The Catholic Blogosphere, or as I call it the Cathologosphere, seems to be reaching one of those points that makes all sides dig trenches and hunker down. As the "reform of the reform" gains traction around the country, and the world, the divide between traditionalists and modernists seems to be widening.
Now, we are on the "interwebs" so it is hard to say how much of this is the product of a bunch of malcontent folks spewing their opinion for the world to read, and how much of it is actually symbolic of the actual climate of the Catholic world.
There is no doubt that the modernist mayhem of modernist progressive Catholics is spreading like some toxic gas in some places within the Church. One cannot deny that these folks are products of the '60s and were emboldened by the changes instituted by Vatican II. In fact, it is probably fair to say that most were actually BORN from Vatican II's changes. But they are no more the "Children of Vatican II" or "Products of" Vatican II, than abusive priests are the product of an archaic chaste lifestyle. In other words, the proximate cause of these progressives are not necessarily causally linked to the heart of Vatican II, instead they are relativistic minds run amok.
Likewise, the radical traditionalists that feel the ONLY way we can reclaim the "glory" of the Church is to put everything back in Latin and undo Vatican II completely and go back to the year... umm... what year do we go back to. 1964? 1970? 1962? 1953? [Those aren't random years by the way.] The all or nothing traditionalists [trying to avoid to descriptive or peg-holed type of labels] would probably start fighting amongst themselves if they didn't have the progressives to target. In fact, that is essentially what they did prior to 2007, isn't it?
Now, I am pointing with pretty broad brushes here, and again I do not mean the majority here. In fact, if you took 50 blogs and laid them out on the spectrum, we are talking the extreme edges and maybe 1 or 2 on each end, with a few more straddling the line here or there on a few issues or with a few posts. But it is enough to feel their presence lately. This is especially true as those same folks spew their ideas into Com-boxes on the rest of the Cathologosphere.
So what should the rest of us do? I say we fight back, like I always suggest. As the Mission Verse of this blog states, "the kingdom of Heaven suffers much violence... and the violent are taking it by force!" We must not succumb to these low blows but must in fact battle against them. The Church, our Church, the BODY OF CHRIST requires of us that we focus our hearts and our Faith towards HIM. The faith must not be the desire of our hearts, but HIS Heart.
Of course we can have our preferences. I know I do, and I know my preference often finds itself in a "traditional form" but that doesn't mean the rest of the Catholic world is wrong. In fact, if we believe that God guides the faith, then we must believe that this is true and find in those things which are said to be "incorrect," the true and actual God-ly meaning behind them. For instance, Vatican II - its documents need to be read and interpreted with this in mind. So too much the past be viewed in light of the fact that the Church has since its inception undergone changes through time, never has it been static and yet has always striven to be universal.
It is our job as Catholic to unite under-God. This does not mean that we compromise by any means necessary to do so, it means instead that we must look inside of our motives and desires and determine if those things which we hope to place upon our Faith are themselves directed at the Truth, the one true, living, and ever lasting God. Only then can the Kingdom of Heaven truly reign supreme united in Heaven and on Earth with the Body of Christ as its army and fold. I don't think that we must reform the "reform of the reform" - but we must reform those that are unwilling to be God centered and are instead self-centered.
For more on this topic read these:
