Intellectual Honesty

It seems that whenever one “traddie (traditional Catholic) meets with another, one of the first questions asked is, “Where do you go to church?”  And if you answer to one's satisfaction on that query, he then goes on to the next bit of interrogation, such as, “How often?”  Or, “Who do you think was the last valid pope?”  Or, “Was that you that I saw at that ‘Novus Ordo’ funeral (or wedding)?”  Or, “Are you [or are you not] a ‘sedevacantist’?”  The questioning goes on until he finds some technicality on which to “hang” you – at which point, the questioning stops, and then pregnant silence sets in (or said traddie not-so-subtly changes the subject, begs to be excused, and then leaves).  Later, behind your back, you are duly (and ritualistically) condemned for whatever wrong answer you gave.  Traddieland seems to have a bumper crop of such drudges whose only aim in life is to find out peoples’ business, then crucify them for not “dotting the right i's and crossing the right t's.”

And besides being amateur Grand Inquisitors, many traddies are “arm-chair theologians” who like to quote from whatever latest book they’ve read, or who parrot what they’ve just heard from whichever cult-master they're revering at the time – and who are eager to show off their new-found “erudition” on such “articles of faith” as sedevacantism, “una cum,” etc.  And, of course, they “cherry pick” whatever opinions or data support their position, and ignore (and condemn) those that don’t.  Many of them, too, are “amateur historians,” with varying degrees of (incomplete) knowledge about Church history, freemasonry, the Illuminati, Zionism – whatever they've “boned up on” to impress others with their ersatz erudition.

One of the things that many love to point out is the fact that our country was founded by “a bunch of Masons.”  Yes, that is true: most of our founding fathers were Masons; but, for the most part, they were God-fearing men; and our country was – at that time – thoroughly Christian in nature and actions; and Catholicism was allowed to flourish unencumbered, without fear of persecution -- while back in the mother country, it suffered persecution as late as the mid-nineteenth century (when Britain starved Catholic Ireland halfway into extinction).  Because of the Constitution drafted by our forefathers, we are free to worship, assemble, and express our opinions as we choose.

Amateur traddie “historians” like to “condemn” our forefathers, yet the very fact that they can express that “condemnation” without fear of reprisal is owing to the freedoms promulgated and guaranteed by those very forefathers.  Yes, a Catholic theocracy based on true Catholic principles is a Utopia we all wish for – but when will that realistically be achieved?  The closest the world got to that was in the earlier Middle Ages – the “Age of Faith.”  But that gave way to greedy, worldly clerics (and to abuses such as Lay Investiture and Simony), culminating in the Protestant Revolt – a train wreck from which we are still recovering.  The return to a Catholic Utopia has so far been an elusive pipe dream – and traddieland has done precious little to “make it real.”  

Traddieland has, instead, emulated not “Utopia” but that which destroyed Utopia: worldly self-seekers more interested in spreading their influence than in spreading the Faith – that, plus much of traddieland has calcified into a mass of letter-of-the-law “tinkling cymbals and sounding brass” who, more often than not, don’t even follow that letter.  Instead, they condemn people for mere trivialities, yet ignore fundamental Catholic morality: a girl’s wearing an athletic headband in church is “a mortal sin,” yet a school principal’s sons watching porn on a computer is “boys will be boys.”  They preach about “the dignity of life,” yet justify the murder of a Terri Schiavo, or the harvesting of a heart from a “donor” for a wealthy parishioner’s child.

This mentality has trickled down to the parishioner level, where the culties love to mimic their cult-masters (especially to malign the cult-master’s enemies -- which, of course, earns them “brownie points”).  Many of them are “mini-policemen,” chiding parishioners (especially visiting newcomers) about such things as “dress code” and “conduct” in church.  Any woman wearing a sleeveless dress, or not wearing a head covering -- or whose hemline is not well below the knees, or who is caught being “disrespectful” (e.g., whispering to someone during Mass) – is duly admonished.  Violating any of these “rules” may result in being denied Communion (and, in some cases, being escorted from the church).  Yet, when a boy (who happens to be the school principal’s son) impregnates a fellow student, nothing is said (or done) about that.  [In fact, he may even be featured in a complimentary article in a subsequent church bulletin – and was).

Another way this Puritanism manifests itself is prudishness in speech.  For instance, a man once reacted to a pack of lies that his pastor told (about his deceased father) by rightfully calling them “bullshit.”  He was then condemned as “un-Catholic” by a fellow parishioner for using that word.  She said nothing about the fact that the pastor told a bald-faced lie: that was okay -- because “he was a priest.”  But a layman using the word “bullshit” -- that was “un-Catholic.”  It seems that using a “toilet” word is sinful, but sullying a deceased man’s character isn’t. 

In traddieland, Catholic common sense has vanished – and been replaced by tyrannical Puritanism, dispensed by letter-of-the-law, “holier-than-thou” martinets ready to jump all over anyone who makes a false move.  And all of that behavior – the Puritanism, the ersatz “intellectualism,” the prudery, the prying, judgmental questioning – is directly traceable to the cult-masters, and their preoccupation with what looks good (vs. what is good).  It’s all about superficiality, about appearances, about sanctimony, about HYPOCRISY.

These witch-hunters -- instead of interrogating people with long litanies of prying, fault-finding questions -- need to ask one another (and themselves) only two questions: 1) Do you love God with your whole heart and your whole soul?  and 2) Do you love your neighbor as yourself?  And the other thing that they need to keep in mind (and observe) is this: “Judge not, lest ye should be judged.”  Traddieland’s problem is simple: too much false piety, too much “holier-than-thou” ostentation, too much superficiality – in short, too much “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.”  Its solution is simple, too: it needs CHARITY.