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TRADITIONAL CATHOLICISM
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The terms traditionalist Catholic and traditional Catholic are used to refer to Roman Catholics who want to see the worship and customs of the general body of Roman Catholics return to those prevailing before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965.
Many of them claim that, since then, the presentation and the understanding of the Church's teachings have changed, at least in emphasis, to an unacceptable degree. Some exclude from the meaning of the two terms those whose views on this matter are more liberal (such as "Indult Catholics").
Survey of traditionalist groups
Traditionalist Catholics have in common a dedication to attending Mass celebrated in Latin in accordance with one of the editions of the Roman Missal published prior to the liturgical reform of 1969-1970 (see Tridentine Mass). Some reject the last edition of the pre-revision Missal, which was issued in 1962 by Pope John XXIII, and some wish to return even to before the 1955 edition, which incorporates the many changes that Pope Pius XII made in the liturgy of Holy Week (see Mass of Paul VI).
While no organization links all or even a majority of traditionalist Catholics, many of them associate with a particular priestly society. Some traditionalist societies enjoy cordial relations with the Church authorities and are recognised by them as fully canonically regular. These include the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney. Other societies exist in a state of dispute with or separation from Rome, though they maintain that their canonical position is entirely legitimate. The Society of St. Pius X is the best-known of these institutions. Other societies hold that the Holy See is currently vacant, and that the pontiffs who have reigned since the 1960s have been neither true Catholics nor true popes. Such "sedevacantist" groups include the Society of St. Pius V, the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen and the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement. Some groups, such as the True Catholic Church and the Palmarian Catholic Church, have elected or recognised popes of their own. In addition, small local groups of traditionalist Catholics sometimes form around an individual priest who has broken with his diocese or religious institute.
There is a certain level of dispute among the various traditionalist groups at the official level, but traditionalist Catholic laypeople generally enjoy good relations with each other (though there is some tension between sedevacantists and non-sedevacantists). A traditionalist Catholic might have strong opinions for or against worshiping at Masses celebrated without official approval; alternatively, he might worship without qualm at Masses celebrated by more than one of the above-mentioned groups.
Traditionalist beliefs
Traditionalist Catholics believe that they are preserving Catholic orthodoxy by refusing to accept certain changes introduced since the Second Vatican Council, changes that have been described as amounting to "a veritable revolution". They claim that the positions now taken by mainstream Catholics would have been considered "Modernist" or "liberal" at the time of the Council, and that they themselves hold to the positions that were then considered "conservative" or "traditional".
Most traditionalists view the Second Vatican Council as a valid, albeit problematic, Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, though most sedevacantists regard it as wholly invalid. Traditionalists tend to categorize the Council as a "pastoral" Council, which did not purport to define infallibly any of its teachings as part of the Catholic Faith. Support for this view is sought in Pope John XXIII's Opening Address to the Council, Pope Paul VI's closing address, the lack of formal definitions and anathemas in the Council's sixteen documents, and the alleged ambiguity of those documents.
Pope Benedict XVI has contrasted the "interpretation of discontinuity and rupture" which Traditionalists apply to the Council with the interpretation of "reform and continuity" proposed by the Church authorities. This latter interpretation has its roots in John XXIII's Opening Address to the Council, in which the Pope stated that the Council "wishe[d] to transmit [Catholic] doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion", and added:
- Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands... This sure unchangeable doctrine, which must be faithfully respected, has to be studied in depth and presented in a way that answers the needs of our time. For the deposit of the faith, that is, the truths contained in our venerable doctrine, is one thing, and the way in which they are enunciated, while still preserving the same meaning and significance, is another.[1] [2]
By contrast, most Traditionalist Catholics believe that errors have crept into the presentation and understanding of Catholic teaching since John XXIII spoke those words. The blame for this is variously attributed by Traditionalists of different tendencies to liberal interpretations of the conciliar documents, to harmful post-conciliar pastoral decisions, to the conciliar documents themselves, or to some combination of these.
Allegations of discontinuity and rupture
Many traditionalist Catholics maintain that the following perceived innovations characterize the present-day teaching and practice of the Church authorities, and that they are incompatible with the teachings and provisions of earlier Church documents:
- A new ecclesiology which they claim fails to recognise the Catholic Church as the one true church established by Jesus Christ, and instead holds that the true church "subsists in" the Catholic Church. They claim that the typical interpretation of this phrase contradicts Pope Pius XII's Mystici Corporis Christi and other papal documents.
- A new ecumenism which they see as aiming at a false pan-Christian religious unity without requiring non-Catholics to convert to the Catholic faith. They see this as contradicting the teachings of the Bible, Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis and other documents.
- An acceptance, in the Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis Humanae, of the principle of religious liberty, which they claim was condemned by Pope Pius IX in Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors.
- A new rite of Mass, which they refer to as the "Novus Ordo Missae" or "Novus Ordo" (see Mass of Paul VI). They regard this as de-emphasizing the traditional Catholic doctrine that the Mass is a true sacrifice, and contend that it has been stripped of important Catholic prayers; is man-centered rather than God-centered; is less beautiful, poetic and spiritually edifying than the earlier liturgy; de-emphasizes the ordained priesthood; is open to abuse because of the variety of options allowed; and omits certain readings that mention Hell, miracles or sin, or might offend Jews. Traditionalists hold differing opinions on the validity and acceptability of the revised Mass liturgy:
- Some see it as valid, and as acceptable when necessary, though the Tridentine Mass should be attended when at all possible.
- Some, including adherents of the Society of St. Pius X, hold that it is in principle valid but must in practice be avoided because the pastoral practices are sacrilegious and harmful to the Catholic Faith, and because Masses celebrated in the revised rite are often in fact celebrated improperly and are hence invalid.
- Some, including most sedevacantists, see it as invalid and entirely unacceptable.
- A departure from the traditional belief that the Church and the world are at variance with one another to some degree, and that the Church has enemies. They believe that Pope Pius X's warnings in Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Leo XIII's Humanum Genus and other papal warnings against secret societies and enemies of Christianity have gone unheeded, and that the enemy warned against has entered into the human element of the Church itself.
- A new understanding of collegiality that they claim has weakened the papacy and made bishops' conferences a veritable "second Vicar of Christ" for the Church. They see this as contradicting, among other documents, Pope Leo XIII's Satis Cognitum and the Nota Praevia (appendix) to Vatican II's Lumen Gentium.
- A new focus on the "dignity of man", which they claim ignores original sin and the need for supernatural grace, and which they also claim has led to a sort of Utopianism that sees peace as possible without recognizing the Kingship of Christ. They see this attitude, and teachings rooted in it, as contradicting Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas, Pope Leo XIII's Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae and Rerum Novarum, Pope Pius X's Notre charge apostolique, and other papal and conciliar documents on social matters.
- A new and critical attitude towards Sacred Scripture that, they say, contradicts Leo XIII's Providentissimus Deus and Benedict XV's Spiritus Paraclitus among other documents.
A number of criticisms are made of the traditionalist position by mainstream Catholics:
- It is frequently claimed that the allegations of discontinuity and rupture are false, exaggerated, or fail to appreciate the organic character of Tradition. It has been argued, for example, that Dignitatis Humanae does not in fact contradict the Church's earlier teaching on religious liberty, [3] and that the new rite of Mass represents a legitimate development of the earlier liturgy rather than a dangerous break from it.
- Liberal Catholics, conversely, agree that many changes have taken place in the Church, but affirm that these changes are in fact desirable, since Church teachings and practices prior to the 1960s were in need of major reform. Traditionalists claim that there was no "need of major reform", in line with the maxim, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and see liberals as believing, "if it ain't broke, break it".
- It is also claimed that traditionalists fail to distinguish between changeable pastoral practices (such as the liturgy of the Mass) and unchangeable principles of the Catholic Faith (such as the dogmas surrounding the Mass) - an allegation which traditionalists dispute.
- It has been argued that, in declaring decisions of the Church authorities to be incompatible with the unchangeable Tradition of the Church, traditionalists are themselves violating the teaching of Pope Pius XII in Humani Generis 8, that to "the Teaching Authority of the Church ... has been entrusted by Christ Our Lord the whole deposit of faith - Sacred Scripture and divine Tradition - to be preserved, guarded and interpreted" (emphases added). Traditionalists reply with the First Vatican Council's teaching that the "the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine" (emphases added).
Practices of traditionalist Catholics
Traditionalist Catholics are more likely than most other Roman Catholics to follow:
- disciplinary practices such as abstaining from meat on Fridays, fasting from midnight before receiving Holy Communion, and (in the case of women) covering one's head in church;
- devotional exercises such as praying the Rosary and wearing a scapular.
None of these practices or exercises is peculiar to traditionalist Catholics. Perhaps the only clear distinguishing mark of certain - not all[4] - traditionalist Catholics in this field is their non-acceptance of the five Luminous mysteries that Pope John Paul II added to Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious "mysteries" of the Rosary.
As for the disciplinary practices mentioned above, most episcopal conferences have, since the Second Vatican Council, allowed other penitential practices to take the place of Friday abstinence, at least outside of Lent, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India has allowed abstinence from meat to be reckoned a penitential exercise only for those for whom meat is a normal part of their diet; Pope Pius XII, several years before that Council, reduced the obligatory fast before Holy Communion at three hours, which Traditionalists accept, but not the further reduction by Pope Paul VI in the course of the Second Vatican Council; and, even before the Council, a head covering for women in church was not considered obligatory in every country.
Places of worship
Some traditionalist Catholics attend celebrations of the pre-1969 rite of Mass which are officially sanctioned by the Church authorities. The Congregation for Divine Worship's circular letter Quattuor abhinc annos of 3 October 1984 granted an "indult" (from Latin indultum) for bishops to authorize "priests and faithful, who shall be expressly indicated in the letter of request to be presented to their own bishop, ... to celebrate Mass by using the Roman Missal according to the 1962 edition", on certain conditions, including that those who make the request clearly do not question the lawfulness and doctrinal soundness of the 1970 edition. Pope John Paul II reiterated this in his 1988 letter Ecclesia Dei: "Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition by a wide and generous application of the directives already issued some time ago by the Apostolic See for the use of the Roman Missal according to the typical edition of 1962." Priests who offer these "indult" Masses may be members of priestly societies in good standing with the Holy See, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, or they may be ordinary diocesan priests or members of religious institutes. Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, the President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, occasionally celebrates Mass in public with the 1962 Missal, and other cardinals have also done so in recent years, though much less frequently.
The website of the traditionalist International Federation Una Voce provides an international list, with addresses and other contact information, of priestly societies and religious institutes in good standing with the Church authorities that are dedicated to preserving the older rite of Mass.
Many other groups and individual priests celebrate the Tridentine Mass in a situation of schism or separation from the Church. There is a registry of scheduled old-rite Masses in the United States which includes those celebrated by these groups. The best known such group is the Society of St. Pius X, which offers Mass according to the 1962 Missal in its own Mass centres, maintaining that Catholic priests do not require any permission to celebrate the Tridentine rite. It rejects the conditions laid down in Quattuor abhinc annos, teaches that "the Indult Mass ... is not for traditional Catholics",[5] and takes the view that "those who are only near Masses 'of Pope Paul VI' or to traditional Masses said under the 'Indult'" are excused from the obligation of attending Sunday Mass.[6]. The Society adopts a similar attitude towards the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter.[7]
Others, rejecting the 1962 Missal, offer Mass according to earlier editions, especially sedevacantist groups who do not recognize Pope John XXIII as Pope. They include the Society of St. Pius V and the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. It is debatable whether these groups are Catholic at all (in the sense of being part of the Roman Catholic Church, which they claim to be), as while theoretically they profess their obedience to the Papacy, they do not practically recognize the Pope nor any means of electing a new Pope (see also Great Apostasy and anti-Catholicism).
Those who worship independently of the diocesan bishops justify their position on the grounds that they must do so in order to ensure they are able to administer or receive all of the Sacraments - including, but not limited to, the Eucharist - in the traditional way, and to be able to give or hear sermons on controversial matters (e.g. ecumenism, evangelism, liberalism, sin, Hell, political issues) without fear of reprisal from disapproving bishops.
Relations with other Catholic groups
Traditionalist Catholics see other Catholics as often careless of tradition, enamoured of novelty and unthinkingly compliant, sometimes using the derogatory term Cafeteria Catholics to describe them, implying that they pick and choose among the teachings that the Church has always upheld. For their part, those Catholics see traditionalist Catholics as in great part merely nostalgic, afraid of change, and, if disobedient to the decrees of the Holy See, as those who, because of their picking and choosing among the Church's teachings, are more deserving of the "Cafeteria Catholics" label. Each side argues that the other's comprehension of its beliefs and practices lacks subtlety, and that the other's response to its criticisms is frequently emotional, misinformed, and based on a false understanding of Christian obedience and the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Church). To each side the other recommends study for discerning the truth, and prayer for openness to accepting it.
Relations with the Holy See
The relations of traditionalist Catholics with the Holy See naturally vary according to their attitude towards it.
Some traditionalist Catholics do not dispute the lawfulness or doctrinal soundness of decisions taken by the Holy See in recent decades - for example, on the revision of the Mass liturgy. They do, however, question the wisdom of those decisions.
Other traditionalist Catholics reject as illegitimate and even doctrinally erroneous certain recent declarations and decrees of the Holy See (see above, Allegations of discontinuity and rupture). One criticism that is levelled at some of them is that they appear to treat the decisions of the Pope and senior churchmen (to whom they may refer using expressions such as "Vatican hierarchs") as little more than the opinions of individuals.
Finally, in denying the legitimacy of the recent popes, sedevacantists also deny the authority of the decrees that they, and the Holy See in general, have issued.
The Holy See views as schismatic both sedevacantists and many other individual traditionalist Catholics - in particular, many of those involved with organizations in which priests act in complete independence of the Holy See and the diocesan bishops, even in matters for which a link with those bishops is normally a condition for validity of the act.[8] The personal situation of such individuals is therefore distinguished from that of the associations to which they may belong: for instance, the situation of the Society of Saint Pius X has been described as a "situation of separation ... even if it was not a formal schism."[9]
On the other hand, the Holy See recognizes as fully legitimate the preference for "the Latin liturgical tradition" shown by those traditionalist Catholics who do not dispute the authority of the Holy See.[10] While the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" normally leaves the decision to the local bishops, who have the advantage of direct knowledge of the situation in their dioceses, it recommends them to grant permission generously for the celebration of "Tridentine" Mass. The Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter are examples of associations of traditionalist Catholics that operate as a normal part of the Catholic Church in harmony with "the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him."(Lumen Gentium, 8).
The Holy See considers as having no legal effect the consecration ceremony conducted by Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục for the then Carmelite Order of the Holy Face at midnight of 31 December 1975. The Holy See refrained from pronouncing on the validity of those consecrations. The same explicitly applies to later ordinations by those bishops as well, for "as for those who have already thus unlawfully received ordination or any who may yet accept ordination from these, whatever may be the validity of the orders (quidquid sit de ordinum validitate), the Church does not and will not recognize their ordination (ipsorum ordinationem), and will consider them, for all legal effects, as still in the state in which they were before, except that the ... penalties remain until they repent" (Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decree Episcopi qui alios of 17 September 1976 - Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1976, page 623).
With regard to the episcopal consecrations that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer conferred without papal mandate, the Holy See explicitly recognizes their validity, but sees the bishops involved as automatically excommunicated. It views the priests of the Society of St Pius X whom these bishops ordain as validly ordained, but, in accordance with canon 1383 of the Code of Canon Law, "suspended from the order received", i.e. prohibited from exercising it (canon 1333). The Ecclesia Dei Commission has stated that attendance at Masses offered by these priests is "morally illicit" for Catholics in normal circumstances, but that attendance at such Masses is not, of itself, an act subject to ecclesiastical penalties such as excommunication.[11][12][13]
The episcopal ordination of some other traditionalist clergymen is also considered to be valid, though unlawful.
Criticisms by other Catholics
Many Catholics who accept what they see as the complete Magisterium of the Catholic Church, including the understandings of the Second Vatican Council taught and acted upon by the Holy See, point out that Catholic teaching, even the non-infallible teaching of the "ordinary Magisterium", demands obsequium religiosum, that is, religious assent. They believe that this sacred duty is transgressed in the open dissent of traditionalist Catholics against the statements and decisions of the Holy See and of the bishops of the Catholic Church gathered in the Second Vatican Council and in other assemblies.
They see this dissent as not unlike that of liberal Catholics who place their own judgment ahead of that of the Magisterium, and argue that the spiritual dynamic of the dissent is a failure of submission of the will. This failure of submission, they claim, has negative consequences for the Church, such as anger, bitterness, disunity and ultimately schism, consequences that contradict the spirit of unity that is a mark of the Church.
Traditionalists reply that their actions are not at all like those of liberal Catholics, because, instead of revolting against traditional teachings of the Church, they are preserving practices as they believe they have been observed in past centuries and should continue to be in the future.
See also
Doctrinal and liturgical issues
Important figures
Historical events
Notable organizations
External links
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