Dear Cindie:

On question #1: I am afraid you have a misunderstanding about what the Church teaches about sexuality and masturbation. Masturbation is not merely wrong because it is not open to life, it is wrong because it violates the mutual self-gift of oneself to one's marriage partner.

Contrary to your statement, I quote sources all the time. Here is a quote from the Church Catechism on this subject:

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.

On your Question #2, I will go ahead an answer it here, but in the future please confine a post to one subject only. Anyway, if I have "shot holes" in what you have understood about the faith, then the people who have taught you must be teaching in error. Why? Because on issues of Church teaching I do not give my opinion, I give whatever the Church teaches. I am just a messenger boy in that regard. Sometimes I quote the teaching directly, like I did above, sometimes a paraphrase it to make it more understandable or to save time.

There is a web page that gives you, in general, the sources that we use called Our View Point

There is hardly a question asked in these forums that cannot be found in the Catechism, Canon Law, or the Catholic Encyclopedia.

My only qualification, and the only one I need, is some God-given talents to teach, and an ability to reseach (I generally know where to find the answers and I have about 2000 books surrounding my desk as reference).

The Canon Law of the Catholic Church states that one does not have to have some special training or degree to teach or answer questions about the faith. Each one of us can teach up to the level of our competence.

Canon 211: All the Christian faithful have the duty and right to work so that the divine message of salvation more and more reaches all people in every age and in every land.

Canon 218: Those engaged in the sacred disciplines have a just freedom of inquiry and of expressing their opinions prudently on those matters which they possess expertise, while observing the submission due to the magisterium of the Church.

Canon 216: Since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition. Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name "Catholic" without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.

Canon 747: 1) It is the obligation and inherent right of the Church, independent of any human authority, to preach the Gospel to all peoples, using for this purpose even its own means of social communication, for it is to the Church that Christ the Lord entrusted the deposit of faith, so that by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, it might conscientiously guard revealed truth, more intimately penetrate it, and faithfully proclaim and expound it.

2) The Church has the right always and everywhere to proclaim moral principles, even in respect of the social order, and to make judgments about any human matter in so far as this is required by fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls.

According to the Canon Law Society of American, when Canon 747 speaks of Church, it is speaking of all members of the Church, not just the hierarchy.

Quoting the Canon Law Society...

The Church as a whole, the holy people of God, is the active subject of this teaching function. It is not only the function of the ordained or of professional theologians; everyone in he Church has a role to play.

And I could go on for about 50 pages quoting Vatican II documents, post-councilor documents, papal documents, etc.

The qualifications to preach and teach (outside of Mass) is that one is baptized, that they submit to the magisterium, and that they preach and teach up to the level of their knowledge (whatever level that may be).

Anyone who has read these Q & A's can discern what my competence is and can easily check me out against the Catechism and other documents.

Since you have not mentioned what "hole" I have poked in your understanding, I cannot speak to them. If you give specific examples perhaps I can tell you the direct quote or reference within Church documents.

As for my personal state-in-life, I am a consecrated celibate brother hermit in private vows of the evangelical counsels in the Order of the Legion of St. Michael, a defacto association of the faithful. To can read about our status Click here

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary