Of course we pick out the useful bits of Aquinas!

what virtue would there be in picking out the useless bits.

the most brilliant nicking of ideas came in James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist where he nicks all of Aquinas's take on the nature of reality to make a theory of aesthetic appreciation.

What I was saying, Ake, was that theres no real shortage of reasoning in the Catholic faith. ( I wasn't insulting you - I don't do stuff like that)

However you DO need to be equipped with the strength of mind to say - I'm sorry mate (to the Pope) the actual conclusion that you have drawn from all this reasoning, is total bollocks. God would not want me to act like an idiot, so somewhere along the line, you've got the sums wrong.

however the beauty of Aquinas's thought processes is something we can all enjoy. You don't have to be a nun whipping herself, and going shagless and believing that the moon is made of green cheese to appreciate it.