Fostering a Traditional Catholic Culture

[Dempsey1919]

Recently, I watched a documentary about the Hasidic Jewish community in London. The Jews have managed to retain all of their cultural traditions, from the way they dress to the way they educate children. They have managed to maintain a distinct and separate Jewish identity in the midst of a secular society.

This caused me to think of our Catholic culture. In my experience, Catholics no longer express their faith in public; I rarely see religious images within Catholic homes, Corpus Christi processions are rare, and I never see the Religious wear the habit in public or in schools.

I realise that there will be some Catholics who foster a religious culture within their homes and communities, but this is not on a large scale.

In your opinion, what are the essential things that make up a Catholic culture?

If you were in charge of a Catholic school, what would you do to create a strong Catholic identity?

Lastly, how have things changed over time? Was Catholic culture stronger when you were a child? Is it stronger now?

Please share all of your experiences of Catholic culture. How was this culture shaped by ethnic identity? How was Italian Catholic culture different from Irish or Polish Catholic culture etc?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

One thing about the Hasidic community that is not true of Catholics is that they live in close proximity. I think it’s much easier to be distinctive when the other people around you are like you religiously, culturally, etc. Hasidic Jews don’t drive on the Sabbath so they need to live close to their synagogues and hence, close to each other.

I’m sure it would be a different experience being Catholic if we all met each other walking to church on Sunday morning. If you look around your neighborhood, how many of your neighbors are Catholic? For me the answer is not too many. I come together with people at Mass or church activities, but it’s rare that I run into them during the rest of the week.

 

[Deacon_Ed_B]

I grew up in a small town in Louisiana where the population was 2000-2500. It was about 95% Catholic. This was in the 1940’s 50’s era. Popular devotions were a way of life. During lent, the Way of the Cross services followed by benediction had the Church, a large one packed. It even had a Catholic elementary school, 1st through 8th. The only difference today is that the town is now about 10,000-12,000 and the Catholic school is closed. Daily mass is morning and evening every day and the Church is crowded. Cajun Catholic culture has much to be admired. I now live in a major city in Texas and my home where my wife and I live, with my mother-in-law can be described as Catholic. We have 5 Children,(the youngest is 36) and they say they feel the need to genuflect when they come into the house because of the amount of religious articles and paintings we have. We even have a 42" angel on our front porch by the door. We have crucifixes in every room and a large collection of them on the wall in one of the halls. I would encourage everyone to have religious articles on display as they are a constant visual reminder of what you are about and who you are. As Pope Benedict put it, Christian is my first name, Catholic is my sir name.
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B

 

[brotherhrolf]

In very many ways, south Louisiana still has a traditional Catholic culture. There was a striking example on the Food Network the other day. Bobby Flay was engaged in a challenge with a New Orleanian. They were in New Orleans and they were cooking gumbo. Flay was going to add sausage to his gumbo when his competitor said “Bobby! You can’t do that! It’s Good Friday!” (Bobby should have known better as an Irishman). She then turned to the crowd of spectators and asked “How many of you would eat Bobby’s gumbo today?”. One. He was probably a Protestant.

We have a crucifix in every bedroom and St. Francis stands watch over our garden. My town is heavily Protestant but you can see statues of the Blessed Mother on people’s front lawns. Noon Mass at the cathedral downtown is well attended by office workers - so is the noon Mass at a mid-city location. I’ve been to both when my office was near.

Many of our TV anchors are Catholic and make no bones about it. We’re pretty openly Catholic here.

 

[kimaz]

Here in Arizona I’m mostly familiar with the Irish traditions because, well, I’m Irish. (There are actually a good number of Irish out here in the desert.) And I’m somewhat familiar with some of the Hispanic ones. I do know that Our Lady of Guadalupe is very prominent around here, I see her on car windows, murals even t-shirts. But I have never attended the festivities on Dec. 12 so I don’t know what the different parishes do. But I do attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Phoenix and we usually have at least 3 different versions of St. Pat, and the Knights of Columbus in the parade. A couple years ago a priest was the Grand Marshal and this past year he was a guest of honor. I’m glad that we at least do not hide the fact that St. Patrick’s Day is a Catholic feast. (Thank God for the Irish Cultural Center who puts in on).

In my parish its harder to tell, because its a rural town and people are more spread out. In my families house we have some Crucifixes up and we have a Celtic cross, St. Patrick and St. Joseph in the living room. My mom says she would very much like to add to it though.