Author Topic: Traditional Catholics (Read 757 times)

chichi is my cat · « **on:** July 07, 2011, 09:30:03 AM »

I found this on FE and thought it quite interesting. It was a response to a poll in which the OP was asking if Trad families in the US were going up in numbers. I am going to post a poll on this later.

=============================================
I reckon trad numbers are similar to other groups in the US. When I went to Auriesville this past Fall, several of us in the brigade were talking about it is great that the traddies have babies, but how many actual stay as such, for every 6-7 children born maybe 2 or 3 at most will carry on and make babies or become a nun or priest. The secularism and cultures we have today is prevalent, and even if you innoculate a child from it, that is no safe bet. The main benefits of large trad families is producing vocations, historically priests came from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th son. It is not a coincidence you have a drop in vocations in the West as birth rates drop particularly as parents are more "protective" of their child, meaning that they would rather have them get married and get rich rather than pursue a religious vocation. Traddies produce a disproportionate number of vocations in the West relative to their numbers (let's say 1-2 million traddies versus 200 million in the West), I have been in NO where there is 2000-3000 parishioners and not one vocation in 20-30 years, but then I go to TLM with 400-500 tops and find 3-4 young men in the discerning process. I think the growth in traditional thought is from folks like me who was not born into the traddie way and wouldn't say I am quite a trad either (I kind of don't like labeling myself when it comes to the Church), who feel that we were robbed of so much for the sake of modernity and openness and running in the valley with unicorns kind of feelings.

Short answer: we are growing, but not as rapidly as we think or like. I like to think in my lifetime we will be one big happy Catholic once again with the exception of the heterodoxs who will stand outside crying to the NYT about Sue and Jill can't get married and be priestesses. The interesting thing will be the missionary factor, will the traditional societies lead the actual new evangelization in the Western World especially as Dioceses find themselves strapped for both cash and priests.

udoc89 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 27, 2011, 06:54:46 PM »

You must also be aware that many new "traddies" come from decidedly un-traddie traditions. My husband and I contracepted and had our requisite 2 children while we were still Episcopalians. Then he mutilated himself and had a vasectomy. I cried. I wasn't sure why. After we joined the post-counciliar church, he inquired about having the vasectomy reversed. The doctor just laughed at him and told him "fat chance." I was 42 by that time, anyway. I am 57 now and trying to find my way. My poor, long-suffering husband is along for the ride. I am trying to defer to him for the first time in our married life, to let him be the man God intended him to be, and he doesn't know what to make of me. None of us is perfect. We are doing the best we can. I am attempting to find my way Home, but I feel humbled (yes, humbled) by those of you who have large families and have always been truly Catholic. Most days I feel like an utter failure, until I realize that is not Jesus talking.

I have turned off my TV this evening because I read in another thread that the TV is a "demon" in my living room. (All I watch is Turner Classic Movies and Masterpiece Theatre, but I am willing to concede that even that may be an occasion to sin.) I am trying to do what is right and holy. But some of y'all really scare me, and I think sometimes you are splitting hairs. I can't take it all in at once. I have to consider one issue at a time. Currently, that issue is buying more dresses and skirts and keeping my head covered at Mass. I am not making light of important issues---but I must keep my sense of humor or I will lose my mind, but hopefully not my soul.

On a different note, my darling daughter, who was 9 when we joined the Church---even though it was a Novus Ordo, neo-con establishment--is making an heroic effort to live out her vocation as a wife and mother. They have been married two years and have one precious son (14 months) and a daughter on the way in December. But it is more difficult for her to go "counter-cultural" than it is for me at 57 to tell her it is the godly thing to do. As I've said before, my family is all protestant, and they think she is crazy, although they are too polite to say so. She is willing, however, to have the number of children God ordains for her. So is my adorable son-in-law, whose parents no longer go to Mass but attend a Christian-lite-mega-church that serves up coffee and entertainment on Sunday mornings. The world is a messy place.

My point is, the term "traditional" refers to many different sets of circuмstances.

Sigismund · « **Reply #2 on:** July 27, 2011, 07:24:10 PM »

Actually, I think you are pretty safe with TCM and Masterpiece Theater. Whether it is a good use of your time is another and very subjective question.

MaterDominici · « **Reply #3 on:** July 28, 2011, 12:46:33 AM »

While the Internet might be a good place to learn many things about real Catholicism, it has the downside of throwing it at you all at once without consideration to where you're at in what can be a long process. What is important is that you be of good will in learning and praying about things.

You mention TV. It sounds like you're pretty much already detached from it. I agree with Sigismund that watching TCM isn't going to be your ruin. If you've attended to all your material and spiritual duties, I don't think it's wrong to watch some carefully-selected television. We don't have a TV, but do watch an occassional movie on the computer.

There is a danger in getting overwhelmed with new information and then tossing it all due to the stress it's placed on your life. Unless you're doing something mortally sinful, be at peace with where you are and move forward one step at a time.

s2srea · « **Reply #4 on:** July 28, 2011, 09:00:13 AM »

I believe there are a lot of ways to look at being Traditional Catholic, for those not born into Tradition, in the world we live in. I think, first and foremost, we must realize what great grace we've been given. I still, after so many years, cannot get my head around that one. We are so blessed, by God's grace, and I believe first and foremost, its vital we realize this.

What we choose to do with this, of course, is an entirely different matter. I don't believe that the experience of turning into a Traditional Catholic, is automatic. There's no switch, and "POOF!" you're all of a sudden a Trad. Amongst other things, its a process of reading, prayer, sacraments, and disdain for the world. Of course, the Mass, is a foundation for most in "seeing the light"; but I think, looking back, I find it quite juvenile to think it was only about the mass. This isn't to downplay the importance of the highest prayer we have, but apart from simple Catechism, which I'm embarrassed to admit I'd disregarded in my early days as a trad, there is a profoundly different state of mind required in being a Traditional Catholic which truly sets one apart from the world. Its this Catholic state of mind in which I continue to strive for and truly find beauty.

Its being able to see EVERYTHING with Catholic eyes. I'm not sure about everyone else, but it wasn't automatic for me. To be certain, I knew I love Christ, his Church, Mother and saints, but being under a torrent of moral and spiritual attack for so many years by the world and an impostor Rite truly had taken its tole on me, so that when I first converted, many things I did not see. At a certain point, I am sorry to admit, I attempted to intertwine the world with my Faith. I thought that I could somehow live in both worlds. I mean, I thought I could still do things like go to Vegas, get inebriated, not pray the rosary with my family, and be Catholic. It didn't work. I really see now, to be Catholic, isn't difficult, it only takes what seems like a difficult decision, at the time, to continue to learn and grow.

I am still so far away from where I would like to be as a Catholic, yet I believe I'm also right where I should be because I don't believe we ever stop in our spiritual growth. There are things, WEEKLY, which I try to change about myself. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed, sometimes I'm discouraged, and other times I feel a strong sense of Christ's love. What I know is that it is His will that I try to let guide me.

Being on this board, I believe, is priceless for me. I feel that it balances a lot of people out many times. Where many times there are polemical exchanges, you have people like Matthew and Hobbledehoy who can many times step in and share their knowledge objectively, yet respectfully and be a great example for the rest of us. You also have people like Raoul and Caminus who have a wealth of knowledge and insight, which I (at least) would never be exposed to anywhere else. There's so much knowledge here to be found. There's also a lack of exclusiveness you find on many other Trad websites. We are free to exchange ideas, even if we disagree amongst ourselves, and even the Moderators.