It was St Francis De Sales who said "the only thing worse than spiritual murder, is spiritual suicide." It is possible to destroy another person's faith, but why would someone want to destroy their own? It is hard to believe that anyone would do this; yet people do all the time. Spiritual suicide happens when someone makes choices that lead to the destruction of their faith in God. You may wonder what types of choices those might be. The best example of spiritual suicide is the devil himself. His downfall was pride -- in some way he thought more highly of himself than was right.
When a person heads down a path that ends up destroying his own faith in the process it will usually come from some sin that is similar to the devil's pride. If a person lifts himself up in his own eyes, and is unwilling to budge, then he has moved his faith to himself and away from God. This is often the case when someone believes that he knows more than others, and that his opinion is always the best. The result is that he quickly becomes sinfully stubborn (the old English word "froward" is quite appropriate here). Presuming upon the perfect accuracy of your own opinions will always lead you down the path of rejecting God because you are trusting yourself above all else; hence: spiritual suicide.
People who are stubbornly prideful will often assume that everything is "black and white" and that their position is the only one possible. Now, I will not deny that some things are actually "black and white"--Jesus is divine, that is a "black and white" issue--yet there are many things that are very gray. The problem with making a presumption about your opinion being of the "black and white" category, is that we do not know everything. Only God is omniscient, and the only time that we can be dogmatic is regarding dogma (that is why we call it "dogma"!). When a person does not have all the information on a subject, it may look black and white until they delve deeper. Yet if someone is unwilling to accept they he can be wrong on a non-dogmatic subject, then he has reached the peak of selfish pride and is committing spiritual suicide.
So then, let me ask the question in another way. What do you do when you believe that you know something that no one else recognizes to be true? Maybe it is something that you believe happened, and no one else thinks it happened. Maybe it is an interpretation of something that no one else agrees with. Whatever it may be, how do you deal with it? As a protestant, I can think of many times when I would find myself or someone else in this situation. Taking the cue from Martin Luther, we would always dig our feet in and "take our stand" (ready to die for our personal opinion if need be). Is this the position of finite people who know that their knowledge is limited? No.
When you appear to be the only one with a particular opinion on a subject (or maybe it is just you and a couple other people who only heard from you on the subject), you must walk very carefully. To stand dogmatically on something that is only your opinion might be correct, but it also might not be. There are basically three options at this juncture. Either, first, you are a genius/saint (just one of those brilliant people who sees truth when no one else can see it); or, second, you are deceived by someone or something (which is not your fault exactly); or, third, you are being stubborn and refuse to listen to reason. Many people think that they are in the first category (but that is a remarkably prideful stance to take). Most of those who are the "only one" are in the second or third category.
We must acknowledge that there are times when we need to dig our feet in, and there are times when we need to respond humbly and let something go. Yet, how does one tell the difference? Back when I was a protestant, we had no standard of measurement other than our own opinion (except for the few times when we would allow someone else's opinion to influence us). As Catholics, however, we do have a standard. We have the standard of both divine and ecclesiastical law. Divine law is what is laid out for us directly by God Himself (which is supported in ecclesiastical law). This includes things like the ten commandments. Ecclesiastical law includes those things that are not specifically laid out in divine law, but that are declared by the Church (and are in complete accord with divine law).
This does not mean that the Church can merely make up any rules it wants ("all Catholics must wear green colored shoes on the third Wednesday of the month"). Yet, God does give to the Church the authority to enact certain laws that declare how we are to obey the divine law. For example, we obey the third commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy by going to Mass and by refraining from servile work on Sundays. The Lord did not technically say "go to Mass" but the Church makes application of this divine law with its own ecclesiastical law.
Because of this authority granted to the Church, we are obligated to obey the Church in all her commands. Therefore, even though God never actually said anything specifically about what you can put down a sacrarium, the Church sets very specific rules (and even threatens excommunication to those who ignore some of those rules). Therefore, if something is clearly declared either in divine or ecclesiastical law, then we can be sure that it is as it says; obedience to God and His Church is essential for our salvation. When we are outside those two categories of law, we may have an opinion, but it is nothing more than that: opinion.
So then, we can summarize this by saying that we have the standard of Church dogma -- but sometimes that is not enough (because it is only so specific) and so we have to go outside that and ask for the wise input of others. When neither divine or ecclesiastical law makes a clear declaration as to the subject we are dealing with (and there are many subjects they do not touch on), then we can attempt to go to wise people who are faithful to the Church's magisterium, and see what their opinion is. If we have done that, and even they do not agree with us, then we have to make a choice. We can give up our opinion and move on, or we can hold it, quietly, and pray that God will help whoever is in error (us or them) to be corrected.
If you ever find yourself asking "why am I the only one who sees this?" you should proceed with extreme caution. To hold a position that is not held by anyone else cannot be done with pride or superiority. We cannot look down on others who disagree, since there is always the possibility that we are the one who is wrong. The answer to the question: "why am I the only one" could very possibly be "because I am wrong". No, the majority does not determine truth (contrary to popular American ideas), but if God is going to use a single individual to bring a "new truth" to the world, that single individual needs to be humble, patient, and respectful to others.
The wrong position to take is to become a personal martyr and choose "this hill" to die on (regardless of how many people you hurt in the process). Those who do this are unwilling to listen to reason, and will usually end up finding other "hills" to die on. They will see themselves more and more as "the last faithful man standing". There is no spiritual good in this at all; it is what I referred to above as "spiritual suicide". Yes, there are times when we need to die on a hill, but that is always for something that is a definitive position of divine or ecclesiastical law (rejecting abortion; affirming redemption by Christ alone, etc.). Personal opinion or interpretation (especially when none of those in authority over us see it the same way) is never of this nature--that is the protestant way of doing things; not the Catholic way.
Anyone can hold a personal opinion that no one else holds, and do so in a humble way. If you are holding it, however, in a way that harms others (especially if it harms a large group of people, like your home parish), then you are doing so in a sinful manner. We do not cause harm in order to bring about good. So, then, if you wish to believe that the moon is made of cheese, and that there are a race of aliens who live at the bottom of the sea, fine and dandy. Do not, however, do so with a selfish and prideful heart. Trust in the Lord, and ask Him to enlighten both you and those who disagree with you. In this way, God's truth will always win out.
