The Nature of Change

    It has been said that change is good.  In actuality, the abstract idea of change cannot be judged to be good or bad.  Only individual changes can be considered good or bad.
    It is much the same as human action.  One cannot argue that action itself is good or bad.  It simply is.  However, individual human actions are moral actions, as Aquinas says "Moral acts and human acts are the same."
    Changes are actions, and therefore, can be judged good or bad according to the same criteria.  Simply put, one must examine the nature of the change and the intended end.  If the nature of the change or the reason for it (that is the end intended by the change) is bad, then the change itself is bad and should be avoided.

Changes in the Church

    Several Catholics and non-Catholics have long urged Rome to change certain aspects of the Church.  While some have been harmless, many suggested changes would require the Church to go against her most basic and important teachings.  The nature of such changes is inherently immoral.  Furthermore, the intention behind those changes also tends to be incorrect in that it aims not on seeking truth but on fulfilling some human desire.
    The push to change the Church's teaching on married clergy, birth control, and female priests comes from a desire to make the Church conform to the characteristics of society.  However, the Catholic Church, since it is based upon truth and not society, must remain wholly consistent with that truth.
    Because it would be nice to be able to be married and a priest does not mean that it is any more correct.  Because birth control is more available and more widely accepted does not mean that it is no longer immoral.
    In deciding whether to change things in the church or not, we must focus on the truth and determine whether the suggested change conflicts with that truth.  The desires of society must never enter into the discussion.
    A columnist in the Texas Catholic, the diocesan newspaper for the Dallas diocese, recently said that Rome often "seems out of touch with U.S. Catholics" on issues such as birth control and married clergy.  The concern should not be whether Rome is out of touch with U.S. Catholics, but whether Rome is out of touch with the truth upon which the Church is based.