At Religion Dispatches, Patricia Miller has an interesting take on Ross Douthat's recent temper tantrum regarding the synod on the family's willingness (initially) to entertain discussion of welcoming gay folks and permitting divorced and remarried folks to receive communion. As she notes, Douthat argues that church teaching on these matters is locked in, unchangeable, quasi-infallible (if not outright infallible). And to change a jot or tittle of any of the teachings about marital matters would be to cause the whole Catholic edifice to fall to the ground.
