The Limits of the Bishop's Authority

Bishops and their advisors have not always taken into immediate consideration every aspect or the entire complexity of a question. But it would be contrary to the truth if, proceeding from some particular cases, one were to conclude that the church's magisterium can be habitually mistaken in its prudential judgments. I think about this when people bring up examples like the German bishops to justify saying the bishops in general are unnecessary or untrustworthy. Some Catholics will look to older magisterial documents to defend a very strict view of wives submitting to their husbands but they won't defend a strict view of laity submitting to the bishops.