Sentence:  The grounds for the Church 's position are Scriptural ( Old Testament ) , the teachings of the <WSD>fathers</WSD> and doctors of the early Church , the unbroken tradition of nineteen centuries , the decisions of the highest ecclesiastical authority and the natural law . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom