I was asked a good question earlier in the week:

“What is this split between us traditional and the ‘liberal’ Roman Catholics? The Creed says ‘I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church’.”

Simply put, what it boils down to is the traditional side being the actual Catholic, since the traditional Catholic is more than likely practicing the faith, according to the Church. The liberal Catholic doesn’t want to follow the Church and her teachings. The liberal Catholic is a promoter of heresy.

But, let’s look at this some more. Why are traditional Catholics, that is, those Catholics who do follow the Church and her teachings, being labeled as “traditionalist”? Catholics are supposed to follow the Church and her teachings and live those values out, right?

This would mean that the “traditionalist” Catholic, really is just a plain Catholic, that is, a Catholic who goes to Mass weekly, goes to confession as needed, spends time in prayer, is faithful to the Church, etc. Really, when you think of a Buddhist, you think of someone who is a…practicing Buddhist. When you think of a Muslim, you think of someone who is a…practicing Muslim. By this same logic, a Catholic is someone who is a practicing Catholic.

We like to put labels on groups of people to make them seem like they are our allies or our enemies. If “traditionalists” went by just plain Catholics, the threat of potential “liberals” hijacking Catholic to distort it seems greater. Case in point: The National Catholic Reporter (or Distorter (or Schismatic Reporter)). About 99% of the reporting is biased journalism wanting the Church to allow gay “marriage”, ordain women, allow priests to marry and the list goes on…and on…and on.

A Catholic, as stated earlier, would be a faithful Catholic. We don’t need to add any labels, really, except maybe “unfaithful”. You would have Catholics, and unfaithful “catholics”, that is, a catholic in name only.

What is interesting with this split, is how the Catholic and the catholic in name only argue with each other. The Catholic is always being told to calm down, listen to the Pope, not be so rash, be open minded, and other such things. Why is it that the Catholic, who already does these things have to constantly re-pledge their obedience to the Church? Meanwhile, the “catholic” never has to do this. They think for themselves, are “allowed to disagree”, etc. A perfect example would be the Catholic wants to receive Jesus kneeling, and gets denied (this is “okay”) but the “catholic” who is openly pro-abortion can receive Jesus. Denial of communion to the “catholic” would be viewed as a horrendous act. The Catholic would agree with me, but the “catholic” would accuse me of whining. To prove that I am not whining, and am merely opening up dialogue and am quite jolly, here is a picture of me being jolly.

Jolly Jeff

One way to help heal the split, would be to publicly excommunicate those who claim to be catholic from the Church. Now, excommunication is a form of help. It doesn’t sound like it is, but here’s how.

When someone is excommunicated, they are basically told that they are not in alignment with Church teaching, and are not able to use the sacraments until they have publicly repented and a bishop (normally there’s) has lifted the excommunication. This excommunication would force the Catholic in question to reexamine their motives and learn why what they believe is wrong. Excommunication, in essence, is there for the individual to learn from their mistakes, to come to know Christ and His teachings on particular issues. It also let’s others know that the individual is not to be trusted in religious matters and is discredited.

This split needs healing immediately. I mentioned in my last post how we need to start re-evangelizing our fellow Catholics. We all need to learn, live and love our faith. With this, we can win people over. Again, Christ is for everyone! Though you need to pray for those as well.