kehoea's comment in this thread. So it's here instead: So? The Catholic Church is not a democracy,
It's not and it is... the pastor in the parish I grew up in used to impress upon us all the time that "the church" wasn't the building we met in[1], it wasn't the hierarchy of bishops and the Vatican in Rome, it was us. None of the rest of it meant a damn if it weren't for the lot of us who believed and belonged.
Thehierarchypatriarchy can be forced to respond to the people it looks after. When the patriarchy is wrong, they need to be told so, progressively more loudly the longer they ignore it. That's what finally got the Church in America to get off its ass on pervert priests. From the look of things, Rome was not pleased, and would have much preferred to keep sweeping them under the rug. But we'd made enough noise here they could no longer ignore our concerns. (It warmed my heart to see the bishop who celebrated my confirmation mass standing front and center, politely but firmly, leading the charge.)
If we're the Church, then it's our responsibility to force it to change. So we're open to criticism if we're not pushing the patriarchy hard enough to G3T IT R1TE on sexuality, contraception, and homosexuality.
[1] He always referred to it as the "worship center", both verbally and in print.
