Author Topic: The hardest part of traditional Catholicism? (Read 2062 times)

Jitpring · « **on:** February 21, 2012, 08:08:02 PM »

For you, what's the hardest - or most uncomfortable, if you like - part of being a traditional Catholic today?

For me, I'd say it's the ever-growing sense of alienation not only from those of the world, but from those of the Conciliar Church. I'm not sure which is worse.

Busillis · « **Reply #1 on:** February 21, 2012, 08:09:35 PM »

The alienation is the worst. I don't feel I belong anywhere. Even "traditional Catholicism" seems to include too much under its umbrella.

s2srea · « **Reply #2 on:** February 21, 2012, 08:12:11 PM »

Good post!

I would say, and its related to your own experience, its explaining to non-Catholics and Conciliar-Catholics that I'm a Catholic, yet don't ascribe to any of VII and post-VII changes to the faith. Its not really a conversation you can just 'have'.

Jitpring · « **Reply #3 on:** February 21, 2012, 08:19:27 PM »

Quote from: s2srea

I would say, and its related to your own experience, its explaining to non-Catholics and Conciliar-Catholics that I'm a Catholic, yet don't ascribe to any of VII and post-VII changes to the faith. Its not really a conversation you can just 'have'.

Definitely.

I forgot to mention that I'm the only traditional Catholic in my family, while two are, unconsciously, Conciliarists. It's very hard to deal with those who think they're Catholics but are actually Conciliarists.

s2srea · « **Reply #4 on:** February 21, 2012, 08:25:39 PM »

Quote from: Jitpring

Definitely.

I forgot to mention that I'm the only traditional Catholic in my family, while two are, unconsciously, Conciliarists. It's very hard to deal with those who think they're Catholics but are actually Conciliarists.

That must be very difficult. I sometimes wonder (fearfully!) how it would be if my parents and sister weren't traditional.

I also think its worth remembering that it is Grace from God that has put us where we are; its pretty humbling when you think about it!

ServusSpiritusSancti · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2012, 08:53:31 PM »

For me, the hardest part about being a Traditional Catholic is that I have to resort to the internet just to have Traditional Catholic friends, and to find a Traditional Catholic spouse.

Oh, and I should add that another extremely hard thing is not having access to a Traditional Latin Mass. That is really hard. I must resort to the internet for that as well, as I watch a live TLM on my computer every Sunday. It's hard, but the reward one receives from it in Heaven is worth it, no doubt.

MyrnaM · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2012, 09:06:01 PM »

For myself, the hardest part is concern for my adult children, grandchildren, Godchildren, the youth in general, concern for their soul.

Fear for myself because when God gives much, much is expected.

songbird · « **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2012, 01:48:27 PM »

The hardest part being traditional would be the loss of sacraments, followed by the loss of family members, like Myrna said and next would be rejection. Songbird

udoc89 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2012, 07:55:38 PM »

To me, it's knowing who to believe. I'm new to this. I am well-read and reasonably intelligent, but the plethora of attitudes, opinions, and viewpoints leaves my head spinning. Am I to support Bishop Fellay or Bishop Williamson? Should I attend the Latin Mass at my local parish--or drive two hours to a SSPX? Has SSPX gone off the beam, or should I be looking at something else? And finally---yes, finally---should I be wearing pants to Mass??????????

s2srea · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2012, 08:44:25 PM »

Quote from: udoc89

To me, it's knowing who to believe. I'm new to this. I am well-read and reasonably intelligent, but the plethora of attitudes, opinions, and viewpoints leaves my head spinning. Am I to support Bishop Fellay or Bishop Williamson? Should I attend the Latin Mass at my local parish--or drive two hours to a SSPX? Has SSPX gone off the beam, or should I be looking at something else? And finally---yes, finally---should I be wearing pants to Mass??????????

Hello Udoc!

Though there are plenty more worthy of it here, I hope you wouldn't mind if I may offer advice to you on this important post. I suggest against engaging too closely in all of the controversy you may read about. There's a lot of it here, and even more of it on the internet itself. But if you're new to being a Trad- the most important thing to you should be focusing in on is the development of the interior life; stick to the library section, and read the spiritual books by the saints my friend. Hobbledehoy, and other members, has uploaded A LOT of good, approved, pre Vatican II books, all (at least mostly all) with imprimaturs. It goes without saying that the meditations upon the Holy Rosary will be a foundation you can build off of, and are an invaluable tool we should all take part in, as requested by our lady (if you've yet to get in the habit of reciting the Rosary daily, I would also suggest you perhaps choose a book on the Holy Rosary in the library section).

This Fellay vs Williamson, or this group vs that group, sede vs non-sede, who was right here or not, is all hoopla, and can be very dangerous to the immature soul (and given that you're new to Tradition, this is probably the case; I've been a traditional Catholic for 10 years now, and I'm still very undeveloped). I don't think God cares about that as much as he does seeing us becoming better Christians and living holy lives; I would think he would find it more important to see someone grow in love for him and His Mother more, than to make sure that we're on the right side of the flavor of the month goings-on in Traddie land. Remember this my friend: he's graced us with the True Faith not to worry about politics, but to be able to fully develop the soul and to become more devoted to him.

Does this mean we can't read and comment on this forum about these things? Not at all- apart from being interesting (at least to me), there is much we can learn. I suppose my suggestion is that learning about all these attitudes, opinions and viewpoints should come second to advancing the spiritual and prayer life.

Ask anyone here, and I'm sure they'll be able to think of any number of previous members here who went with the former route (too involved in politicking and defining less important things or defining things way beyond them or any average theologian for that matter) and will tell you how bad of a place they're in.

copticruiser · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2012, 08:51:10 PM »

It is so hard isnt it?

We must face persecution from

COUNCILLIAR CATHOLICS

SOME OR ALL FAMILY MEMBERS

NON CATHOLICS

I can see it not just my HEART BURSTING most catholics on this site can relate. All we want is to follow the One the True Apostolic Catholic Church and were having a hard time finding her.

Seems to be sheep spread all over the place and not much for sheperds were almost protestant in the sense that we got to fiqure it out on our own. Thankfully we have the COUNCIL OF TRENT CATECHISM.

Here is the easy part though :dancing:

God brought us to this understanding
We know its right
The tens of thousands of saints all agree with us
We would get along with padre pio, fulton sheen, all the pope pius popes
We so love to be in communion with other trads
We dont search for the truth we are the truth
Dont we have just awesome sneak peak previews from the prophetic saints?
When we look at the alternative of FITTING IN I think wed pass on that though

There will be goats and sheep those with eyes see those with ears hear. This is a wild and wonderful world we live in. Our lord promises not to leave us nor forsake us.

I always ask our Lord as we go through painful processes " Am I suppose to Gold purified in fire to be made worthy?" Then I guess Our lord wants the impurities out and that takes a bit of work. :scratchchin:

Dont worry it will all come together and this too shall pass. :dancing:

Your friendly canadian :farmer:

Darcy · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2012, 10:36:29 PM »

It is almost like being a Traditional Catholic causes more doubts about the truth. I really have to not think about the internal disputes. I really am not wise enough to understand what is going on. But then when I close my mind that way, I say why not go to this church or that one......

Often I feel that in a way I am copping out by not going to Mass because after all, I say to myself, which Mass is valid? Its easy to get tempted.
It does drive people crazy...admit it.

It used to be that every time I came here I left in tears and was so distressed that my husband wanted to disconnect me from the ethernet.
Now I just say I am doing the best I can. If its not good enough let God be my Judge.

I have been reading history and I feel that the Traditionalists must make a clean break from the defaulted protestant conciliar church. All the independents and Tradionalist sects must come together. Like this is really ridiculous all this factious (?) infighting.

ServusSpiritusSancti · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2012, 10:37:57 PM »

Quote from: udoc89

Am I to support Bishop Fellay or Bishop Williamson?

It's up to you, and picking a side really doesn't play any role in the salvation of your soul, though I side with Bishop Williamson for numerous reasons.

Quote

Has SSPX gone off the beam, or should I be looking at something else?

I agree with s2srea on this one. This whole battle amongst Traditional groups is baloney. There is nothing wrong with attending an SSPX Mass. If I had access to one, I'd attend in an instant!

Quote

And finally---yes, finally---should I be wearing pants to Mass??????????

No. Women should wear skirts to Mass.

Vladimir · « **Reply #13 on:** February 24, 2012, 12:02:10 AM »

Quote from: Darcy

It is almost like being a Traditional Catholic causes more doubts about the truth. I really have to not think about the internal disputes. I really am not wise enough to understand what is going on. But then when I close my mind that way, I say why not go to this church or that one......

Often I feel that in a way I am copping out by not going to Mass because after all, I say to myself, which Mass is valid? Its easy to get tempted.
It does drive people crazy...admit it.

It used to be that every time I came here I left in tears and was so distressed that my husband wanted to disconnect me from the ethernet.
Now I just say I am doing the best I can. If its not good enough let God be my Judge.

I have been reading history and I feel that the Traditionalists must make a clean break from the defaulted protestant conciliar church. All the independents and Tradionalist sects must come together. Like this is really ridiculous all this factious (?) infighting.

While s2srea's advice was the most practical, this post does a really good job of showing an example of what traditional Catholics really struggle with even when they do follow the advice of "stick to the spiritual life, etc".

The key is probably just to find a traditional priest, ordained by a traditional bishop just to silence any thoughts, and attend Mass there. As Darcy wrote, reading too much really does drive people insane. It's a fact. They get this and that view all jumbled up in their heads and they can't make sense of anything because it wasn't their place to investigate in the first place. (I've found it necessary to stop reading books related to the modern crisis because I don't really know enough about it to be reading that type of material and reading it just makes my mind spin. I'm not ashamed to say that I prefer to read Chinese poetry or Confucian and Taoist texts to things on the Crisis, since at least in the case of the former I don't get all confused and worried).

The internet does tend to magnify and at the same time keep these problems under control. It magnifies in that it allows us access to a vast wealth of information and dis-information, tending to inflate our pride of our perceived knowledge. At the same time, it keeps this pride under control because it offers us these forums as a place to go through our "phases" in a relatively harmless way. For example, aside from blushing with embarassment from behind my computer screen every time an old post of mine resurfaces, I can't say that expressing my views on CathInfo has really harmed me in anyway. To be honest, while reading my old posts is very embarassing, I think it does me good in away to help me remember to hold my tongue in the future.

On the other hand, the forums can be unhealthy, although not deadly, to the spiritual life. We can too easily become convinced of our progress in the spiritual life when we are always discuss lofty spiritual maxims and what not from behind our computers.

now Darcy, is it really necessary to totally "break from the Conciliar church" or whatever. I guess this depends on what you mean by that. Certainly we should avoid the ambiguity that issues forth from it, but nevertheless there remains a good deal of souls in that Conciliar church that are of good will who God has deigned not to enlighten with the traditional Faith. Why this is is a mystery because certainly there are some holier in the Conciliar church than those of us in tradition (at least this is true of myself). break from the institution, but not from the individuals.

I think we can learn a lot from the concept of Wu-Wei, or "non-ado" as John Wu translates it.

udoc89 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2012, 06:58:03 PM »

Quote from: s2srea

Quote from: udoc89
To me, it's knowing who to believe. I'm new to this. I am well-read and reasonably intelligent, but the plethora of attitudes, opinions, and viewpoints leaves my head spinning. Am I to support Bishop Fellay or Bishop Williamson? Should I attend the Latin Mass at my local parish--or drive two hours to a SSPX? Has SSPX gone off the beam, or should I be looking at something else? And finally---yes, finally---should I be wearing pants to Mass??????????

Hello Udoc!

Though there are plenty more worthy of it here, I hope you wouldn't mind if I may offer advice to you on this important post. I suggest against engaging too closely in all of the controversy you may read about. There's a lot of it here, and even more of it on the internet itself. But if you're new to being a Trad- the most important thing to you should be focusing in on is the development of the interior life; stick to the library section, and read the spiritual books by the saints my friend. Hobbledehoy, and other members, has uploaded A LOT of good, approved, pre Vatican II books, all (at least mostly all) with imprimaturs. It goes without saying that the meditations upon the Holy Rosary will be a foundation you can build off of, and are an invaluable tool we should all take part in, as requested by our lady (if you've yet to get in the habit of reciting the Rosary daily, I would also suggest you perhaps choose a book on the Holy Rosary in the library section).

This Fellay vs Williamson, or this group vs that group, sede vs non-sede, who was right here or not, is all hoopla, and can be very dangerous to the immature soul (and given that you're new to Tradition, this is probably the case; I've been a traditional Catholic for 10 years now, and I'm still very undeveloped). I don't think God cares about that as much as he does seeing us becoming better Christians and living holy lives; I would think he would find it more important to see someone grow in love for him and His Mother more, than to make sure that we're on the right side of the flavor of the month goings-on in Traddie land. Remember this my friend: he's graced us with the True Faith not to worry about politics, but to be able to fully develop the soul and to become more devoted to him.

Does this mean we can't read and comment on this forum about these things? Not at all- apart from being interesting (at least to me), there is much we can learn. I suppose my suggestion is that learning about all these attitudes, opinions and viewpoints should come second to advancing the spiritual and prayer life.

Ask anyone here, and I'm sure they'll be able to think of any number of previous members here who went with the former route (too involved in politicking and defining less important things or defining things way beyond them or any average theologian for that matter) and will tell you how bad of a place they're in.

Thank you, Dear, whoever you are!