{"id":2918,"date":"2012-04-28T08:25:54","date_gmt":"2012-04-28T15:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=2918"},"modified":"2019-10-14T09:54:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T16:54:56","slug":"tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Tradition!"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do.” (Fiddler on the Roof)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Like the Hebrews stretching back to the age of Moses, the Church is upheld by two great pillars: Scripture and Tradition. After the Second Vatican Council<\/a> (1962\u20131965), large chunks of the Church embraced a whole lot of squishy thinking and threw out a whole lot of its t<\/u>raditions.<\/p>\n

D<\/span>epending on whether you interpret the Council following a hermeneutic of rupture or a hermeneutic of continuity<\/a>, it was either a “new Pentecost” and a complete break with the ancient T<\/u>radition or it was renewal, a way of presenting T<\/u>radition to the modern world.<\/p>\n

Since the Council ended before I was born, I really don’t have the emotional or ego investment in answering that question, though I note that Pope Benedict XVI constantly preaches the hermeneutic of continuity, while the hermeneutic of rupture is embraced by both the most liberal and most traditionalist forces in the Church.<\/p>\n

I can only give you my own experience. Coming from a non-churched family, I went to a Catholic high school at the very height of the try anything empty headed big-hearted post-Conciliar period. After four years of “Theology” courses, I really did think that the entire sum of Catholic intellectual development over 2,000 years was “Jesus loves you” and “be nice”.<\/p>\n

While of course God loves us, there’s a lot more there than I was led to believe. I was fed a thin little gruel where my brain and my spirit were seeking after some real, substantial food.<\/p>\n

Is it any wonder that when I went on my spiritual quest in my 20s, I never gave Christianity a thought?<\/p>\n

The Church I learned about in my medieval history classes in no way resembled the Church to which I had been exposed in high school. That<\/em> Church, with its great Romanesque<\/a> monuments, with its contemplative plainchant and its Icons and altarpieces – that Church I might have joined.<\/p>\n

This modern thing with its Brutalist<\/a> architecture, guitars, and harmonicas, with its doe-eyed water-colour Jesus was just plain silly and not worth a second look.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, God sent His saints and angels to grab me anyway. I thank Him every day that it only took twenty years.<\/p>\n

The younger generation of priests and laity are bringing back what was lost.<\/p>\n

This video (courtesy of the inestimable Father Z<\/a>) is a very good reflection on the new traditionalism in the Church. It’s four minutes well worth your time.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

While some Catholics of my generation refer to themselves as “Vatican II babies”, I prefer to think of myself as a “Lateran III<\/a> baby”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do.” (Fiddler on the Roof) Like the Hebrews stretching back to the age of Moses, the Church is upheld by two great pillars: Scripture and Tradition. After the Second Vatican Council (1962\u20131965), large chunks of the Church embraced a whole lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,32,26,17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-inside-baseball","category-latin","category-rant","category-sacred-liturgy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Thomas.jpg?fit=316%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-L4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100167,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/tradition-and-accommodation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2918,"position":0},"title":"Tradition and Accommodation","author":"Thom","date":"29 September 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Part 3 in an ongoing series of essays on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Testimony of an Unaltered Faith Introduction of the General Instruction is at great pains to place itself, and the Missal that it prefaces, in continuity with the tradition of the Roman Rite. Despite what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Instruction of the Roman Missal"","block_context":{"text":"General Instruction of the Roman Missal","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/sacred-liturgy\/general-instruction-of-the-roman-missal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?fit=1108%2C849&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?fit=1108%2C849&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?fit=1108%2C849&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?fit=1108%2C849&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?fit=1108%2C849&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":88197,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/cantate-domino-canticum-novum\/","url_meta":{"origin":2918,"position":1},"title":"Cantate Domino Canticum Novum","author":"Thom","date":"07 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The following open letter can be found in various liturgical blogs, and it is well worth reading. Although I am not one of the signatories, I very much associate myself with the sentiments expressed here. A Statement on the Current Situation of Sacred Music We, the undersigned\u2014musicians, pastors, teachers, scholars,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chant"","block_context":{"text":"Chant","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/chant\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Clear-Creek-Monks-in-Choir.jpg?fit=500%2C375&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":106698,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-thomas-becket-obedience-and-the-sacred-liturgy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2918,"position":2},"title":"Saint Thomas Becket, Obedience, and the Sacred Liturgy","author":"Thom","date":"29 December 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today the Church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Over the years, I've written many articles on St. Thomas Becket, one of my favourite saints. I've provided links to them below. 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This past year, the Church has made a big deal out of the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Benedict XVI even proclaimed it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Council_of_Trent_1562.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27864,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/vatican-ii-letter-and-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":2918,"position":4},"title":"Vatican II: Letter and Spirit","author":"Thom","date":"29 November 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"During this Year of Faith, the Pope has asked us to re-examine the most recent Council, which began fifty years ago this year, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which turns twenty. Plenty of folks have an axe to grind one way or the other about the Second Vatican\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Catechism"","block_context":{"text":"Catechism","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/catechism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Opening Session, Second Vatican Council","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/vaticanii-240x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":85778,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/notes-on-the-transitions-number-8-in-a-seriesfarewell-to-father-maurer\/","url_meta":{"origin":2918,"position":5},"title":"Notes on the Transitions, Number 8 in a Series:Farewell to Father Maurer","author":"Thom","date":"31 August 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Father Maurer's last Sunday Masses at Holy Rosary and Saint Joseph were this past weekend. Following the Noon Mass, a tremendous celebration was held for him in the old convent building. 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