Posted on 09/04/2013 12:04:32 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
It’s been quite a belligerent weekend in the Catholic blogosphere, hasn’t it?
First there was the Catholic Answers brouhaha, which was started in part by my post regarding the financial crisis looming at that great Catholic apologetics apostolate.
Then there was Michael Voris, chest thumping, publishing the salaries of well known Catholic media personalities, then castigating them for earning wages which are commensurate with their professional achievement and marketplace value, and which are sufficient to support their families.
Two seemingly unrelated dust-ups, but with a common element: In both cases the flames of discord were fanned by traditional Catholics.
It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the traditionalists—the very group which purports to defend the Church from transgressors—would so insistently work to separate Catholics one from the other? That their comments would be characterized, not by genuine caring for their fellow believers with whom they disagree, but with pride and venom?
Reading the combox arguments which ensued following my original Catholic Answers post, I couldn’t help but wonder what Jesus must think of the uncharitable way that some of His followers addressed one another.
And if you’re one of those who believe you can catch more flies with honey, rather than by whacking them over the head with a frying pan, then you’ll probably agree with me that any unbelievers who happened into the combox last week would not likely have stayed to pursue their study of the Catholic faith. No, more likely they’d have run in the opposite direction.
And that’s a shame.
C’mon, you guys: They’ll know you are Christians by your love. Pope Francis has called upon believers to build bridges, not walls. Let’s start building.
This is a classic case of false dichotomy.
The religions of the world that are currently growing are the ones that are being more demanding of their followers.
The ones that are dying are the ones using honey to be syrupy sweet in an effort to be "inclusive."
Alex, I’m bemused by your wall-to-wall coverage of this controversy. My traditionalist-filled Facebook wall isn’t nearly so thorough. ;)
A real good old fashioned brouhaha!
I had never heard of Patheos before, and after skimming through their website, I’m still not sure what they stand for.
The Catholic traditionalist with whom I’m most familiar is Charles Coulombe, and he has always struck me as a man with a sense of humor, far from the surly stereotype described by the author of this piece.
I'm amused by the coordinated "wall of silence" on the subject.
Things won't get really interesting, though, until after this program later today.
There's always bankruptcy court, if you prefer.
I do prefer the bankruptcy court since it puts things back to square one.
What post on CA troubles? They sent their appealed to me as i once posted there, but was banned for life by some mod whom i think misses the Inquisition, for countering an RC rant against Prots. But they still want money from me.
You smoked us out: it’s a coordinated effort. We also suppressed the whole traditionalist controversy in the mommy blogs that happened a while back. Whoa Nelly....remember that? No? You don’t keep up with the mommy blogs?
Whew, ok good. Never mind!
You know it’s possible that some of us just don’t give a flying flip about “blog controversies.”
Common ground is not found by resorting to hyperbole.
I think I prefer the inquisition to the higher critics and creation-deniers at “Catholic Answers.”
Yeah, I like Charles. And I agree. It is a stereotype, but there are definitely surly traditionalists, and we might well ask ourselves why.
Suppose we completely ban the Novus Ordo Mass starting today for....oh...15 years or so and then for another couple decades tolerate it extremely begrudgingly. We’ll treat people like complete freaks for asking for it, make them drive hours to find it in some unused storefront or completely inadequate space. Let’s see exactly how non-trads manage to stay sunny and optimistic after all that, and then we can complain about surly trads.
I’m not going to apologize for everything traditionalists do. But for Pete’s sake, they had their holiest and most precious possession on earth stolen from them and have been treated like garbage for decades. All completely improperly (illegally?) I might add, since Pope Benedict has now definitively established that the traditional Mass *was never abrogated*.
People find trads surly? Great. Offer it up. And maybe think about how the rest of us helped make them that way.
I have been able to attend 2 wonderful traditional parishes because of all the sacrifices and hard work the surly folks made over the years while being treated like garbage by their fellow Catholics. My old parish was started by a disaffected group and was eventually sold to the diocese and regularized. My new one is FSSP, which as you know splintered off of the SSPX.
As for this Voris/Catholic Answers blog “war”/pillowfight....meh. Whatever.
Really good comment. I feel a little less surly already.
six
Made you change hands!
Well done!
Well done!
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