What is traditionalist Catholicism?Not long ago the author Kurt Vonnegut Noun 1. Kurt Vonnegut - United States writer whose novels and short stories are a mixture of realism and satire and science fiction (born in 1922) Vonnegut wrote about "the devout Roman Catholic Mel Gibson Noun 1. Mel Gibson - Australian actor (born in the United States in 1956) Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, Gibson U.S.A., United States, United States of America, US, USA, America, the States, U.S. , who, as an act of piety, has just made a fortune with a movie about how Jesus was tortured" There's only one problem with Vonnegut's perhaps well-taken comment about the creator of The Passion of the Christ: Gibson is not a mainstream Roman Catholic. Gibson belongs to the Catholic traditionalist movement, a loose network of somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 people who worship according to the Latin Tridentine Mass (the way Mass was said pre-Vatican II) and have revived traditional Catholic devotions and practices. In an effort to create mini-utopias of traditional Catholic culture and restore a brand of Catholicism united under the values of authority, obedience, absolute truth, fidelity to traditional doctrine, and defiance of an immoral culture, they have established chapels, schools, seminaries, and religious orders around the country. Traditionalists feel compelled to separate themselves from a Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic Church, Christian church headed by the pope, the bishop of Rome (see papacy and Peter, Saint). Its commonest title in official use is Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. they believe has departed from the truth. The reforms of the Second Vatican Council Noun 1. Second Vatican Council - the Vatican Council in 1962-1965 that abandoned the universal Latin liturgy and acknowledged ecumenism and made other reforms Vatican II Vatican Council - each of two councils of the Roman Catholic Church , especially the abandonment of the Tridentine Mass, presented traditionalists with what they saw as an inescapable problem. Either the old or the new teaching was true, but not both. How could the church contradict what it had authoritatively taught? Something had to give. So they parted ways with an institutional church they believe has moved into infidelity and heresy, and they have since tried to recreate the church of yesteryear yes·ter·year n. 1. The year before the present year. 2. Time past; yore. yes . Moreover, while many traditionalists have a certain respect for Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II) born Karol Józef Wojtyła , some go so far as to call the popes of and after the council "antipopes," not really popes at all. Further tarnishing traditionalism are its fringe elements who can slide into anti-Semitism and conspiracy-mongering. For better or worse, traditionalism is in step with the worldwide trend of religions toward orthodoxy and even fundamentalism. Catholic traditionalists do, however, remind mainstream Catholics of their heritage, especially the sense of the sacred. And traditionalist Catholicism serves as a sign of the times A Sign of the Times was a 1966 single by Petula Clark. Written by Tony Hatch, the uptempo pop number juxtaposed Clark's driving vocals with a powerful brass section. She introduced the tune on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 27, 1966. in a church still struggling to find its identity in the aftermath of Vatican II. By JOEL SCHORN, coauthor with Alice Camille of A Faith Interrupted: An Honest Conversation with Alienated Catholics (Loyola Press, 2004). |
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