O
OraLabora
Guest
Well let me put it this way: I’m not particularly attracted by the EF Mass but I love the OF Mass in Latin and with Gregorian chant; I love chant and careful liturgy, and I sing, teach and study Gregorian chant and the liturgy both as part of a schola and as a director of the Gregorian Institute of Canada. I’m doctrinally conservative, but pastorally not doctrinaire, true to the tradition of the abbey and order I’m associated with. In fact I’m associated to the oldest order in the Church as Oblate, and a conservative branch of that order that is fully obedient to the Holy Father, promotes and uses Gregorian chant, and has the most beautiful liturgies this side of 1962.In this case, my wish to have the label “traditional Catholic” is the opposite of individualism. Rather than considering myself as a unique individual within the Church, I want to focus on characteristics that I share in common with many other Catholics and to identify myself with them.
Would it be OK for me to self-identify as “traditionalist” even though I’m not fond of the EF Mass? Or do I not have enough in common with traditionalists to be part of the same “club” as it were? Is there some kind of “critical mass” of traditions I need to adhere to before I can be become part of that club? If so, who gets to say what that critical mass is?
If the definition is arbitrarily decided by a group that choses to set themselves apart, I would say that the label “traditionalist” is problematic, because unlike the attribute of being an “Oblate of St. Benedict” (or a Third Order Franciscan) which requires a formation period and a public formal promise in front of the superior (or someone standing in for him) to become affiliated to an Institute of Consecrated Life by the Church, it is being used by folks to, as Clem said, separate themselves from the Body of Christ, of which I and others not thinking the same way, are a part of. And therein lies the danger.
Actually I’m pretty sure from what I’ve read from you that you’re not guilty of the above. But you’ll have to honestly admit that many of those using that label have indeed been guilty of it. And that’s the problem. They have been so guilty of it in some cases, that they’ve fallen into disobedience and outright schism, and in others of throwing about the epithet “modernist” at those who don’t think the same way (often not realizing that “modernism” doesn’t mean simply liking modern liturgy, church architecture or devotional practices, it means they are in fact wrongly accusing others of being heretics). And in fact they have been labeling those who don’t think the same way with a label they consider pejorative (particularly the labels “liberal” and “modernist”) while appropriating an air of superiority for their own label of “traditionalist”.
So either the movement needs better framing by the Church on who can nor cannot be part of a formal movement known as “traditionalists”, or one should drop the label and simply express preferences for the particular traditions or liturgies they are fond of. And hopefully that would stop some self-declared “traditionalists” from ostracizing those who aren’t attached to them by falsely accusing them of heresy or attaching pejorative labels to them.
Maybe I’m just suspicious, but I tend to be wary of self-declared or self-defined titles.