking a question here you are not writing titles. Just write the question as you would anywhere else. Capitalizing all of the words makes the sentences very difficult to read.
The Catholic Church is all about truth. If a Catholic theologian is concerned about truth, then he will first of all submit all his work to the teaching authority of the Church which it receives from our Lord, Himself. Do you really think that St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas considered themselves laboring under the shackles of intellectual restraint? St. Thomas actually used pagan philosophy to explain Catholic teaching. Nothing is so freeing as submitting to the Lord—and he knew this well. It takes faith to be really open to the truth. We are not about ourselves; we are all about Him.
Theologians are free to speculate privately, but they are obliged to write and speak responsibly before those who do not have their intellectual background and might misunderstand them. There is no tension here for those who are not full of themselves.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
