Navigating Catholic Life - Part 1 Introduction

JMJ

This series has, metaphorically, been a lifetime in the writing. I've been a 'Traditional' Catholic, as opposed to an [Modern, Liberal, Conservative, Communist, etc] Catholic since 1982.

Up to 1982, I was a regular Post-Conciliar Catholic, growing up at the tail-end of the rout (definition) of Catholic Belief that happened after the end of the Second Vatican Council and after the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae (NOM) in 1970.

One of my earliest memories of that era was trying to get as much of the pew in front of us in my mouth. It tasted awesome. A part of that memory is of a church lady scowling down at me as I continued to taste the pew. I remember the parish priest was really conservative. Throughout that church he had stashed relics of the Traditional Mass. Candle sticks, statues, side altars, thurible, Missal, tabernacle. His sermons were as good as any I have heard from the SSPX priests.

As a side note, his parish thrived with one side effect. At least one person lost the faith when he moved to another parish and found that the oasis in which he had grown-up was practically unique in our city.

It turns out that his success had a downside, the bishop split the parish and my family moved to the new parish where as one of the 'founding families' we were heavily engaged. This was instrumental because by being engaged my parents and siblings began to notice subtle differences that, over a few years, became instrumental. The seeds of the Second Vatican Council and perhaps more than one weed had found purchase and it resulted in our return to our original parish, then the Ukrainian Rite and finally in 1982, we found the little chapel served by Fr. Normandin (RIP).

I will say that initially, I didn't want to be at the Traditional Mass. It was so different and foreign to my earlier life that it took time to adapt. My first experience was memorable and highly negative. I may tell that story later. What I want to highlight at that point was something that, in hindsight, I noticed. One of my siblings became very scrupulous and literal to almost a dogmatic level. This, I now know, is dangerous because, like the resistance, it blinds people to what is really required to stay a faithful catholic in this crisis.

Perspective.

This perspective is achieved by study, a strong spiritual life, and practice. We can never be a perfect catholic, like doctors who practice medicine, we must practice Catholicism.

I will try to convey what I've learned and noticed in this series (outline below) and kick off the series trying to answer a question left by Murrax on the Unhinged Catholics (link) post.

P^3

Series Outline

Series Purpose: Discussing how to live as a Catholic is a decidedly indifferent and "liberal" world

Label: Series - Navigating Catholic Life

Intro
Being a Good Husband and Father (reply to Murrax comment)
Strategic Planning: A Catholic's Plan for Life
Risks and Worries: Risk Management for Life
Golf Analogy: Pay Attention!
Stress and More Stress: Dealing with the Demands of 21st Century Life as a Human
Start Now, Tomorrow is a Wish, Not a Promise: Child is the Father of the Man, Child is the Mother of the Woman. Aka Child is the Parent of the Future
Confusion: Fertile Field for Disagreements and Conflicts
Exhaustipation: To Tire to Give a Poop
Locus of Control
Offence: Taking and Offering
Arguments and Emotions
What I would tell my past self about the future
Most People in My life have been transient: Stability in this life is illusionary
Three Paths: Same Situ, Different Situ, You Exit the Situ
Decisions and Action:
Wet Soap Bar: Harder you try to hold-on the more likely it is to shoot out of your hands
Clarity: What is clear to me is not clear to others!
Why Do I Go to the SSPX for the Sacraments?
People and Relations
Your Story vs Others Stories
Balance Providence and Prudence:
Vivid and Creative Imagination: A Gift From God
Wonder and Life
Life is Simple, People are Complicated:
Value and Values:
The Truth
The Four States of A Soul
Not Knowing the Future: Is a mercy of God
Golf and Catholic Life
Wisdom from the Father-In-Law
When a tree falls

The myth of the Hermeneutic of Continuity - Rorate Caeli

+ JMJ Interestingly the complete acceptance of the Second Vatican Council (without reservations) is required of the SSPX. Just when people are starting to wonder how it came to this! Courtesy of Rorate Caeli P^3

Of the Church and the Pope - Fr. Calmel O.P.

+ JMJ Once again, looking back to see if the 'Traditional Catholics' in the early days of this crisis of the Church had a sufficient view to realize the roots of the crisis. The root: The Pope Hence when the Pope is 'righted' the Church will be 'righted'. P^3 Courtesy of SSPXasia Fr. Roger Calmel, O.P. This essay by Fr. Roger Calmel, O.P. (1914-75) helps us in these difficult times to preserve our love of the Church. More than 30 years after its first publication, this article retains all its relevance, so much so that it even seems to have been written for our time, in which the crisis in the Church deepens at an unprecedented pace. This essay will help the reader to think clearly, keep the Faith, and maintain serenity in the troubled times we are navigating. “My country has hurt m e,”wrote a young poet in 1944 during the purge 1 when the head of state [Charles De Gaulle] implacably pursued the sinister job that had been in the wo...

A Look Back: Archbishop Lefebvre’s Prophetic Address to The Remnant, 1976

+ JMJ Looking back is important to understand why we are where we are in this crisis. Courtesy of RemnantNewsPaper P^3 FOR THE FIRST TIME ONLINE: Archbishop Lefebvre’s Prophetic Address to The Remnant, 1976 Written by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Introduction by Michael J. Matt More than forty years ago—during the disastrous reign of Pope Paul VI, the latest candidate for a Vatican-issued Halo Award, by the way—my father, Walter L. Matt, organized the first large scale public reception in the U.S. for the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. It was held at the Radisson South Hotel, Minneapolis, on Tuesday, May 12, 1976, and its stated purpose was to assist the Archbishop in gaining a stronger foothold for the Society of St. Pius X in the States during the unprecedented crisis Blessed Pope Paul had helped unleash on the Church. On that occasion Archbishop Lefebvre delivered ...

Benefit of the Doubt

+ JMJ Introduction !!! From my point of view and based on my understanding of the events !!! At this point it seems that Cardinal Fernandez et al are either malicious, incompetent or geniuses. I'm only partly kidding ... Aside from the surprisingly magnanimous action of Pope Francis providing the SSPX priest with faculties for confession and ability to witness marriages, there has been a long silence between Rome and the SSPX with little or no formal talks or discussions regarding the SSPX state of canonical limbo. While the FSSP et al were able to meet with Pope Leo XIV, while requests from the SSPX went unanswered ... that is until after the latest unanswered request they announced the date for the consecration of four new bishops. Only then did the Vatican apparatus lumber into motion. A meeting was held and the speed with which the Vatican issued its press release - within hours of the meeting's conclusion - felt to me like a pre-planned attempt at manipulation that fell s...

Rome,the SSPX and this time of Crisis - Updated

+ JMJ Obviously there's lots of events right now. First we have the April 1st - I almost thought it was April Fools - meeting between Pope Francis and Bishop Fellay. Nothing really news worthy as this is a natural progression as Rome appears to be considering fulfilling Archbishop Lefebvre's wish to 'accept us as we are'. Second we have the April 8th publication of what will be a verbose exhortation of the Synod of the Family. I'm willing to bet that the Pope will give with one hand (unilateral regularization of SSPX) and take with the other (ambiguous document that opens the flood gates of sin further). Much to pray for. P^3

Tradicat

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