I think it's significant what Fr. Fenton writes in his article on the weight of the theological manuals:
http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/vatican2/Manuals.htm
"What seems to displease Father Baum is the fact that the unanimous teaching of the scholastic theologians in any area relating to faith or morals is the teaching of the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Church. The manuals, like those to which we have referred, are books actually used in the instruction of candidates for the priesthood. They are written by men who actually teach in the Church's own approved schools, under the direction of the Catholic hierarchy, and ultimately, through the activity of the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, under the direction of the Sovereign Pontiff himself. The common or morally unanimous teaching of the manuals in this field is definitely a part of Catholic doctrine.
It is quite obvious that the individual opinions of individual authors do not constitute Catholic doctrine, and could not be set forth as such. But there is a fund of common teaching (like that which tells us that there are truths which the Church proposes to us as revealed by God, and which are not contained in any way within the inspired books of Holy Scripture), which is the unanimous doctrine of the manuals, and which is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. The unanimous teaching of the scholastic theologians has always been recognized as a norm of Catholic doctrine. It is unfortunate that today there should be some attempt to mislead people into imagining that it has ceased to be such a norm in the twentieth century."
Of course YOU think it's "significant" ... because you imagine that it backs your support of BoD. Yeah, that's what Bellarmine thought too about the Augustinian problem cited above (did you even bother reading it?). It's also significant that this "Father Baum" also disagrees with Fenton's hyperbole. Theologians are not part of the
Ecclesia Docens and enjoy only the same infallibility as the
Ecclesia Credens. Indeed the
Ecclesia Credens cannot defect when it comes to dogmatic truth, but there's nothing to prevent an erroneous opinion from becoming widespread.
So, do you accept the teachings of Vatican II? In that case, it was the bishops of the world -- who actually ARE the
Ecclesia Docens -- who taught Vatican II to the Church. So those things taught by the
Ecclesia Docens to the Church in Ecuмenical Council can be rejected by you as not being part of Catholic doctrine while the theology manuals must be accepted as such?
Topic: The Theologians (Read 4319 times)