“No, progressives don;t want merely to develop doctrine, they want to change it ”

You can;t know what isn't true. So you can;t know that progessive Catholics think doctrinal development aims to reverse [Church] teaching.

Take the example of capital punishment. I don’t know anyone who would contest that the Church has taught that capital punishment is allowed in some cases. We also teach that Jesus was a victim of capital punishment. It is not hard to imagine that Jesus on the Cross might inspire the Church to repudiate the way he was killed, ie oppose capital punishment. This would change Church teaching on capital punishment because there is an implicit conflict that has not yet been resolved. Development would lead to abrogation of “settled” teaching. 
That has not happened yet, and may never, but I am pretty sure Newman allowed for that type of change.

Labels: moderation: safe