jsage's Blog

Many Catholics don't believe in all the teachings of their church, but they still have the right to call themselves Catholic.

Hopefully, Catholics aren't so narrow-minded that they would be persuaded to vote for someone based on their profession of being Catholic. But if they were inclined to vote that way, they wouldn't vote for a Catholic that didn't adhere to the teachings of the church. So if that's a strategy to get the Catholic vote, it's a pretty poor one.

The truth is if you don't believe in all the teachings of the Catholic church you or not a Catholic so you don't have the right to call yourself one.

So SoiuxMe, None of the doctrinal beliefs of the Catholic Church have changed in 2000 years, the Councils you point to both led to much confusion over the the proper way to express our beliefs, and some liberal-leaning well-meaning people went overboard with personal agenda to change the Church.
For instance though it was stated that eating meat on Fridays(a day of Penance, to remember the crucifixtion), was no longer necessary, it was often blown out of proportion to where some even said Penance was no longer necessary.
All Vatican II really did was turn the priest around to face the congregation, and have him speak in English(or the local vernacular), and re-arrge the furniture, many thought they could take out the kneelers, and this just isn't so.
But the Church does teach that once you are a Catholic you are always a Catholic unless you send them a statement that effectively, excommunicates yourself and denies the teachings of the Church. So if a fallen away Catholic ever wants to come back, all he has to do is go to confession, and make a thorough, general confession, with intent to repent and turn away from sin, and try to start fresh with Christ's help and forgiveness.

to get to Heaven, of course.

If you're trying to make a political comparison, there are a lot of people that call themselves Republican or Democrat but don't believe in all the "doctrines" of their party. There are a lot of pro-life Democrats that don't believe in gay marriage, and there are a lot of pro-abortion Republicans, and some of them are gay.