What makes a Catholic traditional?

No guitars, no dancing - just the
Sacrifice of the Holy Mass

                                                                            

 Responses to recent posts have highlighted the issue of being a traditional Catholic…or not, as the case may be.

I must stress am not a nostalgic who looks back fondly on the days before the Second Reformation, although there are many aspects of Catholic life then that were good and sound.

The one thing is that then we were all traditionalists; we all sang from the same hymn sheet, Masses were always in Latin, we had regular Benediction, we went to Confession almost every week, we abstained from meat on Fridays, went on retreats, attended the Forty Hours devotions, said the Rosary, covered our heads on entering the church (females) and uncovered them if we were male.

In our congregations we had saints and sinners; bank robbers, bank managers, paedophiles, fraudsters, divorcees, shop assistants, bus drivers, homosexuals (not lesbians or transvestites, they were not invented then).

And that is how it should be…..one community, albeit an imperfect one, gathered together for the worship of Almighty God.

Of course, that is not to condone any sin; a state of grace should be aimed at for all.

But, as far as I am aware, no one in our parish was discriminated against because of their background or deeds.

Mothers might have been understandably cautious as regards the parish paedophile but children, having been warned, stood well clear.

Now today we have a barrage of labels and it appears that most of us dislike being pigeonholed.

I don’t. I’m still a Catholic and because I try to live according to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Vicar on earth, I suppose that I now have to call myself a traditional Catholic.

Why?

Because we have some who call themselves ‘Charismatics’ and others, who because of their disregard for the Holy Father and their Bishop, take little heed of the black and white doctrinal requirements that Holy Mother Church places on us or who distort the liturgy to suit their own tastes in their desire to have a “me” focus.

We tend to call these people ‘Modernists’ or ‘Liberals’ – it’s a means of knowing where you stand if you happen to find yourself holding a glass of luke warm Pinot Grigio, lolling around talking to a group of Papes.

Now, I know of some traditional Catholics who sometimes attend the OF Mass, that is, one that is celebrated reverently according to the book and that must surely be a good thing.

But, as for me, I prefer to attend the EF Mass.

 I will go further than that and state that I will only normally attend the EF Mass.

 The exception being if I am in an area where there is not a Sunday EF Mass but there is a reverent OF one.

They are as rare as hen’s teeth.

So, you see, on the surface, there is not too much between me a traditional and Mr X, a modernist (if he is an orthodox Catholic modernist).

But, it has to be said that you can reasonably only call yourself a traditionalist if you do some or all of the following:-

1. Attend the EF Mass
2. Follow the teachings of HMC especially with regard to contraception, abortion, IVF, euthanasia and all other moral issues
3. Avoid Masses that have guitars, skiffleboards or Lithuanian bagpipes
4. Wear a head covering in church if female, remove head covering if male
5. Sing plainchant in the bath
6. Receive Holy Communion kneeling and by mouth from a priest
7. Drink real ale (males only in the main)
8. Give your dog or cat a Latin name
9. Like nuns who wear proper habits
10. Call your parish priest “Father” rather than “Ted” or “Tom”

Any further additions (polite ones) are most welcome