Sunday, July 16, 2006
TRIDENTINE VS. NOVUS ORDO
A reader sent in a link to "Thoughts on the Old Rite of Mass by a Priest" that offers a slightly different perspective on the morphing of Catholic thinking. It resonated with me because more and more often I wonder just how much my Catholic perspective has been damaged by the last 40 years of turmoil. It is easy and tempting to pick and choose amidst the array of choices presented by all sides in the contemporary Catholic debate. In fact at times there is no other alternative.
It just may be possible that, as Father says: "An added danger for cradle Catholics is that, with perhaps centuries of Catholic ancestry behind them, it does not occur to then, that they could possibly lose their faith. And so they, can graduallv come to have a totally Protestant understanding of our religion and still be convinced they are true Catholics." As much as I lament the lack of cradle Catholic representation in St. Blogs, he has a point. Converts have their own unique perspective.
I do know that the confusion, the scandal, and the rancor we are now experiencing is taking a toll on our beliefs. There just may come a point of frustration when the struggle no longer seems worth the price it exacts.
Nostalgia will not fix anything. Catholicism is linear. Somehow we must move forward.
