I guess I worded it wrong (once again) and I apologize. What I meant to say was that since the Traditions aren’t written down anywhere and are just passed on orally, I think it seems kinda shady because it leaves it open to get misconstrued from generation to generation. And, how do you know your dioceses are all following the same Tradition?
It’s the same way we know about Western Civilization. The inventions, history and customs of Western Civilization aren’t written down anywhere, but we know them when we see them, and we know that when we’re in Chinatown, even though we’re “in the West” that this is
not part of Western Civilization, but is a transplant of Eastern Civilization.
It’s the same with the Traditions of the Church - we know them because we’re immersed in them from birth; if someone were to come along and try to change them, we’d know about it, the same as if someone were to come along and try to tell you that the light bulb is not a product of Western Civilization, or that the Madonnas of Raphael were actually painted by a Chinese person - you might not know
how you know that’s wrong, but you’d definitely
be sure that that’s wrong - even if you had no idea where the light bulb came from or who Raphael was, you’d still recognize the imprint of Western-ness on these products; you’d know that they were
not “made in China,” because you’ve been immersed in Western culture all of your life, and you recognize it as well as you recognize your mother’s face.
