I have been blessed for over a quarter of a century to be a member of one of the greatest professions, dentistry. In cleaning out some of my old, and less used, accumulations, I found a freshman dental school textbook, “Treatment Planning”. It discusses many concerns for a new practitioner, such as what method and means of treatment would be appropriate for a particular patient. After twenty-five years of practice, most of these questions are answered automatically. Is a tooth restorable? How best to restore proper function in chewing, biting, slicing, and speech. Can the patient’s expectation for appearance be achieved? Last but not least, would the proposed treatment violate that universal dogma, “Doctor, do no harm”? My textbook on treatment planning was obviously void of many options on today’s dental landscape. There have been advances in most subspecialties, the dental implant has become a treatment, and now they are talking about genetically growing “real teeth”.
Real Teeth? Could this be anything like the “real teeth” Pope Benedict XVI has proposed in his latest encyclical, Caritas In Veritate? This 51-page letter on Charity and Truth, is addressed to everyone from Bishops, to all people of good will. Under section 67, he makes his diagnoses: To manage the global economy; there is urgent need of a true world political authority. His plan of treatment for this situation is proposed earlier in the same section, “so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire “real teeth”.
What in the world could my Pope possibly be planning?
- Real teeth that chew-up open ecclesial opposition, and silence, to an earlier encyclical on human life, Humane Vitae?
- Real teeth that can slice through the scandal, of honoring the most pro-death President in our history, at our nation’s most “Catholic” institution, Notre Dame?
- Real teeth that bite-off the mockery of using a Divine Liturgy, for the purpose of honoring one of the most pro-abort senators in recent history.
- Real teeth, positioned properly, to allow the proper sounds to words that condemn the book and lifestyle of homosexual Bishop Weakland?
I humbly suggest that my Pope ponder the inverse of the question for Bishops, “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?” 1 Timothy 3:5 NIV. I say, “If anyone does not know how to take care of God’s church, how can he take care of the world family?”
My diagnosis is simple: the Catholic Church in America is edentulous. The treatment plan: Pray for “real teeth”! And, the universal, or catholic, doctrine holds true, “Papa, do no harm!”
