Sure, we have hip hop priests and nuns who dress like cleaners in a mental ward, but their days are numbered, and did anybody who takes Catholicism seriously ever take them seriously? It's also true that in the last fifty years many Catholics have taken a wrong turn. They've wedded the Spirit of the Age, and now they're widows. In the last five decades too many Catholics have forgotten the timelessness of the Church in order to have a good time.
This plastic and elastic Catholicism is bogus. Deep down Catholicism has something ageless about it which survives all the depredations of the trendy crowd. Down through the ages the saints have never really taken notice what age they lived in. They sought to follow the truth, knowing that the truth, in every age would be both unpopular and yet totally relevant. They saw clearly and cut through the crap. I love this about the Catholic Church: although individual Catholics may fall for the Spirit of the Age, the Catholic Church herself does not.
The Catholic Church does not belong to any age because she belongs to every age. Just think of it. Here is an institution which has been around since the time of the Roman Emperors and she's still going strong. She's seen it all. Corruption from within and persecution from without. She's stood the test of time. Consequently, she stands above all the fashions and fads.
But at the same time, she takes on from the age she lives in, whatever good things exist there. She doesn't mind using modern technology, re-phrasing the ancient faith in modern terminology and engaging with the conflicts and debates of the age on equal terms with the children of that age. She's ever ancient and ever new.
She's like one of those august, aristocratic English women I used to know who wore their grandmother's tweeds and welly boots and went hunting grouse with a shotgun, and then came in and ordered dinner with their cell phone from a Chinese take away served in the formal dining room on antique china.
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You are kidding, right?
ReplyDeleteNovus Ordo Missae? Massive destruction of traditional forms of piety? Iconoclasm on a massive scale?
That was only a short 50 years ago, and its effects are still in full force today.
Catholicism has many strong points, but the church being immune from fashion is not one of them. The fact that others are more so does not alter that.
Absolutely, Father. It's why I'm crossing the Tiber. Roll on the Easter Vigil.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, you are in mortal danger of being deemed more Catholic than the Pope. Pax Christi!
ReplyDeleteI think maybe Fr. Longnecker is blessedly isolated from the zeitgeist worshipping Catholicism which is still the majority in the US. Or at least it seems so from where I am. (Rochester diocese, NY.)
ReplyDeleteDavid Nicoll, ultimately what Fr. Longnecker says is true, but it is only true in the long haul. In the short run, Andrew is right. Sometimes encountering the "short run" can be very painful.
I lived through the late 70's, and 80's, and early 90's...and stayed Catholic. But if I had to live through the 80's a second time..... Orthodoxy would be really really tempting.
Susan Peterson
As hard as it is to be mindful of in the moment, forty years is the blink of an eye in Church time. Before we know it those wretched giant puppets will be the butt of a "and now I know you're making that up Grandpa" statement. I hope.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing that God fashioned us in such a way that we can recognize beauty when we are in its presence?
ReplyDeleteWe must have been created in the image of God...no getting away from it. You can bastardize the liturgy all you want but people will always be able to recognize what you've done.
When I studied literature in college the definition of classic was that it applied as much centuries after the writing as the day it was written. That applies to Shakespeare, the Iliad (ugh!),the Quixote, as well as the ultimate Classics, The Torah, the prophets, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe Type of classic has to be the Catholic Church. I understand that Life Teen and worship bands are dying out (Praise Be to God), but the Mass is the same and is being renewed as it is being recovered.
I agree wholeheartedly, Father.
There really is nothing new under the sun, even iconoclasm which lasted 57 years.
David, Cross on over. But I recall someone saying, "Come on in, the water's awful." That is correct. So don't be backslapped by expectations that kill you. The Church is immune ... well, maybe on paper. But in practice, Catholic parishes have always seemed to me more like Episcopal ones, just with less good cultural stuff.
ReplyDelete"But in practice, Catholic parishes have always seemed to me more like Episcopal ones, just with less good cultural stuff."
ReplyDeleteAnd with valid sacraments, usually daily Mass, the richness of the heritage of the Church through the Ages. Go early to a weekday Mass and you might see somebody saying the Stations of the Cross, several people praying a Rosary, or just praying, somebody else kneeling before the Tabernacle. I rarely saw anything like this in all my years in the Episcopal church. But, I've seen it even in some pretty wacky Catholic parishes. Just like Fr D says.