Hi, Joey —

We wouldn't really use those terms, although if they help you understand things, that's fine.

Catholic teaching does have a tendency to precipitate or crystallize at certain points; it's called the development of doctrine.

You have at the top dogmas, teachings which are de fide (of the faith) that we are certain are divinely revealed.

Then you have doctrines, which pretty much can't be changed but can develop more deeply.

You also have the ordinary Magisterium, which is infallible but not necessarily defined as such.

For example, before the document Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, in the 1990s or so, the fact that women could not be ordained, was infallible by the ordinary Magisterium, chiefly by virtue of the fact that no woman had ever been ordained in the Church since the beginning. No Council, Catechism, ex-cathedra statement, or anything else had addressed it. Actually, I think a document in the 1970s discussed it, but before that, nothing, because no one realized the need for it to be addressed. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis infallibly defined it (or, if you like, formally acknowledged its infallible character).

If you want to identify solid tradition with documents, it would include the canons of dogmatic councils, the ordinary Magisterium, and the ex-cathedra declarations of the Pope.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, while a sure norm for the faith and eminently trustworthy, is a catechetical document which does not define anything new and hence does not constitute an exercise in infallibility in the sense a council canon or ex-cathedra statement would.

There is room for discussion within the gaps not covered by dogmas and doctrines. Doctrines can develop but can't be contradicted. (I suppose to some degree dogmas can develop, too.)

For books to read, I recommend Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott; it's pretty old but not a lot has changed since then. Veritatis Splendor and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis contain the only additional infallible statements. Books by either Denzinger (often called just "D") or Denzinger-Schönmetzer (often called "DS") contain canons of ecumenical councils. These may be very hard to get. Another helpful document is The Christian Faith: In the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church by Jacquet Dupuis and Josef Neuner.

Note: that since that was published in 1973 Dupuis is under investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for a 1997 book.

This book is similar to Denzinger but covers more than just the dogmatic. It also covers the Second Vatican Council.

Eric

Joey,

All Tradition is living, not in the sense that it can change as living things do, but in the sense that it is a work of the Holy Spirit, who guarantees the living Word as handed on through the college of Apostolic successors around Peter, and as believed and lived by the faithful they serve.

In every age, aspects of the living Word of God, handed over once and for all by the time of the death of the last Apostle, are brought to bear on the questions and problems of the age.

For instance, the Revelation that it is wrong to kill (in the Decalogue), but also a natural revelation in natural law) will be brought to bear on new technologies, and a new statement can be forthcoming, such as that it is always and everywhere wrong to kill embryos.

There is no such distinction between solid and living tradition. All Tradition is living.

Mary Ann