As Catholics, do we have to accept everything the Church teaches?

Father, do we have to accept everything the Church teaches? The short answer to this question is yes, but I think it requires a bit of explanation.  
 
You might be wondering, “What if I disagree with the Catholic Church on something? Is the Church really right on EVERYTHING?”  
 
First, we need to understand what the Church is. Many people when they use the term “the Church” are referring to the clergy. In fact, the clergy are only a part of the Church. The Church is all of the baptized in union with its head, Christ (although members of other denominations are validly baptized, I won’t go into their relationship to the Church. Suffice it to say that the Church regards them as “separated brethren”). The Church (using “the Church” and “the Catholic Church” interchangeably) was established by Christ himself. We see His intention to do so when He speaks to Peter: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).  Again, here Jesus clearly manifests His intention to found a church. He does so in several stages: the calling of His first disciples, the selection of the Apostles, His death on the Cross and the definitive moment of the Church’s birth at Pentecost. 
 
Inevitably, there would arise confusion as to what members of the Church were supposed to believe. When Jesus was still on earth, His disciples could simply ask Him. But what about after His ascension into heaven? What if we have a question then? Well, Jesus was ahead of the game on this very point. He established the magisterium. The magisterium is the pope in union with all the bishops of the world. When He called Peter His rock on which He would build His Church, He gave him authority to teach saying, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). This authority to teach given to Peter is later given to the Apostles collectively (Matthew 18:18). 
 
We later see them exercising this authority in Acts of the Apostles (see Acts 15). This authority has been passed on to the successors of the Apostles—the pope and the bishops. But what is this teaching authority? It is the authority to teach infallibly (that is, without error) on matters of faith and morals. This doesn’t mean that the magisterium can teach just anything but can only confirm that which has been divinely revealed to us through sacred Scripture and sacred tradition. 
 
Here are a couple examples. The magisterium has taught that Jesus is God (see the Council of Nicaea). It can teach that because that truth was divinely revealed in sacred Scripture and sacred tradition. On the other hand, the magisterium can’t teach that Jesus isn’t God. Another example is that the magisterium infallibly teaches that abortion is intrinsically evil, and can’t teach the opposite, because it is divinely revealed to us that murdering innocent children is always wrong. To guarantee that the magisterium, which is composed of fallen human beings, always remains true, Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to the Church, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth” (John 16:12-13). There are certain conditions that need to be met for the magisterium to speak infallibly, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.  

In summary, the magisterium was established by Christ Himself and is guided and protected by the Holy Spirit to teach matters of faith and morals infallibly to all the faithful. We live in a world where there is a lot of information constantly floating around and it is difficult to know what to believe. That is why Christ gave us the magisterium, which, although composed of fallen human beings, will always teach us what is true with the help of the Holy Spirit.