From Bishop Konderla's column in the September 2025 issue of the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic Magazine.

This question has nothing to do with the Church’s teachings about Elon Musk’s social platform X, formerly known as Twitter. But it is a question that the followers of Jesus naturally have. After all, his disciples were often asking him questions and often misunderstanding his answers.

The “X” in the question may come from our own ignorance about something that the Church teaches. Take for example, the ever-changing landscape of technology. As new inventions arrive, we naturally wonder what does our Church teach about “X”? The “X” could be Artificial Intelligence (AI), some new medical treatment, some new political initiative, or some aspect of popular culture.

In all of these instances our question represents something we want to learn more about. Fortunately, today we can find trusted sources like the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church online. These would be our first resources because they come from and represent what we call the Apostolic Tradition meaning those teachings that we must believe as part of our faith. Another great source for learning the teachings of the Church are the faithful men and women of all times, theologians, philosophers, Church leaders, saints and mystics, and others who have written about the Christian life and how the faith applies to it.

But sometimes the “X“ is a doubt we have about some teaching of the church. We may know on some level what the teaching is, but we don’t want to believe it or accept it. It may come from our own life and a struggle that we are having with something the Church teaches. The Catholic who is not struggling with some aspect of Church teaching is probably not paying close attention because we are all sinners and the command from the Lord is to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:48) This means that probably no one lives their life without some difficulty with Church teaching at least in practice if not in belief.

On the other hand, sometimes the “X” comes from questions that people ask us or even from something we know the Church teaches, but we don’t want to believe because we find that in our own life, it seems impossible to live it.

In such cases, it is important to remember that the Church we are referring to when we ask, “what does the ‘Church’ teach about some topic, is not ours, but His. We did not invent the Church, and we did not will it into existence. The Catholic Church exists by the will of Jesus Christ and through the action of the Holy Spirit. It is His desire and command that the Church “make disciples of all nations and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

When the Church teaches on matters of faith and morals, her teaching is that of Jesus Christ, not her own. (Lumen Gentium 25) It is Jesus who invests the leaders of the Church, the pope and the bishops of the Church, with His authority. He is the author of the Church and her teaching, and He has author’s rights. The leaders of the Church do not have the right nor the responsibility to change the teaching of the Church, but rather to guard it and to expound it and to apply it to the changing circumstances of the world.

Sometimes what the Church teaches is easy for us to understand, accept, and live. But sometimes the Church may teach something with which we disagree or struggle to live. When that happens, the temptation is to separate the Church from Jesus and imagine that since it is only the Church and thus just “the teaching of men,” we can treat her teaching as merely another opinion.

I say this is a temptation because it is not necessary to go down that path. The Church's teaching represents something good that God wishes to give us. We may not be able to see or understand how that could be the case if for example, the teaching is something we struggle with or disagree with, but then, the disciples who traveled with the Lord also sometimes refused to accept or understand what he was trying to teach them. Nonetheless, it is true that many of the good things that God wishes to give us do not appear to us to be good because of our fallen nature. 

In such cases rather than rejecting the teaching of the Church, or making up our minds that we will not obey, we can trust the love and the mercy of God and his patience with us and continue down the path of conversion that every single person who lives is traveling. The sign posts along that path include further study of what the Church actually teaches, and why, the frequent use of the sacraments such as the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation, conversations with faithful Catholics, including the reading and listening of many faithful teachers of the Church and praying that God will give us wisdom and knowledge, counsel, and fortitude, all gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can reply to Jesus as did the doubting father of a possessed boy who was not sure Jesus could heal his son, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mk 9:24)