Thank you for your perspective and insights, which for me are invaluable. What is really sad is that those Catholics who "disagree" with Church doctrine and teaching are not Catholics at all as much as they might protest that they are.

This year our parish has moved me from teaching Bible Studies to the Fundamentals of Our Faith. While I thought I had a good grasp on the tenents of Catholicism, I am gaining so much more, with the realization that our connection to God cannot be from the Bible alone; nor from our own opinions on ethics and morality.

The Church exists to teach, govern, and sanctify souls. This is something we cannot do as individuals, as you so clearly articulate. It takes the hierarchy, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to keep us all on the path to our eternal end (God willing, in Paradise).