Question for Catholics....

[Carjack1]

What does it mean to be a Liberal Catholic and a Traditional Catholic? Is it the preference of Mass types or ideologies? I am trying to learn as I get confused when reading some of the post.

 

[Della]

Oh boy! Here we go again!

The term “liberal” is a political one not a religious one. I assume you mean those that believe the Church ought to change with the times, yes?

And by “traditional” those who do not believe the above?

Or some other definitions?

You’ll have to clarify your terms, I’m afraid, or there’ll be no end of discussion as to what you mean instead of actually responding to your question.

 

[Carjack1]

Oh boy! Here we go again!

The term “liberal” is a political one not a religious one. I assume you mean those that believe the Church ought to change with the times, yes?

And by “traditional” those who do not believe the above?

Or some other definitions?

You’ll have to clarify your terms, I’m afraid, or there’ll be no end of discussion as to what you mean instead of actually responding to your question.

I am sorry I wasn’t clear. I am as confused. I see people complaining of modern music versus traditional music for Mass. they type of bldg that they worship in? These are a few examples. GIRM(I have no idea what that is.)

 

[Malachi4U]

What does it mean to be a Liberal Catholic and a Traditional Catholic? Is it the preference of Mass types or ideologies? I am trying to learn as I get confused when reading some of the post.

As we use these words today for the newbies to religious discussion:

Traditional = Catholics whose Dogma never gets deleted but may be added to. (ie God never changes nor do His values, morals or rules)

Liberal = Catholics who want the Church to become Protestantized and drop teachings they no longer want to believe in. (ex Female priests, Eucharist is not really God, abortion is OK, etc…)

Since these are not precise terms everybody may view the words a bit differently.

 

[Della]

I am sorry I wasn’t clear. I am as confused. I see people complaining of modern music versus traditional music for Mass. they type of bldg that they worship in? These are a few examples. GIRM(I have no idea what that is.)

Oh no need to apologize. To my mind people who endlessly parse words are the ones who ought to apologize.

The GIRM is the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. It’s the rubrics for celebrating the Liturgies of the Church.

The Church has been going through a period of adjustment ever since the last Vatican Council–Vatican Council II. Some of the innovations to the Liturgy that were made by local dioceses and parishes were done in anticipation of greater changes than the Council called for. And they were implemented so quickly and abruptly that it caused a lot of people great spiritual pain. Ever since people have been arguing over what should and shouldn’t have been changed.

You see, Catholics worship as we believe. Our worship is not driven by spiritual enthusiasms but by the teachings of Christ given to us by his Church. It makes worship more than merely offering up prayers and singing hymns and listening to a sermon. It is the re-offering up of the one sacrifice Christ, along with those other things, which makes it all the more important it be done according to the prescriptions of the Church.

I hope that gives you some background, although it isn’t anywhere near enough explanation and no doubt others will quibble with my phrasing.

 

[Pug]

What does it mean to be a Liberal Catholic and a Traditional Catholic? Is it the preference of Mass types or ideologies? I am trying to learn as I get confused when reading some of the post.

Sometimes it is hard to know what people mean with those terms. Different people use them in different ways. Sometimes, the word “Traditional” is used as a type of mass preference. You might wonder, what type of preference could there be? Well, the mass used to be generally celebrated in the Latin language. If you’d walked into a church in the 1920’s, you would have heard mostly Latin. But now if you walk into a typical parish, you will hear mostly English (or Spanish in Spain, French in France). Furthermore, changes took place in how the service was executed, in addition to the predominant language. There is more nuance here than I am stating. Sometimes people who appear to prefer the older way are called Traditionalists. Currently, you can find both the old form and the new form for the mass in this country. Both are the mass.

I’ve often heard the term “liberal Catholic” when someone means the person disagrees with a firm doctrine of the Church. I’m not saying that is necessarily a good way to use the term. I’m just saying what I have heard. Other times, it seems to relate to a desire to reform/change things.

The GIRM is a document that has rules in it like who stands where and when during the mass, what you do where and when, etc. People tend to provide quotes from it when they are discussing those types of rules.