Will the Real Moderates Please Stand Up?

I will admit... Sometimes it is very lonely to be a moderate traditionalist. There are any number of groups out there for right-wing traditionalists. If vehemently condemning modernism, calling people heretics, emphasizing clericalism to a radical level, and other positions are one's "thing," then there are any number of places for you.

Similarly, if you are spiritually satisfied by the banal Masses, aren't terribly interested in traditions, and just want to go to Mass and go home then there are many places for you, too! But, it is often lonely in the middle. One might ask--what does that even look like? Well, it's the following:

• A love of Catholic traditional liturgical and devotional practices while focusing on the sacramental nature of priesthood
• That articles of faith provided by the early church provide a clear compass on how the Church should continue to believe in present times
• Believing that, while Christianity has moral standards, there is also importance given to God's grace and that life is, frankly, complicated
• Recognition that modernity has brought with it important tools like the historical-critical method of Scripture as well as psychological insights that form how we understand history and sacred texts

And, I think, I'm generally amenable. I mean, there are things with which I do not agree or that make me uncomfortable. But, I'm not terribly likely to protest them and force them to close unless they're harming others. Because, in my mind, when I force you do to things exactly as I do then that makes me a fundamentalist--a very dangerous creature.

I think that the problem that there is "no one like me" is endemic of a larger issue within Catholicism. Ever since the ultramontanist camp won there is no longer room for any disagreement. You're either with us or you're against us. These days there is also the other "side of the coin" or those who really don't care what the Church says. They are culturally Catholic but give no other thought to the dogmatic articles of the Church.

Many of those who want real discussion but in the context of a Catholic ethos have, frankly, become Anglicans. But that is not a real solution, either. To give up the beauty of Catholicism as has existed in Rome, at least for 1800 years, is not possible. Furthermore, the Anglicans have their own issues. Scripture, tradition, and reason are great as long as you're not on the other side... And now the tent has become so big that it is collapsing in on itself.

It is precisely for this reason that I became enamored with Ultrajectine Catholicism. Because there has to be a way of being Catholic that is both Roman but not rigid, pastoral but not chaos.

Or, perhaps there really are only a few!