Trads are people who listen to Catholic Radio… skeptically. They might have a blog. They can list their “top-five” favorite Ecumenical Councils… none of which will rhyme with “Attican Shoe”. Their friends think they’re fuddy-duddys. They’ve got Holy Water fonts in all the bedrooms and by the front door. They quote the Douay Rheims bible. They have an opinion on offering Mass in baroque vestments while in a gothic chapel. They’re tired of tinfoil hat jokes. They may not like Bishop Williamson, but concede that sometimes he’s right, and when he’s right, he’s really right. They can tell you about Assisi. When they’re at a Novus Ordo Mass, they’ve got their hands folded like a Catholic during the Our Father. The women have an extra mantilla in the van-- just in case. The men have an opinion on the best type of pipe tobacco for any occasion. The boys have their own cassock and surplice hanging in the closet. The girls know how to play Dies Irae on the organ. They wear a t-shirt while they go swimming so their brown scapular doesen’t float away. They’re willing to drive an hour to go to Mass… every Sunday. They know the confession times of at least 4 churches. They invite priests over to play cards and smoke cigars. They pray to saints that you think may not really exist. They ask you to finish the sentence when you say “John Paul the Great”… the great what? They might own a live chicken. When they’re at a Novus Ordo Mass, everyone watches them to figure out why they’re hitting themselves during the “Lamb of God”. They’re kneel after Mass to pray… and miss out on the fun gladhanding with Father by the parish gift shop. They scoff when they pass the Masonic Lodge. They cross themselves when they pass a Catholic church. They mutter something about the “poor souls” when they pass a cemetary. They mutter something about St. Michael when an ambulance passes them. Their girls’ first names are Mary. Their boys’ middle names are Mary. Cappa Magna doesn’t sound like a drink at Starbucks to them. They’ll tell you at length why being “charitable” isn’t always being nice and friendly.
It’s complicated. Trads are not easily defined. You just kind of know them when you see them.
Definition is a very inexact science when it comes to people, but I think perhaps you’ve come the closest to an identifiable picture of Traditionalists* than anyone so far-- because you’ve included more than liturgical preferences (or convictions.)
(*And I say “Traditionalists” because, while I have no preference for the TLM and would not identify myself as a “Traditional Catholic,” I would consider myself a traditional Catholic, as it were.)
Many of the things you list are a part of a culture that continues to value any sort of past tradition and thus I know plenty of Catholics who wouldn’t identify as “Traditional Catholics” who have holy water fonts in every room etc., (and blessed salt in their cupboards) attend weekly confession, still use liturgical gestures that have been abandoned, own live chickens (yes, really!!
)
Heck, I even know a Charismatic-type to whom much of the above applies and who has very definite opinions on pipe-tobacco!
Value of pious traditions is not a trait exclusive to Traditionalists.
Rather, I would say that Traditionalists are those who are more comfortable in and promote a spirituality (or maybe an amalgam of spiritualities and customs) that flourished in the beginning of the 20th century.
From an outsider’s perspective (which of course is very incomplete and perhaps mistaken) Traditionalists, in addition to their liturgical preferences; find ceremony and outward expressions in general beneficial in the spiritual life; are attached to some of the more outward public expressions of piety (special vestments, processions, etc.); tend (in my experience) to have a spirituality largely informed by certain saints from the years between 1700-1900-- St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Louis de Montfort, Pope St. Pius X, spring to mind (but not so much Therese of Liseaux.)
I have rarely met anyone who identifies with a monastic spirituality (Carmelite, Dominican, Franciscan, Benedictine) and identifies himself as a “Traditional Catholic.”
Of course, some of what I have listed will also apply to those who do not consider themselves Traditionalists…
(Edit: I want to add that I speak of non-Traditionalist Catholics, I mean believing, practicing, obedient Catholic who are striving for holiness. Lapsed and dissenting Catholics are another topic all together.)
