There are so many variations of Catholicism that have 'C' words for adjectives.
I'm thinking of Conservative Catholicism which is right wing politically and liturgically, and then there's Cafeteria Catholicism in which the devotee picks and chooses which parts of the Catholic faith he think he likes and rejects the bits he finds unpalatable. Cultural Catholicism means "I'm Irish so I'm Catholic--and don't forget: it's 'Irish' first. Catholic second." Then there is Campfire Catholicism--where the liturgy is folksy with singalong songs and a warm cozy homilly. Don't forget Coca Cola Catholicism--in which the religion is sweet and fizzy and exciting (but it rots your spiritual teeth) I guess you could add 'Crazy Catholicism' which is made up of extreme right wing fundamentalist kooks. 'Conspiracy Catholicism' is obsessed with end times, Fatima prophecies, the lack of a proper dedication of Russia to the Blessed Virgin and the three dark days.
You pays your money and you takes your pick. I'm opting for Crunchy Catholicism. Crunchy Catholicism is like my crunchy cereal in the morning. It has, well, 'crunch.' It's conservative, but not crazy (but maybe I am crazy and don't know it) It revels in the irrelevant and delights in the dubious. Crunchy Catholicism is all for relics of saints and incorrupt bodies and those holy water bottles shaped like the blessed Mother with the crown for a cap. It is happy about saints that are stigmatics, who levitate and bi locate and fall into streams and make wisecracks to the Almighty. It's for exorcists and eucharistic miracles and friars with long beards and full habits who have given up millions of dollars to serve crackheads in the Bronx. It's for leper priests and little nuns who wash sores of dying people in the gutters of Calcutta. It's for first holy communion girls in white dresses and little boys with with coat and tie and their hair combed. It's for nuns. The ones in habits in convents. It's for lace and incense and birettas at Mass.
Lest Crunchy Catholicism seem all traddy and reactionary and folk religion or even (God forbid) superstitious!!, it is also for a faith that has intellectual rigor and a zesty willingness to communicate the truth that faith is an adventure. Faith is a trampoline not an easy chair. It's a risk and an investment in which you give all and receive more than your bargained for in return. Crunchy Catholicism is ready to read Dante and T.S.Eliot and Flannery O'Connor and learn Spanish and Italian and Latin because it's a good idea. Crunchy Catholicism reads the great philosophers and theologians and has Thomas Aquinas on it's iPhone reader and Fides et Ratio by the bedside, and Pope Benedict's latest work along side Evelyn Waugh. Crunchy Catholicism is as rollicking and controversialist as the Chesterbelloc and as tender hearted and compassionate and tough as the Little Flower (who--if she was a little flower--was no shrinking violet)
Crunchy Catholicism dislikes all the other 'C' varieties of Catholicism, but it also loves them because it sees that in each of them there is also something crunchy and good. Crunchy Catholicism defies the pigeon holes, escapes the neat categories and refuses to live in a box.
Unless the box says, "Crunchy Catholicism"
Thursday, April 07, 2011
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13 comments:
I am SO with you, Father!!!!
Let's here it for "crunchy Catholicism"! I think we're all crunchy in some way..no matter what "c" you fall under (by the way, isn't that pigeon-holing:)? We're all just on the journey, each in a different place.
Thanks for your humor, Father Dwight. You're cheerful spirit is always refreshing!
Speaking as a Protestant, it seems to me you are describing Protestantism. This is simply Protestant Catholicism. The only exception is that the one thing that is unchangeable throughout history and all the variations of Catholicism is the Eucharist. To your credit, it has remained the same. I'm drawn more to the Orthodox Catholic living in harmony with the Catechism than all the rest because the rest is all that I see in Protestantism.
I have to ask, did you get your idea from Rod Dreher's Crunch Conservative book? Not that it's bad if you did, just the ideas are quite similar.
Yes I had heard of Rod's 'Crunchy Conservatism'
Rich - you are correct. The difference is that despite our different strands within Catholicism we have an overarching unity in both the Eucharist and in our allegiance to the One Shepherd--the successor of Peter. After all, didn't our Lord say 'There shall be one flock and one shepherd?'
"and our allegiance to the one shephard--the successor of Peter."...
Fr. Longenecker, from what I've observed, far too many Catholics have even strayed from that stand. I even cringe when I hear of them talk about the "cranky old man in Rome." And when they talk about the freedom to do what they want in worship, they abandoned the chair of Peter. He becomes just another voice or opinion. At least that's what it appears to me. Now what are my feelings about the Pope? I'm sorting that out. I do believe he's more than just the CEO of the Catholic church. (if I may put it in modern terms) And I believe he is God's servant in place of authority to be listened to and obeyed. But the Tiber still is a little too deep for me.
I like the sound of being a crunchy catholic...........
or maybe....
Caring
Cagey
Calamitous
Calculating
Calm
Candid
Canny
Cantankerous
Capricious
careless
Carnal
Casual
Catastrophic
Catchy
Catty
Caustic
Cautious
Central
Certain
Chancy
Chapped
Characterless
Charismatic
Charming
Chaste
Chatty
Cheap
Cheerful
Childish/like
Chilly
Chipper
Choosy
Chunky
Churlish
Clairvoyant!?
Classy
Clever
Cliched
Clingy
Cloddish
Clownish
Clumsy
Coarse
Cocky
Cold
Coloruful
Combative
Comedic
Comfortable
Comical
Common
Competent
Competitive
Complex
ompliant
Compromising
Computerized
Concerned
Confident
Confusing
confrontational
Connected
Conniving
Conscious
Consensual
Consolatory
Contagious
Contemporary
Contemptible
Contentious
Convenient
Conventional
Convivial
Cool
Cordially
Corny
Corrupt
Costly
Courageous
Courteous
Cowardly
Coy
Cozy
Crabby
Cranky
Credible
Creepy
Critical
Crooked
Crucial
Crude
Cruel
Crusty
Cuddly
Cultured
Cumbersome
Cunning
Curious
Current
Cursed
Curt
Customary
Cute
But never in a box! Anyway, over here, crunchies are covered in chocolate and arrive in wrappers! Yum eeeeeeeeeee!
My wife and I have long referred to ourselves as Crunchy Catholics. I would add to the description for your consideration:
It fights for social justice but is wary of letting something as important as social welfare be handled by a government. It seeks to protect the environment, but because the world is a precious gift from the One we worship, and not because we worship nature. It promotes religious freedom, not only because it knows that lack of religious freedom has often gone poorly for Catholics, but also because there can be no sincere conversion by force or compulsion.
amazing elucidation, fair and balanced, contemporary as well
I love that description you give! It's like Joyce's saying that Catholicism means "Here comes everybody!" Crunchy Catholicism can be tasteful or tacky, ecstatic or grave ... but it ain't bland.
Crunchy is good, but there is always room for Cogburn Catholicism. ;-)
That's me! I'm a Crunchy Catholic! Thanks for this, Father, I needed it this morning.
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