Dennis, thanks for that.  I know I sound as if I thought little of "Tradition".  That is not true, but I do think we have to learn to adapt Tradition to new circumstances.  

I also think the insistence that there are no flaws in the teachings because the Holy Spirit is always with us is a distortion of God's willingness to let men have free will.  The Holy Spirit can nudge and guide, but ultimately it is human beings who make decisions and not all those human choices are exactly what God would have wished.  This applies even to Popes, to synods and councils of the Church, to bishops and priests as well as to the non-clerical world.  

We need leadership.  We need the wisdom of people learned and practiced in our faith.  But we really need to also learn to trust ourselves and to let those learned and wise people be our guides always realizing that they are not God Himself, but good educated and wise humans who try to understand what is good and right.