Are Catholics bound to believe what the Church teaches in its Catechism of the Catholic Church?
What is the status (within the Church) of Catholics who reject the Catechism of the Catholic Church in whole, in part, or with regard to certain issues?
WRS
There are a certain subset of items that appear in the Catechism that are binding on all Catholics, but not the entire Catechism.
If they reject a truth that is binding upon all Catholics, then I suppose they are in schism, or not in union, with the Holy See. If they bring scandal on the Church as a result, or obstinately persist in heresy, they may be subject to sanctions through the Church’s legal process.
Are these items identified as such? Where in the Catechism are they?
Thanks!
WRS
First, we need to understand what the Catechism is–a teaching document, not a proclamation of the Magesterium. As such, it attempts to present the basic teachings of the church on a wide range of topics, mostly focussing on salvation (including the beliefs about the historic actions of God and sacramentology) and ecclesiology. There are statements regarding morality, Canon Law, and other topics, but they are brief and rarely fully developed. (Actually, none of the Cathechism is “fully developed,” which is why every paragraph has one or more footnotes.)
As such, it is vetted pretty thoroughly to avoid error, but any such brief description on any topic is liable to be incomplete and open to a certain amount of interpretation. To understand what the church “really” teaches (and what belief is required to remain in communion), one needs to read all the documents the footnotes reference. Among those references, declarations by the Councils need to be accepted, Encyclicals and Bulls need to be treated with the utmost respect (but may not carry the same weight as Conciliar pronouncements) and the treatises of theologians or sermons of various popes and church leaders need to be heeded, but may not carry the same weight as Encyclicals.
There is no nice graph showing what one “must believe” because there are topics addressed in the Catechism on which the church has not made dogmatic pronouncements.
Thanks!
How would a Catholic or even non-Catholic know which beliefs are binding on them and which are not?
An example: from what I have heard and noticed on Relevant Radio (a Catholic station) in the Chicagoland area, all Catholics must oppose abortion. A Catholic who supports abortion is in sin. However, the same does not extend to war. The Vatican came out strongly against the operations in Iraq and many Catholics agree with the Vatican. But pro-war Catholics are not believed to be in the same degree of sin (or to be in any degree of sin) as pro-abortion Catholics are. So, how would someone know that a Catholic must oppose abortion but may or may not support military operations? (One very telling thing is that Relevant Radio never refers to operations in Iraq as occupation, invasion, oppression on Iraq; they do, however, call it a liberation of Iraq. Usually Relevant Radio stands strongly in agreement with the Vatican.) What other issues like this are there?
WRS
Most of the distinctions are identified in the Conciliar pronouncements. Many are described in Canon law. (Since it is unlikely that the typical Catholic will be up to date on all aspects of Canon Law and every Conciliar document produced, the bishops of most countries provide synopses on hot topics of the day that are often distributed to the people in the pews.) An example of the church dealing with the specific issue you raised can be found in the letter (then-)Cardinal Ratzinger sent to Cardinal McCarrick clarifying the stand of the church regarding abortion, war, and receiving Communion. It does not mention the specific proclamations of the Magisterium, but it does refer to Canon Law in several places: Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion. General Principles.
In the U.S., such declarations would be prepared and distributed by the National Council of Catholic Bishops.
Thank you so much, tomndebb! You rock.
WRS