Why "small t" traditions and customs?

[Cyceri]

Why do we Catholics have “small t” traditions and customs? The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc. they just “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 NAB). It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24). Why uphold those “small t” traditions if they may cause some to become complacent & lukewarm?

Thanks for helping me clear this up…

God bless,
Cyceri

 

[JuantheTuba]

The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc.

May I ask, how do you know?

 

[YoungTradCath]

Why do we Catholics have “small t” traditions and customs? The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc. they just “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 NAB). It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24). Why uphold those “small t” traditions if they may cause some to become complacent & lukewarm?

Thanks for helping me clear this up…

God bless,
Cyceri

The Church adopted ritual and ceremony quite early, actually.

Why do we have these things? Because as humans, we need them. They give us an outward identity that does a few things: 1. it gives us a way to identify with other Catholics, 2. it gives us a way to be recognizable to the rest of the world as Catholic, 3. it gives a way for us to identify with ourselves, kind of like a psychological reassurance sort of thing.

Catholics can’t survive any more without ritual than Evangelicals can survive with ritual. Catholicism is, by reason of association and according to the natural expression of our Faith, a deeply ritualistic religion. It is true that very little is set in unbreakable stone, but Catholicism has always been tied up with some kind of outward ritual identity. The Eastern Catholics have very different customs than us–or they do in ideal situations, at least–yet they nevertheless have lots of customs and traditions. If the Church were to suddenly dump all her traditions, there would be very bad consequences. If you see a guy wearing a scapular and making the Sign of the Cross, you immediate think, “He’s Catholic.” Even if you’re not Catholic and have little formal knowledge of the Church’s traditions and customs, you’re likely to intuit that these things “look sorta Catholic.”

Evangelicalism wouldn’t be Evangelicalism if Evangelicals were suddenly forced, for whatever reason, to worship according to a liturgical form in Baroque churches. In a certain sense we could say that whatever Catholicism is, Evangelicalism isn’t, as far as outward form goes. In a sense, they do have traditions and customs, the positive definition of which is usually that they are the antithesis of Catholic traditions and customs. So if a Catholic priest must wear a chasuble at Mass, an Evangelical pastor will wear anything but, and so on. Never mind the theology here. 1, 2 and 3 apply equally to Evangelicals, just replace the word “Catholic” with “Evangelical.” So basically we could say that, from a human perspective, the Evangelicals’ lack of traditions and customs is, in fact, a tradition/custom in itself. If you see a t-shirted kid walking around toting a Bible decorated with trendy inspirational verses all over it (no snark intended), you immediately think, “She is an Evangelical kid in ‘Bible Fellowship’ class.” Well, you think that if you’ve had experience with Evangelicals before.

Generally, all human organizations have to have an outward identity/set of traditions and customs to survive. Chasubles, chalices, breviaries, statues and devotionals tend to be ours. Take those things away, you’re going to have problems. Take them away and don’t replace them with stuff just as good or better, you’re going to have huge problems. A major portion of this is the whole story that goes along with this stuff. The stuff represents an historical story. If you take these things away, you’re not only taking stuff away, you’re taking a story away. And we can say, “It’s just a chasuble, the Church isn’t going to die, it’s all about Jesus, the Bible doesn’t say you have to…” That’s true, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have negative impact. It will.

What would the Church gain from dumping all this stuff? Nothing, as far as I can tell.

 

[Robyn_p]

Why do we Catholics have “small t” traditions and customs? The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc. they just “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 NAB). It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24). Why uphold those “small t” traditions if they may cause some to become complacent & lukewarm?

Thanks for helping me clear this up…

God bless,
Cyceri

Ahh but look at the Book of Revelation! It’s full of all those things you just mentioned! Vestments, altars, candles, incense, bowing. It’s quite a Catholic book in fact.

Having outward signs doesn’t mean we forget what the signs point to. We are physical as well as spiritual beings, so we should worship God with both body and spirit. Separating one from the other is where the danger is. We deny an essential part of us if we do that. But if they are properly integrated, it can be a great blessing!! As in fact, they are. That’s why I like Catholicism, it doesn’t deny human nature, but elevates it!

 

[Filioque]

Well first of all Evangelicals do have their “t” traditions. Altar Calls, the basic order that their services follow, the centering of the Pulpit, placement of the Communon table, position of the band or choir, are all traditions which most Evangelicals would be upset with if they were tampered with.

I live close to an Evangelical Seminary. While out for dinner one evening I saw one of the professors from the seminary on his cell phone dictating the order for the upcoming Sunday service. He went down the list of Opening Hymns, Inspirational verse, then 5 minutes of Spirit Filled prayer, Gospel message and sermon, altar call, closing Hymn.

One of his students asked if the order of the service was always the same, He replied if you are (insert Denomination here) yes. That’s the way we do it. Except for when we have communion, at which point he went over the order for that service.

As to Vestments etc. What people sometimes forget is they are not inventions of the Church, but rather what the church has retained. Just as we do, or should dress in our finest clothes to go to Church, the early Church was a time and place to wear your best. The vessels used were the best to enhance the worship of God. When styles changed the dress of the clergy did not change. While some minor modifications took place, the church retained, or preserved what the Apostles and Early Church wore during the Liturgy. These small t traditions rather than innovations as Protestants claim are really the conservation of the earliest practices that are handed down to us.

Protestants misrepresent traditions as all being bad, Traditio translated into modern english means to hand down, or hand on. St. Paul tells us to hold fast to the traditions he has given be they by word or in writing.

 

[Cat]

I don’t get it. Where did the OP mention “Evangelicalism?” Was something edited out of the OP? Thanks. (I’m wondering if I should call in sick to work and go back to bed if I can’t even read an online forum correctly!)

We can never make any general assessments of Evangelical Protestantism. There are Evangelical Protestant fellowships where the pastor wears vestments. For every small “t” tradition in the Catholic Church, you can find an Evangelical Protestant denomination that does the same thing. Although many prominent Evangelicals are proud of having no planned liturgy in their worship service, others have a very regimented worship service program that seldom varies from week to week.

What the Evangelicals would say is that our faith in Christ should not just be a “ritual.” If faith only exists during the ritual, and doesn’t become action and thought once a person is outside of the church building, then it’s not a real faith.

 

[floresco]

Small t traditions and customs are a way for a group to form its sense of identity. Most families have them. Schools have them. It is a basic human drive.

 

[Reverie]

Why do we Catholics have “small t” traditions and customs? The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc. they just “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 NAB). It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24). Why uphold those “small t” traditions if they may cause some to become complacent & lukewarm?

Thanks for helping me clear this up…

God bless,
Cyceri

My simple answer is that we all come to know God in different ways. Some of us need to see him (pictures, ornamentation, stained glass windows, church decoration, smoke from incense, religious symbols, sacramentals, processions, etc). Some of us need to hear him (music, chant, bells, prayers, liturgy of the word, homilies, etc.) Some of us need to feel him (holy water, the wood of the cross, kneeling, The Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, rosaries, scapulars, other sacramentals, laying on of hands). Some of us need to smell him (chrism oil, incense). And finally, some of us need to taste him (The Holy Eucharist).

In short, the Church feeds all of our senses because in her wisdom, she understands that our senses are complex. I find that to be very compassionate and comforting.

 

[TimothyH]

Why do we Catholics have “small t” traditions and customs? The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc. they just "devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers." (Acts 2:42 NAB). It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24). Why uphold those “small t” traditions if they may cause some to become complacent & lukewarm?

Thanks for helping me clear this up…

God bless,
Cyceri

The early Christians did not divorce themselves from Judaism but continued to observe all the traditons of Jewish worship. Peter and Paul continued to pray the liturgical prayers at the temple.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (Acts 3:1)

Paul purified himself according to the Jewish customs and tradition and made offering at the temple.

So Paul took the men, and on the next day after purifying himself together with them entered the temple to give notice of the day when the purification would be completed and the offering made for each of them. (Acts 21:26)

Paul took the vow of the Nazarite after Jesus’ ascension.

*After this Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aq’uila. At Cen’chre-ae he cut his hair, for he had a vow. (Acts 18:18) *

***Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; *(Acts 21:23)

There was not an immediate divorce of Jewish rabinnical and temple worship from Christianity at the moment Christ ascended to Heaven. In fact, the earliest Christians considered themselves to be Jews - the only difference being that they believed that Christ was the Messiah and other Jews did not.

All the liturgical and religious traditions and customs of Judiasm were observed by Jewish Christians until the temple was destroyed in 70AD. This is where many Christian denominations make a big mistake out of their ignorace of history. The Jews didn’t abandon Judaism with its liturgy, customs and traditions, and start some kind of spiritual-only worship. Catholics have somehow gotten the same idea, that Judaism was completely abandoned upon Christ’s ascension and all believers in Christ just started going to Mass instead.

The fact is that there was a clear nexus of Jewish rabbinical worship, temple worship and Christian worship until the temple was destroyed in 70AD, and many of those customs and traditions still live today in our Church.

-Tim-

 

[Chatter163]

It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24).

What makes you think that?

 

[clem456]

Why do we Catholics have “small t” traditions and customs? The early Christians didn’t have all these vestments, gestures, etc. they just “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 NAB). It seems to me that we Catholics have a real danger of becoming wrapped up in many of the “small t” traditions and think that that is our faith and neglect the more important matters, as if we are straining gnats and swallowing camels (Mt 23:24). Why uphold those “small t” traditions if they may cause some to become complacent & lukewarm?

Thanks for helping me clear this up…

God bless,
Cyceri

Yet Christ himself participates in the physical world. In fact in a couple weeks will be Pentecost, where He breathes on the disciples. He does not simply “will” the Holy Spirit into them, he gives them a physical sign (and no breath mints are mentioned either).
During His ministry, Christ touches people, rubs mud and oil on them, is Himself immersed in the water of baptism. Initiates the Eucharist which is a very physical thing indeed.
Part of the mission of the Church is to imitate Christ in bringing these graces to the flock. It requires a physical dimension.

 

[yinekka]

[In the early Church] that reverence [for the Eucharist] extended to the trappings of the liturgy as well – the altar, the plates and the chalices – which were always made ofr the finest materials the local Church could afford. Tertullian…described chalices decorated with images of Christ (*On Modesty *7,10) And in 303 a Roman court in North Africa recorded the following items that had been confiscated from a house-church: two golden chalices, six silver chalices, six silver dishes, a silver bowl, seven silver lamps, two torches, seven short bronze lambspands with their lamps and eleven bronze lamps on chains (Gregory Dix: *The Shape of the Liturgy *1945)

St Jerome wrote of the need “to instruct by the authority of scripture ignorant people in all the churches concerning the reverence with which they must handle holy things and …to impress upon them that the sacred chalices, veils and other accessories used in the celebration of the Lord’s passion are not mere lifeless and senseless objects devoid of holiness but that rather from their association with the body and blood of the Lord, they are to be venerated …(Letter 114.2)

Clergy were expected to give the same careful attention to the words of the liturgy. St Paul emphasized the need for faithful transmission of the Eucharistic tradition. …The Didache, St Justin Martyr and st Hippolytus indicate that some Mass texts were fixed at a very early date.

In Egypt St Clement of Alexandria referred to rules, or “canons” [traditions] for the proper celebration of Mass. By the middle of the third century, disciplinary manuals knows as “Church orders,” such as the Didascalia, offered copious legislation concerning the liturgy.

Sourced from: *The Mass of the Early Christians *by Mike Aquilina

“For the most part, early Christian bishops and presbyters celebrated the liturgy in the clothes of the Roman world, woven from linen and scrupulously white. The Canons of Hippolytus read:…We, too, ought not to enter the Holy of Holies in our everyday garments…” By the fourth century, the garments worn at liturgical functions had been separated from those in ordinary use… the bishops in the East began to wear the garment known in the west as the pallium. About this time, the stole became a regular liturgical vestment . Christian vestments continued to develop until about the ninth and tenth century when the style became fixed in the west.

Source: *The Crucified Rabbi *by Taylor Marshall