Welcome Candor From the US Bishops’ Conference, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Nov 16, 2023

As the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) wraps up its meeting in Baltimore, I see two encouraging signs.

First, the American bishops joined with the bishops of England and Wales in asking Pope Francis to name St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. Could any plea be more timely? At the Synod on Synodality, delegates stumbled through a morass of confusion about development of doctrine: a topic on which Newman’s treatment is masterful.

Calling attention to Newman, by proclaiming him a Doctor of the Church, would mean calling attention to his clear explanation that Catholic doctrine develops the way any other living thing develops: by growing, by maturing, by sending out new branches. But doctrine never develops by becoming something else. (Nor do people: another point on which 21st-century sophisticates need a reminder.) …

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