E
exnihilo
Guest
I’m a firm believer in the truly free market and a very minimal government. In studying the Catholic Church I’ve not found that its Social Justice teachings are incompatible with my beliefs. It seems to me the Church does not generally teach how something must be accomplished, rather it teaches principles.
But the most important thing I’ve learned in studying the Church is that you must understand what it means to say the ‘Church teaches’. Any one individual, whether they be lay or clergy, can teach that something is what the Church teaches. That does not make it so. What the Church teaches transcends individuals and points in time. In a way I can’t tell you how to know what the Church teaches. I mean by that I can’t describe, or at least fully, the means by which you know it. I do however believe you can know what the Church teaches. You can read the Catechism, councils, Papal documents etc. The more you read the better you understand the principles being taught.
You might compare it to law of the state. And I’m not an attorney, but know a bit about the law. How would you know the law? Would you ask a police officer? They might claim to know the law but that does not make it so. Would you consult the statutes? That will teach you something about the law, but many of those laws will no longer have force because courts have invalidated them. You can read judicial opinions. That will tell you quite a bit. But you have to read all the opinions to know all of the law. And many opinions are themselves invalidated by later court rulings. To really understand any of this you have to know the terms of art for law.
The bottom line is it sounds to me like this RCIA leader went too far in proclaiming what the Church teaches. Study the issue more on your own and I don’t think you’ll find your beliefs are incompatible.