Esteban, you need to read the entire document you linked to. Those who have teaching authority in the Catholic Church (the Magisterium) had the duty to discern and define the sensus fidelium. Look at this quote from the document you linked to:

29. In every Christian who is seeking to be faithful to Christ and is fully incorporated into the life of the Church, there is a sensus fidei. This sensus fidei may be described as an active capacity for spiritual discernment, an intuition that is formed by worshipping and living in communion as a faithful member of the Church. When this capacity is exercised in concert by the body of the faithful we may speak of the exercise of the sensus fidelium.

Here's an even more powerful statement:

..a recognition that because of their baptism and their participation in the sensus fidelium the laity play an integral part in decision making in the Church (same document)

The Pope and the bishops cannot dictate doctrine - it flows from the faith of the people. This was defined very precisely in the Doctrine of Infallibility in the 1870's, but people shortcut past all the restrictions and explanations, and assume that the Pope is infallible in everything he says and does. There have been only two "infallible" statements from the Pope since the 1870's, and they both involved adding noncontroversial titles to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

There are lesser levels of doctrine that have been promulgated since 1870. In general, the faithful are also supposed to accept these teachings - but it is far from being a papal imposition of what Catholics are supposed to believe and not believe. All doctrine is supposed to flow from the faith of the people, this sensus fidelium.

Yes, there are many Catholics who have a limited amount of theological education, and they may see the Catholic Church as a monolithic, authoritarian structure that dictates what members must believe and what they must do. That view is NOT shared by most Catholic theologians. Bishops are managers, and they tend to take a more authoritarian view of their positions - but even they do not believe in a monolitihic church. The Catholic Church has had a long history of dissent, disagreement, and change. Institutions usually change very slowly, and with much discomfort - but they DO change, and the Catholic Church has changed and evolved radically through the ages.

We had our Call to Action Mass this morning, and it was wonderful - but it did not break as many rules as I thought it might. There was a celibate, ordained priest on the altar as the primary celebrant, and he was flanked by two women who read some of the prayers of the Mass. We all wore red to symbolize that we all share in priesthood through Baptism and we all were celebrating the Mass. We all recited the words of consecration of the bread and wine together. We had four processions with music and dance, and a wonderful dance with candles after Communion (to Peter Yarrow's Light One Candle).

So yeah, there were some things you might not see in an ordinary parish Sunday Mass, but it wasn't all that far from the norm. There were gays and lesbians, married (resigned) priests, at least one woman who had been excommunicated by her bishop, and all sorts of people with all sorts of disagreements with the Catholic Church. None were refused communion, but most Catholic parishes would not refuse them communion.

Esteban, you may say that "rules are rules," but there's also an opposite saying: "rules are made to be broken." The Catholic Church is not what it was 50 years ago, and certainly not what it was 500 or 1,000 years ago. It has changed - slowly, but radically. Those changes came about by evolution, by questioning, by adapting to local cultures, by the breaking of rules that no longer had relevance.

So, yes, Call to Action is Catholic, and our Mass was Catholic. We did spend some time at the conference talking about John Paul II and praying for him and for his successor. Here's the Call to Action press release about the death of John Paul II:

Catholic reformers reflect on Pope’s legacy and hope for future


“Death, even when long expected, always brings an element of sadness,” states Linda Pieczynski, national spokesperson for Call To Action (CTA), the nation’s largest Catholic reform group. “The members of Call to Action share with the rest of the Roman Catholic community a sense of loss with the passing of Pope John Paul II. There is also a sense that an era in Christianity has passed and the prospects and challenges of the twenty-first century now face us in a new way. With millions of other Catholics worldwide who continue to cherish the promise of the Second Vatican Council, Call to Action prays for prophetic leadership from Pope John Paul’s successor, the new bishop of Rome.


Uniquely prepared for the Papacy in the Post-World War II world, the deceased Pope has left an indelible mark on the history of recent decades. His uncompromising calls for justice and peace continued the tradition of Papal challenge to power and wealth; but within the Roman Catholic Church his reign was characterized by Vatican domination of Church government and procedure. In a time of frequent turmoil and uncertainty the Catholic Church has unquestionably been helped by his strength and deep personal piety, but some of its energy and creativity have also been limited by the authoritative culture of the Vatican during recent decades.


Our hope is that the guidance of God’s Spirit will lead the Papal conclave to elect a Pope with John Paul’s strength, with dedication to fulfilling the progressive mandate of Vatican II and with fearless openness to ‘the signs of the times’. As we bid farewell to Pope John Paul II, we rejoice with him, assured of his welcome into the unending life of resurrection.”


For a listing of local CTA chapter contacts, visit CTA’s website at www.cta-usa.org.


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Call To Action is the largest Catholic church reform group in the U.S., composed of 25,000 laity, religious, priests and bishops and 40 local chapters. It advocates reforms in the Catholic Church such as the ordination of women; optional celibacy for priests; change in birth control teaching; Church financial and leadership accountability; equality for homosexuals and minority groups; clergy sex abuse reforms; and focus on the church’s peace and social justice teaching. Their comprehensive web site is: www.cta-usa.org.