ENGAGING THE CULTURE
Innovators: Calling on Tradition
Justifying the demolition of the unalterable
(Mar./Apr. 2000)

BY DONNA M. STEICHEN

IMPROBABLE AS IT SEEMS, a favorite tactic of the innovators who have dismantled Catholic culture in the past 35 years is appealing to tradition. To justify the demolition of all that once seemed unalterable in Catholic life, they argue that things were done their way in antiquity.

Their claim to champion tradition is logically shaky, coming as it does from the very folks who declare that Jesus never established a church. As a rule, though, they don't make that argument in the same breath as the first. Further ironies: they condemn opponents as medieval though their own case rests on the assumption that older is better, and their contention that precedent always prohibits change would deny the Church the same right they now seek for themselves.

Untroubled by the principle of contradiction, however, and armed with specious answers to any objections likely to arise, these certified "experts"—in theology, morality, liturgy, Scripture, catechetics, Jungian psychology, church design—remain serenely confident that they can manipulate the ignorant peasants in the pews. They will talk, talk, talk—a muddle of facts, half-truths, error and misinterpretation—until everyone else leaves the room.

Scene one:
Parishioner: "Moving the tabernacle from the sanctuary to the broom closet insults Our Blessed Lord. We want the tabernacle behind the main altar, in the center of His house."

Expert: "We are simply returning to the custom of the early Church. Eucharistic reservation was not introduced until at least the fourth century. Besides, Vatican II tells us not to regard the church as a House of God but as a tent for His pilgrim people."

Scene two:
Parishioner: "We want to institute Eucharistic Adoration in reparation for the irreverence Our Lord suffers from so many people. We think it will bring graces to our parish and teach His Real Presence by example."

Expert: "Eucharistic adoration didn't exist in apostolic times; Jesus wasn't even believed to be God until the Council of Nicea in the fourth century. The practice of Eucharistic adoration grew up in the dark ages, as a substitute for the Mass, when the increasingly distant altar and the growing emphasis on Jesus as a divine King made people feel unworthy to participate in the liturgy. Vatican II calls us to restore the altar to its central place and to emphasize the Real Presence of Christ in His people."

Scene three:
Parishioner: "Why do you tell us to stand through Mass, when Scripture tells us 'at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow'?"

Expert: "Kneeling is a modern concession to soft Americans. Catholic churches had no kneelers until the 20th century, or maybe the 19th."

Scene four:
Parishioner: "Why don't our children's religion classes teach the basic doctrines of Catholicism any more?"

Expert: "There was no catechism until Martin Luther wrote his. Vatican II calls us to think beyond the negative categories of sin and fear that was all Catholics were taught in pre-conciliar days. We must return to the teaching style of the early Church, where children learned about Jesus and Christian life from stories heard at table fellowship in house churches."

Parishioner: "But our children need to learn what God asks of them now. They need to know they can confess their sins and be forgiven. They don't even know the fourth commandment, never mind all ten."

Expert "The Question-and-Answer format of the old Baltimore catechism made children think the faith was a list of facts to be memorized, like multiplication tables. Today, as in the early Church, we know that Catholicism is not a set of rules but a way of life to be lived. Vatican II teaches us not to focus obsessively on petty personal imperfections, but to oppose big social sins. Care for the environment. Oppose racism. Embrace all humankind. Fight AIDS through sex education."

Scene five:
Parishioner: "Why are Sister Debby and Sister Nancy wearing white underwear in the center aisle? Why are they waving those scarves over their heads? Shouldn't someone tell them it's time for Mass?"

Expert: "They know the liturgy is about to begin. They are reviving the ancient art of sacred liturgical dance, so often neglected since King David danced before the Ark of the Covenant."

Needless to say, the passion to replace current usage with an older tradition stops abruptly once the favored new practice is adopted. A few years ago when Bishop William Bullock of Madison, Wis., directed the progressive St. Paul's Newman Center parish to stop using lay "concelebrants" at Mass, modernists excoriated him for "disturbing the community's settled custom."

This would be comedy if it did not concern the faith and worship owed to God. In this Catholic culture war, the dutiful laity has been greatly disadvantaged by having no script of its own. Michael Rose's splendid new book, The Renovation Manipulation, takes a long step in that direction. Don't leave for the parish meeting without it.

[ St. Catherine Review ]