I came across Nick's Catholic Blog last night and was very much consoled. It appears not all so-called 'traditionalist Catholics' are worried about Pope Francis. What a relief.
I didn't check the date of the post and only this morning realized it was posted last October, nevertheless, I haven't seen any recent publication that says the author has changed his mind. That said, his post speaks for itself and what he has to say still holds, as far as I'm concerned. Some excerpts:
I'm starting to get sick to my stomach with the non-stop slew of posts with gloomy-themed comments regarding Pope Francis. Why are so many Catholics, especially among traditionalists, so worried about Pope Francis? Ever since the election of Francis a storm of radically disappointed gloom-filled traditionalists has surged, and it's really soured my experience at certain blogs. Now before I go onto make any further comments, I don't want people fallaciously accusing me of blindly supporting anything and everything the Pope does and treat it as pure gold. I don't do that, but more importantly, that's not the point. The point is that people are blowing things way out of proportion, and I fear it's leading them to the brink of apostasy. That's what's more concerning, and I'm surprised more people aren't alarmed by that eminent danger. (I'm alarmed.)
I'm just going to say what my gut is telling me the real problem is here. Coinciding with the rise of traditionalism was the death of Bl. John Paul II and the election of Benedict in 2005. The election of Benedict was a huge sigh of relief for the traditionalist blogosphere, since he had a well known track record of wanting to clean things up in the Church, despite whatever flaws he also had.
Of course, things completely were shaken up with Benedict's sudden "resignation," and traditionalists were terrified that all the progress made through Benedict could be undone in an instant, sending us right back to the nightmarish 1970s. And their "fears" were "confirmed" when Francis walked out on the Papal balcony. From that instant, a very ugly and gloomy raincloud came over the traditionalist movement and just parked itself there. The most slanderous things I've heard were spewed in comment boxes; people assumed the absolute worst. After a day or so I couldn't take it and basically stopped following many big name traditionalist blogs. It was just strange the way all the hope and overall good direction the Church was going were eclipsed by folks assuming the worst. (I think this is where what some jokingly referred to as 'evil-trads' manifested.)
[...]
[T]he Catholic blogosphere as a whole missed an excellent opportunity to take some real gems out of the Pope's words. Again, this isn't to say everything he said was pleasant to hear, but he actually provided some badly-needed insight into serious problems in the world. (Yes! Yes! Yes!) - Read more here.
That last statement still holds as far as I'm concerned.
It's all good.
Pray for the Holy Father.
Santa Maria della Strada
Our Lady of the Way (Santa Maria della Strada) patroness of the Society of Jesus.
The late medieval mural of Santa Maria della Strada was on an external wall of the small chapel of Our Lady of the Way in Rome. It was here that Ignatius prayed and eventually set up the headquarters of his new Society. Ignatius would have known the image well and, throughout his life, has a particular devotion to Our Lady under whose patronage he placed the Society of Jesus. - Source
I wonder why anyone would be so obsessed with the Pope - whichever way they lean. These days of instant news is not always good.
ReplyDeleteIt must just be that whoever is 'worried' about Pope Francis is possessed by the devil and does not understand anything.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it either, traditionalists want people to return to the norms of living a truly Catholic life, but on the other hand are approaching the problem with a doom and gloom mentality that I am sure is not inviting, motivating or appealing to Joe schmoe novus ordo.. Do you really think that opposing the Pope on everything that he says makes you more Catholic than him? Why not try focusing on the fact that adhering to traditional Catholic values life giving (as manifested by the flourishing families in the pews), and that the traditional sacraments, especially that of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the life's blood of the Catholic life?
ReplyDeleteWell said! The more we believe that Our Lord is truly present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the more we hope in His promise of grace in the Sacraments, the more we love Him and our neighbor in a truly supernatural way, the more confidence we will have in His Divine Providence, and peace of soul. All of these are miraculous, and far more effective than our natural ideas, expectations or actions. For there to be merit to what we do, there must first be docility and grace.
ReplyDeleteCorey and Fr. Anselm - I agree. Especially this:
Delete"Why not try focusing on the fact that adhering to traditional Catholic values life giving (as manifested by the flourishing families in the pews), and that the traditional sacraments, especially that of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the life's blood of the Catholic life?"
And of course, this:
"The more we believe that Our Lord is truly present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the more we hope in His promise of grace in the Sacraments, the more we love Him and our neighbor in a truly supernatural way, the more confidence we will have in His Divine Providence, and peace of soul. All of these are miraculous, and far more effective than our natural ideas, expectations or actions. For there to be merit to what we do, there must first be docility and grace."
Thank you.
Yes, thank you and to Scott as well.
DeleteI like the portrait of Papa Francis by the way. Basking in the glory of the Lord Jesus is a beautiful way to be remembered...gazing upward in silence and acknowledging who is Lord, even better. the portrait has captured that quite well.
So since there seems to be much confusion as to why traditionalists are worried, I thought I will give my 2 cents as a trad as an answer to that question. (Please do note that last year in October, I had a somewhat positive view of the Papacy as Nick did. My change in position was gradual.) So here it is:-
ReplyDeleteWhile the Holy Spirit and Divine Providence guides the Church from being completely exterminated, the Church does not guarantee the salvation of any particular individual as a result of this guidance. In other words, God has given us the free-will through which we can damn ourselves by rejecting his Grace or others by misleading them or refraining from spreading the good news.
So in this current climate, the traditionalist sees the Pope himself speak and act in misleading ways. Even if the Pope had no intent to weaken the Catholic faith, his actions can very well be interpreted in a way to mean just that. His recent speech to the Evangelicals for an example makes one think whether the Pope even thinks of heresy as a problem. But traditionalists are aware from teachings past and the apostolic traditions that heresy is a grave problem. You don't encourage people who are in heresy by flattery to continue in their heresy. But the Pope clearly does not seem to share these concerns and his actions undermine this truth for Catholics as well as anyone else who pays attention.
So why are traditionalists afraid? They are afraid because they know that the message sent by the Pope's words and actions may influence their loved ones. That could be their mother, father, wife, children or a good friend who lower their defenses as a result of what they see as the Pope's position and becomes lukewarm or worse, lose their faith. Trads see many priests of the ordinary form fall in to these errors and begin movements in their diocese to further what they think the Pope is saying/doing.
Can they be corrected? Not easily when the simple reply from anyone is "What makes you think the Pope said anything different than what his actual words seem to mean? He has said things with a similar tone repeatedly now, has he not?".
And at that point, there is not much hope of correcting the people to believe a orthodox interpretation of Papal actions/sayings. Admittedly, one has to do a lot of massaging of the Pope's words and actions to make it sound orthodox in some cases like his speech couple of days ago. One also has to ask what reason one has to think that the Pope just didn't mean what he said and did. Because at the end of the day, there is no protection for the Pope in his personal beliefs and actions. Looking at history, Popes like John XXII had been personally wrong in their thinking on certain matters anyway.
In any case, traditionalists are worried because although the Church will not be exterminated by a bad Pope, many souls will be lost or lead astray. There is no promise by the Holy Spirit to base ones hope against such a fear.
Sincerely,
Phillip
Thanks Phillip. That is quite sobering. I have noted online many parents expressing frustration since it does impact their efforts in training their children in the faith. As a single man I too easily lose sight of that fact.
DeleteI hope those around him will take his advice and speak to him and make him aware of how troubled many people have become.
Anyway - thanks very much for your thoughtful comments and update on how 'traditionalists' view what the Holy Father is saying 'off the cathedra' as it were.
God bless you.
Sometimes when people have been at war for a long time they begin to prefer war to peace. They also might not realize that the war is basically over, while their side might not have clearly won, the other side clearly lost (even if they took down huge swaths of the Church in losing). Among active catholics, there is no energy, no momentum in the under 50 crowd for the old project of the 70s and 80s. People want the genuine faith and many of the historical/cultural practices of Catholicism. Some want a little, some want as much as they can get. Our newest auxiliary bishop, from a small charismatic order, wore a biretta and all the other trappings at a diaconal ordination a few weeks ago. He's also deeply Catholic on all the hot issues. The hard core of the Church is on the upswing, the rest of the members (the soft core? and nominal) will continue to fall away--just as Cardinal Ratzinger predicted forty years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's time to come in from the cold, trads!
To quote Mr. Spock.
ReplyDeleteFlawlessly Logical.
Keep drinking that Cool Aid guys. By the time you all wake up, it will all be over and there will be nothing left to save.
ReplyDelete