It’s called HERESY DISGUISED AS TRADITION, and is a look at the newest and strangest (and deadliest) form of Protestantism in the Church today: Reactionary Catholics who hate the Pope, nearly the entire population Catholic communion, and who are trying to return the Church to a fantasy past of purity via fascist politics and a lunatic blend of white supremacy, libertarianism, and authoritarian politics.
In addition to this book (which you should read), there’s also Thomas Merton, who wrote this in 1954 about the difference between tradition and convention. He was specifically discussing monastic tradition, but his insights can be extended to the whole church; and to every human endeavor, for that matter. (From NO MAN IS AN ISLAND)
In this manner of monastic tradition we must carefully distinguish between tradition and convention. In many monasteries there is very little tradition and yet the monks think themselves to be traditional. Why? Because they cling to an elaborate set of conventions. Convention and tradition may seem on the surface to be much the same thing but this superficial resemblance only makes conventionalism all the more harmful. In actual fact, conventions are the death of real tradition, as they are of all real life. They are parasites which attach themselves to the living organism of tradition and devour all its reality, turning it into a hollow formality. Tradition is living and active, but convention is passive and dead. Tradition does not form us automatically we have to work to understand it. Convention is accepted passively as a matter of routine. Therefore convention easily becomes an evasion of reality, it offers us only pretended ways of solving the problems of living; a system of gestures and formalities. Tradition really teaches us to live and shows us how to take full responsibility for our own lives. This tradition is often flatly opposed to what is ordinary, to what is mere routine, but convention – which is a mere repetition of familiar routines – follows the line of least resistance. One goes through an act without trying to understand the meaning of it all merely because everyone else does the same. Tradition, which is always old, is at the same time ever new, because it is always reviving, born again in each new generation to be lived and applied in a new and particular way. Convention is simply an ossification of social customs. The activities of conventional people are merely excuses for not acting in a more integrally human way. Tradition nourishes the life of the spirit, convention merely disguises its interior decay. Finally, tradition is creative, always original. It always opens out new horizons for an old journey. Convention, on the other hand, is completely unoriginal. It is slavish imitation, it is closed in upon itself and leads to complete sterility. Tradition teaches us how to love because it develops and expands our powers and shows us how to give ourselves to the world in which we live in return for all that we have received from it. Convention breeds nothing but anxiety and fear. It cuts us off from the sources of all inspiration. It ruins our productivity. It locks us up within a prison of frustrated effort. It is, in the end, only the mask for futility and for despair. Nothing could be better than for a monk to live and grow up in his monastic tradition, and nothing could be more fatal than for him to spend his life tangled in the web of monastic conventions.
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3 Responses
To be honest, I think that for many Catholics, almost the entirety of what they believe and practice is based on what’s referred to here as “convention”.
There’s no real thought behind it; its all about “the rules”: following them gets you into Heaven and failure to do so leads you into Hell, thus, the end justify the means, therefore, any cruelty done in the name of upholding “the rules” is not only justified, but as a matter of fact, its not cruelty at all.
Any discussion about the principle that’s meant to be uphold, or what it means to love your neighbor and promote the common good is completely lost on them. It mirrors the thought process of a child, who hasn’t learned any better, and is thus incapable of any critical thinking beyond a strict adherence to a simple checklist.
Unfortunately, I think the Church itself has been complicit in promoting this mindset.
For the matter of that, most of us do most of our things by convention; we can’t always be reinventing the wheel. The problem becomes when we treat convention as the law of God and make it a religion.
Last week, on my way to work, I saw a bumper sticker that said, “God Bless Everyone, No Exceptions.”
Catholic “traditionalists” are some of the most annoying people I have ever met. Fear, anger, and a superiority complex seem to be the common denominators. It wasn’t so polarized a generation ago.
Funny that at the liberal Catholic school where I work, the ultra liberals think I must be a conservative spy because I love the Faith. They don’t want me to teach religion. The only conservatives there are politically conservative, and want to claim me as one of them, but I try to fly under the radar. I don'[t want them to fight my battles. The best thing about working there is that I get to make a visit to the Church almost everyday. I ask him to show me how to be good, and to love them all with his heart.