Catholic culture
We've touched on this subject in a couple of posts and again in the comment boxes, but without really defining what we mean by it. Is it a rejection of American culture? Is it a sifting of American culture to uncover what is good and interpreting it in the light of the Beatitudes? Is it pomp and processions?
Is it one of those things where one might legitimately say: "I can't define it, but I know what it is when I see it?"
Is it possible that we are so far removed from authentic Catholic culture that we can only rediscover it by jettisoning all the trappings of our modern culture and starting over from scratch? Or can our culture be "baptized" the same way that the ancient Christians (supposedly) incorporated pagan festivals into the public liturgy of the Church?
posted by dcs @ 11:56 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Good questions. I think perhaps that there are two levels to Catholic culture. For instance, here in Wisconsin, we are ostensibly 40% Catholic. This has worked it's way into the culture visibly in a number of ways. Friday night fish fries are popular throughout the year, and even moreso during Lent, there are little Mary grottos in gardens all over the cities...I'd hazard a guess that up to a third of the houses around my city have them, and during Christmas, there are Christmas light rosaries all over the place. But, this isn't exactly the sort of Catholic culture we hope for when we comment about the state of our Catholic culture in this country.
I think a true Catholic culture is foreign to our country. Our country is founded on protestant roots and protestant ideology. Being such a new Catholic, I can deeply recognize those facts and point to exactly what is protestant about our country and how it has damaged our society. But, I have never experienced a Catholic culture. I have ideas about what might make one distinct, but I have no idea if they'd actually work in real life. I would think that one of the key distinctives would be a primary value placed on human life, and human dignity. Changing our society to a Catholic culture would require us to redefine what the purpose of life is, and who man is. It would probably take a complete overhaul of the government and a reworking of the Constitution. I just wouldn't know where to start.
The more I think about it the more sense the Amish make. No, not in their theology, but in their social structure.
I don't think there would be a whole heck of a lot wrong with Catholic communities where the town is centered around a parish church.
Maybe a semi-self sustaining kind of a place...
Oddly, grottoes in gardens are exactly the sort of thing I have in mind when I think of Catholic culture. In a way, the little things we do help identify us as Catholic. It used to be the case that in Catholic hospitals a priest would be accompanied by two acolytes bearing candles when he carried the Blessed Sacrament to the sick. It seems like such a small thing but its implications are profound.
Maybe small things like these, all 1,000,001 of them, are what distinguishes Catholic culture from Protestant (i.e., modern) culture.
Catholic culture used to mean seeing priests and nuns in their collars and habits out in public regularly. It was Bishop Sheen on primetime television instead of Joel Osteen. It was the daily tolling of bells from the neighborhood Catholic church. This is one of the sad consequences of hyper-ecumenicism -we must not be too Catholic, lest we offend our Christian brethren.
There is certainly nothing wrong with grottoes in the garden. And perhaps, this is the way to start, by reminding those around us, and ourselves, of who we are and what we stand for. If nothing else, these are the sorts of things that are definitely within our control, while the wider context may not be. We can put up our own little grottoes, hang our rosary lights, revive the Belgian roadside prayer chapels.
I think that our culture can be changed, but like all cultures that we've Christianized (or at least all the ones I've bothered to learn about), it'll have to be from the top down. Unfortunately, the democrats in the Church are having a good time pretending there was never any combination of altar and throne, and I'd bet that they'd condemn an American monarchy.
It's not just the democrats, unless by "democrat" you mean 99% of U.S. Catholics.
By democrat, I mean those who would prefer democracies and republics over monarchies. Little d democrats.
People are still enamored with the suggestion that self-rule is workable. Who knows when that fad will pass?
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