The short answer would be that God is the highest authority for the Church. Therefore, His word (which carries His authority) is the highest authority for the Church. Tradition has its place, of course. However, where that tradition contradicts the written word or is not present in that written word, it cannot be made dogma. I understand, of course, that Sacred Tradition in Catholic theology is God’s word. Any tradition would have to be verified as being that word or as having come from Christ or His apostles. There are some traditions that I do believe come from the apostles that are not present explicitly in Scripture (such as Mary’s ever-virginity), so I accept them. But I do not accept them as de fide revealed dogma.
What you have said is what the Catholic Church has been saying for almost two thousand years. The problem that many non-Catholics have is that they believe that the traditions were all made up later. Many also have warped sola scriptura to mean that ONLY the Scriptures contain the truths we need to achieve salvation.
Sola scriptura maintains that the Bible contains all the truths necessary for salvation. It can be used alone – sola scritura means “by Scripture alone”. Those who profess to sola scriptura often demand, therefore, that if something is not contained within the Bible, it is not the Word of God. But that is not a good interpretation of sola scriptura.
But to be clear, sola scriptura does not deny that other authorities govern Christian life and devotion. It simply views other sources as subordinate to and corrected by the written Scriptures. It dictates that where written scripture and traditions do not agree, the written scripture is to be followed.
You say “where that tradition contradicts the written word” and I challenge you to give examples of Sacred Traditions that contradict the written word (but I remind you that you need to refer to the Catholic Bible, not the King James Version as the Catholic Bible is the version of the Sacred Scriptures used by the Catholic Church).
You also say “where that tradition … is not present in that written word” To that I say that this is why it is called “tradition” – because these are things that have been handed down by word of mouth.
The written Scriptures specifically mention handing things down by word of mouth. In 2 Thes 2:15, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by
word of mouth or by letter.” And in 1 Thes 2:13, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the
Word of God which you
heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
Both of these written Scriptures say that we need to follow the oral traditions and accept them as the Word of God. If you believe in sola scriptura, then you HAVE to believe that the oral traditions are also the Word of God. The Bible tells us so.
But, does the Catholic Church deny sola scriptura?
There is a very interesting article on the Catholic Church and its belief in traditions as well as Scriptures specifically regarding sola scriptura. The article supports substantial portions of what you said. The article can be found at
catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6804
The article details, among other things, the idea that Catholics can embrace much of Sola Scriptura. It says:
“One of the principal architects of
Dei Verbum [Vatican II] was the French theologian Yves Congar, who thought Catholics could acknowledge a substantial element of truth in sola scriptura.”
“He wrote that ‘we can admit sola scriptura in the sense of a material sufficiency of canonical Scripture. This means that Scripture contains, in one way or another, all truths necessary for salvation’ (Tradition and Traditions, 410).”
For those Catholics reading this who are saying “WHAT!!!”, think about it. The idea of sola scriptura is that the Scriptures contain all the truths necessary for salvation. Why wouldn’t they? Nothing found in Catholic teachings suggests that the truth found in the written Scriptures is incomplete. So, by logic, if we believe that the truth found in the Scritures is complete, we have embraced the basic premise of sola scriptura.
But we also understand that sola scriptura does not exclude the possibility of other sources. Sola scriptura does not exclude the truth of Sacred Traditions. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not understand the basic premise of sola scriptura.
This idea that Catholics can acknowledge substantial elements of truth in sola scriptura does not mean that Catholics do not believe in traditions. The article also states:
“Scripture and Tradition would not be two sources containing different material but two modes of transmitting the same deposit of faith” and that both “the decrees of Trent and Vatican II allow Catholics to hold the two-mode idea.”
So, in other words, a Catholic believes in substantial elements of truth in sola scriptura by believing that the scriptures contain all the truths necessary for salvation. But, we also believe the Sacred Traditions also contain the truths needed for salvation. We do not see these as mutually exclusive but rather we see them as two different ways of presenting the same truth.
