Mormons and Catholics

I haven’t written for this blog for quite awhile and I am very busy right now with my college stuff. I have also been researching positions on Mormon priesthood development that will take much but not all of the sting of criticisms that Mormons, such as Hugh Nibley, have made about Catholic priesthood development.

So let’s use this thread to explore a topic about Catholicism that I am interested in and would love to get some new blog entries out of. Let’s keep this thread on level that identifies questions and not get into any of the answers in depth.

The number one thing I am curious is how to identify Catholic dogma and doctrine. I would like to know what comparisons and differences there are to LDS framework.I would divide that into sub-questions. 1) Who gets to define doctrine? (A sketch of present organization of the clergy would be nice here.) 2. Is there a hierarchy of authoritative texts? 3) What role do lay members play in accepting doctrine from hierarchical sources (how much dissension is allowed)? 4) What underlying principles are involved (revelation, infallibility, deposit of faith, authority)? 5) Is there a way to decide whether any non-official text is doctrinally sound or representative of Catholic thought? 6) What interesting observations can be made from an historical perspective on all these questions (I am especially interested in arguments for apostolic succession and allowances for general belief to shift over time)?

Even if Catholic readers don’t have the time and energy to write a blog entry pointing out some resources in the comments where a Mormon can find further information on these topics would be helpful. I would also like to do the same and get some opinions on the reliability of sources I find.