True Freedom in Catholicism

Jeffrey Steele, a former Anglican Priest who recently came into the Catholic church, has a great post on his blog about the freedom available in Catholicism. Does freedom in Catholicism sounds like an oxymoron to you? Catholicism actually makes freedom from ones own whims and fancys possible. Find it here. Here is an excerpt:

"The question that is begged is, 'who has the right to make decisions?' As an Anglican, I saw how fraught this system was. The minority, no matter how large, had to submit to the majority. There was no guarantee that the majority would speak 'my' position of freedom. Decisions from others must be accepted so as not to jeopardize the entire system. Everything that happened in one decision-making body could be undone by another. What was liked by one body could be hated by another and hence revoked and a new majority formed. What is this? This is a human church not something that is divine. It is not true freedom but bondage to a political system that is forever changing with the majority. Opinions replace faith and truth and self-made formulas become dogma. For me, there is no freedom in that at all. This system only forced me to be in more bondage to my own opinions and self. As the Holy Father said when he was still in the CDF,

'A self-made church is reduced to the empirical domain and thus, precisely as a dream, comes to nothing.'

What is so great about the freedom given in the Catholic Church that I discovered and continue to discover afresh each day I spend in her is that she is not something that is self-made by the opinions of others but is a gift from God that has come down out of heaven and given to us all. As Pope Benedict said,

The reform that is needed at all times does not consist in constantly remodelling "our" Church according to our taste, or inventing her ourselves, but in ceaselessly clearing away our subsidiary constructions to let in the pure light that comes from above and that is also the dawning of pure freedom.

This is exactly what I have experienced as a Catholic, true freedom."

Well said Jeffrey.