Suibhne O'Piobaireachd.... your post about Joe Offer strains my resolve not to get into name calling myself! Can't bother to deal with the details of well thought out opinions, huh? Just make nasty remarks instead!
   I don't always agree with the fine points of everything Joe says, (as I note below), but he cares, tries and is decent...and I'd rather 'discuss' with him than listen to your one-sided bloviations, even if I agreed with you. If you can't talk without insults, why should anyone listen?


So, Joe...*grin*...you said:

"But Catholic teaching does not require uniformity on most issues, despite the simplistic teaching you'll hear from the conservatives."

Somewhere above, I said "... various church leaders do not bother to clarify that, and many of their followers rely on their opinions as if they were official pronouncements. (And I seldom see those leaders disavowing the idea.)

   These are the 'conservatives' you refer to, and these days they are active in many religions. It seems to me that Catholics, just like other groups, don't go out of their way to remind their parishioners that "uniformity is not required". It is MUCH easier to conduct things when you don't get alternate opinions from below.
It seems to me that those who have a need for religious structure in their lives, but who reject authoritative hierarchies, are the ones who end up in Humanist or Unitarian groups...or splitting off from some main group to form their own sect...which then becomes 'authoritative' about its own small details. (Emo Phillips joke routine about Lutheran synods comes to mind)

(note... I am just brainstorming here. This is a really knotty subject, and obviously, there are no easy ways to decide what makes the most sense...on either side.)