Doctrine: Liberating, not confining

		The Catholic  Difference  George Weigel

A lot of press coverage of Archbishop William Levada's nomination as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [CDF] revisited some old shibboleths about "watchdogs reining in dissidents," as if "the doctrine of the faith" were a political platform and the prefect of CDF a party whip, hustling wavering legislators into line with threats of retribution.

Which might make a degree of sense, if you think of Catholicism as simply another life-style choice with no more tether to the truth than any other hobby.

If the Catholic Church is what it claims to be - the earthen vessel containing the truth of the world - then "doctrine," the boundary that distinguishes authentic Catholicism from counterfeit Catholicism, is something entirely different. Doctrine, in a truly Catholic understanding of the term, is liberating, not confining.

Take three examples.

Bible, sacraments

First, the Bible. There will be no new books added to the Bible. The canon of Scripture is closed; that's a matter of doctrine.

But does that make Scripture a dead letter? No. The Bible insures that the Word of God can be received intact by every new generation of believers, inviting them to a fresh engagement with God's revelation in written form.

The Catholic Church's sevenfold sacramental system is another matter of doctrine: these seven sacraments, the church teaches, are the sacraments in a way that other acts of worship are not.

Does that teaching make Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and the Anointing of the Sick empty rituals, performed simply because others did these things before us? No.

The givenness of the sacramental system teaches every generation of Christians a seminal truth: just beyond the ordinary - bread and wine; water, salt, and oil; marital love and fidelity - lies the extraordinary reality of God's passionate love for the world, manifest in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whom we meet in the sacraments.

Authority of church

And then there is the matter of authority in the church, which touches Archbishop Levada's new responsibilities. Authority in the church is not intended to impede creativity; authority in the church is meant to insure that Catholics, including theologians, don't settle for mediocrity.

The teaching authority of the church, of which CDF is one instrument, has one purpose: to hold all of us accountable to the regula fidei, the "rule of faith," that is the living Christ.

Theologians, like other intellectuals, can be impressed by their own cleverness. The teaching authority of the church, including CDF, exists to call theology to a love of the truth, not to self-absorption in its own genius.

'Handing on'

"Tradition," our translation of the Latin traditio, comes from the verb tradere, which means "to hand over" or "hand on." As the Catholic Church understands it, this "handing on" begins within the Holy Trinity itself: for the Trinity is a communion of complete giving-and-receiving. That radical self-giving entered history in Jesus of Nazareth and continues in the life of the church, which is his mystical body, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is why tradition is the living faith of those who have died. And that is why "tradition" must be distinguished from forms of traditionalism which bespeak the dead faith of the living.

Doctrine isn't excess baggage on the journey of faith. Doctrine is the engine that makes the journey possible, in integrity.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Morning-after-pill:
Kills babies, does not promote women's health

	Guest commentary  Dr. Michael John Phillips

Pro-abortion family planning providers in Wisconsin are regrettably in the midst of a campaign touting the supposed benefits of the morning-after pill, misleading the public by falsely contending that this drug will prevent tens of thousands of abortions by preventing pregnancy.

The medical fact is that so-called "emergency contraception" will often act to cause an early chemical abortion.

According to the textbook Medical Embryology by Dr. Jan Langman, "the development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoan from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote."

Indeed, a human life begins at fertilization. The zygote is a unique, genetically distinct human being that has come into existence for the first time. Even at this one-cell stage, the full genetic information that this individual will carry for her entire life is present.

Every person was once at that one-cell stage of human life. Subsequent stages include cell division, uterine implantation, establishment of nourishment and growth.

In medical jurisprudence, when this new human organism is destroyed before development is complete, we call that an abortion. Any substance interfering with this development is medically defined as abortifacient. This includes any substance interfering with endometrial implantation, including so-called "emergency-contraceptive" pills.

Access to the morning-after pill will not enhance access to fundamental women's health care. On the contrary, it will kill babies and harm women.

The morning-after pill offers no protection against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including AIDS. Importantly, there are no long-term studies to show whether women will be permanently damaged, or risk such diseases as cancer, from these chemicals being given in such high doses.

Wisconsinites would be wise to heed the medical facts and truly promote women's health.

Michael John Phillips, MD, is vice-president of Pro-Life Wisconsin, Brookfield.