Offshoot discussion of "what religion are you" thread

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Just something on a religious note:

In the gay thread, in reference to rejection of Church teachings on sexual matters, I said (with the support of our illustrious Fiery Maia ):

And, really, it all depends on how you define "Catholic". Catholicism is definitely not inherent; it is not a cultural thing. "Catholic" in the sense we mean it is a religious term. How would it be defined? It seems to me that the logical definition would be someone who believes in the Catholic Church. If one believes in the Catholic Church, then one believes her teachings; for how can you believe in something which claims that it has infallible truth, if you don't believe it? Really, disbelieving any dogma of the Church is to reject the Church itself; for it presumes that this central teaching is false; or so it seems to me. And while I'm sure atheists, Protestants, etc. think it is a good thing to disbelieve the Catholic Church (to some degree), disbelieving a Catholic dogma is disbelieving the Catholic Church. So, really, it seems to me that the Catholicity of one who doe so is suspect. Of course, I'd be very open to any thoughts on this.

I just found by coincidence an interesting quote on this matter:

It suffices to deny one divinely revealed truth of the Catholic Faith to become a heretic and place oneself outside the Church (St. Thomas Aquanis, Summa Theologica II, II, Q 5, Art. 3.).