The Authority of the Church?

I like to read Terry Nelson's blog, Abbey-Roads: I find it thought provoking and enlightening. Today he talked about the SCOTUS decision: here is what he said: "Reading other blogs and commentators, I'm struck by how not a few Catholics seem to believe Church teaching on sexuality and marriage must change - in fact, they predict it will change. They refer to the hierarchy as the old men in the Vatican with outmoded ideas and morality. They say that Church teaching is too negative, too prohibitive, and so on...". He quotes Matthew as bringing him solace: "... due to the increase of evil, the love of many will grow cold." Matthew 24:12.

A reader made this comment which really struck a chord for me:

Church teaching is not a "suggestion." Church authority is not a mere "guide" that you can choose to agree with or not to agree with. Infallible Church teaching, such as that which concerns what a human person is and what he is made for (which is ultimately the question regarding marriage), is something one either accepts as true or not. May one have, as Newman said, difficulties with it? Of course. But a thousand difficulties does not make one doubt.

I suppose you need to ask yourself what you really believe. Is the Church the Body of Christ? Does she speak for Christ here on earth, or not? If the answer is "yes" for both, it is not possible to disagree with her teachings, since her teachings are the teachings of Jesus Christ.

If the answer is "no" then I would say you are probably wasting your time claiming to be a Catholic. For if the ultimate authority on right and wrong is not the Church, but rather oneself, then there is no need for Church teaching, or the Church, or belief in God at all.

Dear God, have mercy on us all as we struggle to live in this secular and hateful age.