Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

Can the church confess error? Will it ever do so? If so, how? Those were the questions Commonweal put to the four distinguished scholars and authors whose responses follow. It is increasingly apparent that the question of how doctrine can change or develop lies behind the most neuralgic conflicts facing the church today, most prominently the church’s teachings on contraception and the ordination of women. Traditional notions about the development of doctrine are obviously an...

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