Your reading of him is so minimalist that it makes his
argument trivial. Has anyone really contested that Canon
Law is incompatible with Dignitatis Humanae? Maybe
Fr. Curran, but no one orthodox. Why does he set up
an elaborate mechanism to show DH is compatible
with Tradition, if all he means is that the Church can
enforce Canon Law within its institutions? Why state
that the Church retains the coercive authority it
once granted the State--which included use of violent force?
Because... The One True Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church has a threefold power
Legislative
Judicial
Coercitive
The Church has the authority to
impose both temporal and corporal
punishments.
The proposition:
It does not belong to the Church to exact
obedience to her decrees by external force
was condemned by Pope Pius VI
The Proposition:
The Church has no right to coerce the
violators of her laws by temporal
punishments was condemned by Pope Pius IX.
P. 143 The Church of Christ An Apologetic and Dogmatic Treatise, E. Sylvester Berry, STD
Trads ought to be careful about dipping an intellectual toe into tThe Stream of he may
become infected with a form of liberalism.
Controlled opposition much?