Can a Catholic Be Catholic and Disagree with Church Teaching?

This is a follow up to the idea that voting for a candidate who fails to live up to the Catholic ideal is a mortal sin.

I spent the first five years of my marriage completely eschewing church. I was pretty happy with my Mass-less schedule. My husband was in grad school and Sunday was the one day when I could generally rely on him being there when I woke up. Grad school is a bear. Going to mass was a really low priority. We decided when our kids came along that we would NOT baptise them and I think that was correct- we didnt baptise them because we had no intention of bringing them up Catholic.

I guess around 5 or 6 years ago a friend told me I was the most Catholic non practicing Catholic she knew. After all, I was born and raised Catholic and had happily walked away from the church. I was pretty convinced during that time that i'd never really be a Catholic again. Still, I was somewhat fascinated with Catholicism on an academic level and spent a lot of time investigating the Church's teachings- especially the ones which seemed most annoying to me.

I found a level of logic which surprised me. I gained a respect for the logic and scholarship of the Church. And I grew more comfortable with the more irritating aspects of the faith as I became aquainted with the reason behind the teachings.

Our kids were finally baptized a year or so ago, having been back in church for a number of years. Maybe 5ish years.

We don't rush things around here.

The question is, can I continue to stubbornly disagree with church teaching and still be a Catholic. The answer is no. You can't either.

However, you can submit to church teaching without agreeing wholeheartedly. You can accept the church's teaching without agreeing wholeheartedly. How?

It's pretty simple.

All you have to do is acknowledge that you are at point A while the Church is at point B.

And then realise that you, one small person, with the brain of an ant, are no match for the great theologians of the Church.

You can merely hope to gain enough understanding via educating yourself to get 1/2 way to where the Church is.

And you get the rest of the way there through prayer. Glory Be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, Amen.

Meanwhile, you can still love the gays, vote for Obama, and probably even watch Desperate Housewives. God can work on you during the commercials.

You may not be the perfect Catholic if you struggle to conform to the teachings of your church but the good news is those who find it easy to conform to the teachings and "rules" of the church may find it really REALLY tough to fulfill the rest of the teachings of Jesus. But everyone who tries is Catholic. Or maybe catholic. And none of them are any better than the others.