We make still by the law in which we're made

 The heart of man is not compound of lies,

but draws some wisdom from the only Wise,

and still recalls him. ...

The right has not decayed.

We make still by the law in which we're made. 

JRR Tolkien, Mythopoeia

 

 I'm trying to think out the role of the "christifideles" in the Church and specifically the best practices for communicating one's opinions and reactions.   This seems trickier now than it was in 1990 when I converted.    

Yesterday I found this appeal to the cardinals, from 2018, which cites Canon 212:

The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors of the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.

This seems like a good starting place, especially since the Code of Canon Law is magisterial.    I am not a canon lawyer, so I will not be analyzing the finer legal shades of meaning here.   But the essential ideas are not super-technical, so I can get the gist, at least provisionally.  

The Christian faithful (christifideles) are free to make their spiritual needs and desires known to their pastors.    Here, it seems, a power proper to all the faithful is recognized as being part of their God-given right.   Certainly this fits in with Jesus's continual responsiveness to people's honest requests for help or information or clarity, shown in the Gospel.   Being "free" would presumably mean that punishment or scolding would not result from a request or statement of desire. (with qualifications that come up later).

They have a right and even sometimes a duty, as well, to make their opinion known on "matters which pertain to the good of the Church."   They can make this opinion known to the sacred pastors and also to the "rest of the Christian faithful".   

So, what the Christian faithful can say or presumably do by means of appeals, pilgrimages, delegations and so forth is:   make their needs, desires, and opinions known to the pastors.   And make their opinions on matters which concern the good of the Church known to their fellow Christians, as well.

Now for the qualifications, beyond the ones already mentioned about the good of the Church and spiritual needs, are:

"According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess" -- this probably didn't envision social influencers, but would probably reference trained theologians and leader types among the laity, and bishops and abbots and the like among the clergy and religious.    I am guessing that authority and knowledge in your sphere give you a higher responsibility for speaking out, which can reach the status of a duty?   In the appeal to the cardinals I linked above, the signers are generally professors, authors, editors and priests.  

"without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals," -- this is an interesting one!  I'll probably have to think more about it.  Basically, it speaks to the continuity and wholeness of faith (belief and the object of belief) and morals (faith in action).  There can't be contradiction across these, though there can be some tangles in application.    Of course, this very subject of the "rights and duties of the faithful" is one of them, and opinions and practices seem to vary wildly.  

"with reverence toward their pastors"--  this one to me would mean just basic respect and courtesy to those who have the responsibility of caring for souls, though we do not live in a courteous age, and people have trouble making distinctions between obsequiousness on one hand, and churlish or scurrilous or insolent defiance on the other.  I have not quoted the part of Canon Law that focuses on the responsibilities of the pastors, but plainly they should have a correlative respect and attention for sincere faithful folk and venerable scholars etc. 

"and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons"  -- I'm not sure what this means, but maybe refers to what we owe our fellow man.   Maybe it refers to the balance between respect for the common good and the importance of each individual, one thing not to overweight against the other.