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Traditionalist Catholicism

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Traditionalist Catholic is the term generally used to refer to those Catholics who want to bring the worship and practices of the Roman Catholic Church back to how they were before the Second Vatican Council. The term is used in this sense by the mass media (e.g. ABC New On Line: "Pope meets head of rebel Catholic traditionalists"), by the general Catholic media (e.g. Catholic World News: "Pope to meet traditionalist leader"), and by the Holy See itself (e.g. Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei: "to regularise the canonical situation of a certain number of religious communities of a traditionalist nature which already exist but without recognition on the part of the Church by giving them a canonical form corresponding to their charism. Moreover, an ecclesial integration has been found for a number of traditionalist priests who had not been incardinated"). Many Traditionalist Catholics claim that the Second Vatican Council brought changes not only in worship and practices but even in doctrine.

Traditionalist Catholics generally prefer the term Traditional Catholics; but many, such as the Catholic Traditionalist Movement, willingly adopt the description "Traditionalist".

Integrist or Integralist is another term used to describe extreme Traditionalist Catholics, but not by themselves.

Distinction between Traditionalists and other Catholics

On the extreme that is the opposite of Traditionalist Catholics are those who are referred to as Liberal Catholics. These want not just the worship and practices but also doctrine to be altered radically in line with what they see as "liberal" values.

The Vatican authorities, who in opposition to the "Liberals" believe that they may in no way alter the Church's teachings, and who in opposition to the "Traditionalists" believe that the Second Vatican Council did not in fact alter the Church's teaching, are generally classified, both by the general body of Catholics and by the non-Catholic public media, as "conservative" (but not "traditionalist") rather than "progressive".

These last two terms are often claimed by the two extremes, with "Liberals" wishing to be called "progressive", and "Traditionalists" wishing to be called "conservative".

Categories of Traditionalist Catholics

1. Traditionalist Catholics in full accord with Rome

Some Traditionalist Catholics, in the sense defined above, accept in full the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the decrees of Pope John XXIII and his successors in Rome, including the revision of the liturgy. They do not claim that the Council and the Popes have altered Catholic doctrine. The Holy See recognizes as legitimate their preference for and attachment to the older forms of the liturgy and discipline, whether for spiritual or merely aesthetic reasons, and has made arrangements for them to continue to use these older forms.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) is an example of such Traditionalist Catholics. It was established with the blessing of Pope John Paul II on 18 October 1988 by priests who disagreed with the action (which they and the Holy See considered schismatic) by which Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated, in spite of the express prohibition of Pope John Paul II, four bishops for his Traditionalist Society of St. Pius X on 30 June of that year. FSSP celebrates the Tridentine Mass and, since it has never been associated with dissent from the teaching and decrees of the Second Vatican Council and the Popes, naturally enjoys a cordial relationship with the Holy See and operates within the ordinary structures of the Catholic Church as a papally approved Society of Apostolic Life, like the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians, also called Lazarists), the Missionary Society of Saint Columban (the Columban Fathers) or the Missionaries of Africa (the White Fathers).

There are some twenty other such groups of priests and religious operating with full papal approval, most notably the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

2. Traditionalist Catholics dissenting from but not organically separated from Rome

Some Traditionalist Catholics, while accepting in principle the authority of the Pope, with whom they claim to be in full communion, refuse to accept some of his and other bishops' teachings and decisions. They claim that the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council conflict with or distort historic Catholicism and amount at best to a "watering down" of Catholic teaching and practice. They describe the revised Roman-rite liturgy as Protestantized, weak in doctrine, and dangerous to the faith of Catholics who attend it. Some deny entirely its sacramental validity.

The principal group of these Traditionalist Catholics of this category is the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. While the Holy See does not view this Society as a schismatic Church, it has officially declared that, when in contravention of an express papal prohibition Archbishop Lefebvre and his fellow Traditionalist Bishop António de Castro Mayer consecrated four priests to the episcopate on 30 June 1988, the six clerics concerned committed a schismatic act and incurred excommunication. It has also stated that many members of the SSPX are in fact schismatic as individuals.

Some priests who have broken away from their diocese or religious order have established their own groups of followers, for whom they celebrate the "Tridentine Mass". They are known as "independent" priests.

3. Sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholics

A small number of Traditionalist Catholics, called sedevacantists, accept the concept of the papacy, but reject some or all of those they call the "Vatican II popes" (Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI), on the grounds that they have embraced heresy and so lost their authority. Some such groups, often called "conclavists", have elected their leaders as popes.

Traditionalist Catholic views

Traditionalist Catholics see the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, united by the same faith, the same sacraments and the same discipline that they see as having united Catholics from the time of the Church's origins. Many take as their motto:

We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshipped.
If you were right then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong then.

They attend Mass by preference or exclusively in the Tridentine form. Those who accept the decrees of the Holy See do so in churches or chapels where, with the permission of the local bishop, diocesan priests or members of societies such as the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, celebrate Mass in Latin using the 1962 Roman Missal. Others attend Mass celebrated by members of the Society of St Pius X, in spite of the Holy See's declaration that attendance at such Masses is morally unacceptable for Catholics. Others still attend Mass celebrated by sedevacantist or "independent" priests, some of whom consider even the 1962 revision of the Roman Missal to be evil.

All Traditionalist Catholics place stress on practices that mainstream Catholics also value, including:

  • Making sacrifices on Fridays (in particular, abstaining from meat)
  • Going to Confession on a weekly or bi-weekly basis
  • Praying the Rosary every day
  • Praying novenas
  • Wearing a scapular, especially the Brown Scapular
  • Wearing modest clothing, especially in church

Attitude towards the Second Vatican Council of Traditionalist Catholics who dissent from Rome

Traditionalist Catholics of this category see the Second Vatican Council as a pastoral Council which taught nothing that must be accepted as an article of the Catholic religion, leaving them free to reject any of its teachings that in their judgement contradict former infallible teaching or containing ambiguities that can be used in support of erroneous opinions.

They claim to find in the Council's documents the following general errors:

  • a new collegiality that has weakened the papacy and made bishops' conferences a veritable "second Vicar of Christ" in the Church. This, they say, contradicts Pope Leo XIII's Satis Cognitum, the teaching of the First Vatican Council, etc. They say they firmly support the papacy, but accuse mainstream Catholics of an attitude bordering on papolatry (pope worship) arising from a limited understanding of papal infallibility, as taught by the First Vatican Council, and of the nature of Christian obedience, as characterized by Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, II-II-104.
  • a new ecclesiology that says the Catholic Church established by Jesus Christ is not the concretely existing Catholic Church, but only "subsists in" it. This, they say, contradicts Pope Pius XII's Mystici Corporis Christi and leads to a false "ecumenism".
  • a new focus on "the dignity of man" that ignores original sin and the need for supernatural grace, leading to a utopianism that sees peace as possible without recognizing the Kingship of Christ. This, they say, contradicts Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas, Pope Leo XIII's Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, Pope Pius X's Notre Charge Apostolique, etc.
  • a new "ecumenism" that has as its goal a "unity" that does not involve sharing the Catholic faith. This, they say, contradicts Sacred Scripture, Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis, etc..
  • a new attitude towards ecclesiastical tradition that sees it as changeable and leads to dangerous modifications in Catholic practices, the liturgy, and pastoral orientation. This, they say, contradicts the Fourth Anathema of the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the First Vatican Council (especially the document "Pastor Aeternus"), etc.
  • a new, previously unheard of, attitude toward novelty. This, they say, contradicts the Saints, Doctors and Popes of the Church prior to Pope John XXIII, the curious Papal Oath that they attribute to Pope Agatho (died 681) and say was taken by all Popes from Pope St. Agatho himself to Pope Paul VI inclusive, Pope Pius X's Motu Proprio Sacrorum antistitum, Pope Gregory XVI's Mirari Vos, the Fourth Anathema of the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, etc.
  • a new Paschal theology that de-emphasizes the Sacrifice of the Mass, leading the faithful to believe Christ's Resurrection, not the Blood shed in His Sacrifice on the Cross, that saves, and giving rise to the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal. This, they say, contradicts Scripture, and Encyclicals such as Pope Pius XII's Mediator Dei.
  • a new relativistic philosophy that focuses on the natural and de-emphasizes the supernatural, leading to Deism, Pragmatism, and moral relativism.

Criticisms of the position of Traditionalist Catholics who dissent from Rome

Among the errors into which critics perceive Traditionalist Catholics of this category to have fallen are the following:

  • An attitude of systematic opposition to the actually existing See of Rome and to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole, even to the point of breaking communion. This is likened to the attitude of those who refused to accept the decisions of the First Council of Nicea (the Arians), the Council of Ephesus (the Nestorians), the Council of Chalcedon (the forerunners of the present-day Oriental Orthodox Churches), the Council of Trent (the Protestant Reformers), the First Vatican Council (the Old Catholics), and so on. These other groups, too, claimed that, even though they were a minority, they, and not those who accepted the Ecumenical Council in question, represented the true Church and had preserved true Christian doctrine.
  • Referring to official decisions of the Church as actions of, for instance, "the Vatican", and treating the decisions practically as just views of one group among many in the Church.
  • Failure to distinguish between what is integral to the Catholic faith and what can change over time - in response, for example, to developments in theology and in human society and culture.
  • Exaggerating the extent to which the Second Vatican Council altered not only Church discipline and practice, but even, they claim, Church teaching.
  • Many who dissent from Rome, follow no Bishop or a excommunicated Bishop, meaning that the Priest is not incardinated. Some groups claim jurisdiction is supplied to the Priest in a emergency.

Official attitude of the Catholic Church to Traditionalist Catholics

As is obvious, there is no conflict between the Holy See and the category of Catholic Traditionalist described above as being in full accord with Rome. In his letter Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988, Pope John Paul II stated that "respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition." Such approval is, however, not extended to those who reject the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and the decrees of the recent Popes.

There are sometimes complaints that certain bishops and priests actively oppose any public celebration of the "Tridentine Mass", even if offered by members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and similar groups that enjoy the approval of the Holy See. On occasion the reason for a refusal is that the request is made by those in the category of Traditionalist Catholics who dissent from Rome. Other refusals are more difficult to explain or justify.

Demographics

The number of Traditionalist Catholics of all categories is very difficult to pin down, but they make up a small minority of the worldwide Catholic population: for example, according to an unconfirmed report by a Society of St. Pius X member, the Vatican authorities estimate that the relatively small number of 1.2 million Catholics support his Society. The demographics of Traditionalist Catholics who worship at Masses offered by members of other priestly societies and "independent" priests is unknown. Traditionalists affirm that their numbers are growing, that their seminaries, though small, are full, and that demand for Traditionalist Catholicism among the general Catholic population is high, with many families having difficulty in finding a "Vatican-approved" "Tridentine Mass" to attend. Like other strongly religious groups such as Muslims, Mormons, and Orthodox Jews, Traditionalist Catholics tend to have large families. Conversions from other religions (mainly Protestantism) are "not uncommon", but the reverse seems to be quite rare. The largest numbers of Traditionalist Catholics are in the United States and western Europe (especially France and England); there are also significant numbers in Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.

Appendix on Traditionalist-like groups

Father Leonard Feeney

In 1953, an American Jesuit priest, Father Leonard Feeney, was excommunicated for calling his bishop a heretic and refusing to appear in Rome to explain his assertion that only those who have been baptized with water and are professed members of the Catholic Church can go to heaven. Like the later Traditionalists, Father Feeney felt that Catholics were losing the dream of converting the United States of America to Catholicism and were accepting non-Catholic ways too easily. His narrow views on Baptism and Justification distinguish him from the general body of Traditionalists. Nevertheless, there are many close similarities. For instance, as the members of the Society of St Pius X claim to be in full communion with Rome and, in spite of disagreeing with some teachings of the Second Vatican Council, accept it as an Ecumenical Council, so the current members of Father Feeney's "Slaves of the Immaculate Heart" movement insist that they themselves have never been out of communion with Rome, and they consider the Second Vatican Council to be a valid Council, though of course they do not accept the teachings in the Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium and its Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis redintegratio that run counter to their one-time leader's ideas.

The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association

Sometimes the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) in the People's Republic of China is linked with Traditional Catholicism, merely because, having rejected the authority of Rome, it did not recognize the Second Vatican Council or the subsequent revision of the Roman Missal.

This rejection, however, had nothing to do with Traditionalist leanings and was imposed merely for political, not theological reasons, since the CCPA had been created as a means of placing Catholics in China under the total control of the Communist Government, even in spiritual matters.

Traditionalist organisations

See also

Books supportive of Traditionalist Catholicism, generally of the dissenting-from-Rome category

  • Patrick Henry Omlor, Questioning the Validity of the Masses Using the New, All-English Canon
  • Michael Treharne Davies, "Cranmer’s Godly Order" ISBN 1912141247, "Pope John's Council," "Pope Paul’s New Mass" ("Liturgical Revolution" trilogy).
  • Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, "Open Letter to Confused Catholics"
  • Father Paul Kramer M.Div., STL, "A Theological Vindication of Roman Catholic Traditionalism"
  • Christopher A. Ferrara and Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr., "The Great Facade: Vatican II and the Regime of Novelty in the Roman Catholic Church" ISBN 1890740101
  • Romano Amerio, John P., Fr. Parsons, "Iota Unum" ISBN 0963903217
  • Atila Sinke Guimarães, Michael J. Matt, John Vennari, Marian T. Horvat, "We Resist You To The Face" ISBN 096721663X
  • Monsignor Klaus Gamber, "Reform of the Roman Liturgy: Its Problems and Background" ISBN 0912141050
  • Griff Ruby, "The Resurrection of the Roman Catholic Church - A Guide to the Traditional Catholic Movement" ISBN 0595250181 and ISBN 0595771491
  • Benns T Stanfill and Bawden Davin, "Will the Catholic Church Survive the Twentieth Century?" http://www.WillCatholicChurchSurviv.Homestead.com/Book.html

External links

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