Our Duty: To Be Counter-Cultural

By E.J.G. Jones

We men are creatures of habit. Furthermore, we tend to associate with those like ourselves. In the city where I live, there are, very broadly speaking, three different cultures. There's the "Modern American" culture, which is shared by the Scandinavian-descended liberal Lutherans, the German/Irish-descended liberal Catholics, and the Protestant-descended blacks. Then there are the pagan Asians, and finally the Mahometan Somalis. These groups tend to remain pretty much to themselves. It isn't because they're "racist," or excessively partial to their own skin color, but simply because it is natural for them to stick together cohesively as a group, due to their common culture -their shared values, history, experiences, etc. When I walk down the street, therefore, it's no surprise at all for me to see a group of Asians, or a group of Somalians, etc. Likewise, it's not surprising for me to see a group of white kids.

Despite how this no doubt sounds, I'm not writing about race. Where do Traditional Catholics fit into this cultural picture? Cultures, like the ones above, are ultimately governed and defined by morals, which inform customs, themselves the basis of shared culture. Herein, we have the classic dual applications of the Catholic Faith: as applied to matters of faith, and as applied to matters of morals. Put another way, we have the faith as it applies to the sacred, and the faith as it applies to the secular, to use the distinction which we tend to habitually make today in our lives.

Now, most Traditionalists are particularly proficient (or at least adequately so, else they wouldn't be Traditional) at applying the teachings of the faith to matters of the sacred. It's relatively easy to see the connection between the Faith and, well, matters of faith. Latin in the liturgy, for instance, to guard against heresy, or defending the dogma of Transubstantiation against clueless moderns. It's also relatively easy to apply these ideas of our faith, very superficially, to the secular world. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that if the faith teaches "thou shalt not murder," then wanton slaying on the street, or abortion, are both out of the question -and that likewise, if we're not to covet our neighbor's wife, i.e., not to commit the sin of lust, that also naturally precludes tolerating acts of sodomy.

When, however, we come to the secular side of things, we really don't apply the faith in all its rigor. We tend to give the world a free pass, perhaps because we feel that the moderns "really don't know any better," or perhaps, more dangerously, we mistakenly feel that worldly culture "really isn't all that dangerous." Thus, we are wont to participate in the common culture around us ---one that is the fruit of a rejection of Christ, and which has, by rejecting publicly His overlordship, has in fact rejected, more-or-less publicly, His morality.

Some people love to criticize Traditionalists. Their argument runs thusly: "You lot are so puritanical! You condemn everything. Why must you ceaselessly condemn rock music, television, harmless fashions in clothing, and popular democracy! Many of these things aren't inherently evil, and it makes all trads look silly! You should find something really important to preach about, and keep these things to yourself. Just confine the faith to matters of faith --talk about how good the Latin Mass is, rather than how bad rock and roll music is!"

What are we to say to such Traditionalists? They clearly understand the faith as it applies to sacred things -promotion of the True Mass, defense of what's written in the Catechisms, etc. Nevertheless, they have, we fear, drunk the modern world's kool-aid. They really, implicitly, believe in the separation of Church and State, as enshrined in the US Constitution. They'd doubtless be appalled if you presented it to them in strict theological terms and asked them if they adhered to the heresy of religious liberty, but, missing the forest for the trees, they enthusiastically uphold this principle in practice. Not only do they condemn us so vociferously for attacking this "first amendment right," but they put it into practice in their own lives, by effectively separating the sacred and the secular -precisely as the freemasonic authors, or, at least, the devil, intended. They clearly see the connection between the faith and matters of faith, but the thought of really applying the teachings of the faith to the world around us, the, in effect, "real world that we live in," is seemingly abhorrent to them. Thus, they refuse to analyze the rotten culture which surrounds us in the light of the faith, and to separate themselves from it. Whether this is due to their own fondness for it, or simply a shortsighted notion of how the faith applies to the world is of no concern, really. The important point here is that the faith informs morals, and thereby cultural phenomena.

Put bluntly, Traditional Catholics do not fit into the little portrait of cultures I outlined above. Our culture is informed by the faith, not by worldly pursuits or the values and teachings of false religions. Why do Traditional Catholics harp so seemingly incessantly on "rock, TV, clothes, and democracy?" We do so, because, as sad and pathetic as it sounds, these four things effectively make up what's left of any sort of cohesive "culture" in the West -particularly the United States, today.

When I listen in -and occasionally participate in, the conversations of my classmates, it's filled with this sort of thing. Indeed, virtually everybody in the class became fast friends easily and quickly. Why? Because they share a common culture. Their common culture, as manifested in what they always talk about -the common ties which bind them together, are, in a phrase, "Rock, TV, clothes, and democracy." I know it sounds absurd, but it's really, quite sadly, true. Ask any of your children who have secular acquaintances what these acquaintances talk about, and you'll see I'm quite correct. The common denominator which binds modern people together lies primarily in their consumption of today's mass media. The bands (or "artists") they listen to, the movies they've seen and can quote line after line from amid guffaws and witty remarks, the clothes they wear (or aren't wearing, depending on the season) and where they purchased them, ---and, when their minds are a tad more elevated, the actions of President Obama, the US Congress, or some spectacular story they gleaned from their latest session with CNN or Fox.

These false gods are what today inform our "culture" in the West. Not, as it was in the time of St. Gregory the Great or Bl. Charlemagne, the Catholic Faith. Consequently, it behooves us always to bear in mind that the culture which surrounds us is not ours, and is precisely that worldly seduction that was warned of so many times in the bible and the writings of the saints. Such a thread has been present in all eras -fashionable pursuits that allow no place for the faith, and which, if allowed to, would push the faith off into its own little corner for private thoughts and Sunday mornings. We must fight against this, and not be afraid to seem "different" from the poor, misguided souls around us. They are quite happy to wallow in muck whilst running towards an abyss. Just because faithful Catholics are obliged to be in the world -in their presence, where we should be doing all we can to convince them to leave their river of sewage and climb into our boat- does not mean that we should slather ourselves with their muck too, "to fit in," or because it's "pleasant." The muck might be soft and warm, but it's still muck, and will lead us to the loss of Heaven and eternal torments, should we succuмb to its pleasures. Certainly, experiencing those pleasures willfully is not a good way to steel ourselves to ultimately resist them! We must expose the shallowness, the tendency to lead to sin, and the false ideologies which underlie these bastions of the world's culture, so as to prevent, as much as we can, people from falling into its arms. Furthermore, we must substitute our own culture, informed by the Catholic Faith. Easier said than done, of course, but a lively appreciation for the faith in everyday life is, at the least, a start!


Posted on the feast of the Forty Holy Martyrs a.D. MMX

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