Father Richard Cipolla
In that by now well -read article posted at Messa in Latino just a few weeks ago in which a representative of that web site engaged in a conversation with Andrea Grillo, the famous (or infamous) professor of Sacramental Theology at the Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, I was of course, struck by Professor Grillo’s un-Catholic statement that “Tradition is the future”. The image that sprang to my mind is the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland. Or perhaps Professor Grillo has watched the film Back to the Future too many times. That statement is not only a contradiction of the Catholic Church’s understanding of Tradition but also makes nonsense of the very word in Latin traditio, which comes from the Latin verb tradere meaning “to pass on”. (Lest a super-Latin scholar object that this verb can also mean to surrender, I do know that, but in Catholic thought the meaning of handing down or passing on is clear).
But I found that after reading this article-interview, I was not outraged or even saddened by Grillo’s absurd redefinition of Tradition, for in this present time in the Catholic Church, if one is not careful, one can use up one’s allotted amount in one’s lifetime of outrage and sadness in fifteen minutes. What struck me in this interview was the interviewer’s use of the adjective “Traditionalist” to define his identity and position. This adjective and its attendant noun, Traditionalism, is used commonly to describe those Catholics who adhere to the Traditional Roman Mass, whose text and rubrics were known for much of the Church’s history as the Roman Missal. But this adjective, Traditional, is also being used to describe those Catholics who adopt attitudes and practices that can also be described by the adjective “conservative”, which applies today mostly in a social or political environment, or even by their detractors as “ultra-conservative”.
The wearing of veils at Mass by women, modesty in dress by all in all situations, having large families, the offering of the Rosary daily are all good things and to be encouraged among Catholics. But these practices and ways of living the Catholic faith are “conservative” in a positive sense yet not part of the Tradition of the Church. And in some cases this “conservative” attitude” results in a longing for the past when traditional mores were more in tune with the melody of the Catholic understanding of reality. The film, The Bells of St. Mary’s, with Bing Crosby as a priest and Ingrid Bergman as a nun, is an example of this romantic conservatism. The adjective “conservative” in today’s culture describes a cultural attitude or a political affiliation. This has no intrinsic relationship to those who adhere to the Tradition of the Church. There are indeed too many Catholics who call themselves Traditionalist, who long for the societal norms of the past, forgetting that they have an obligation as Catholics to live freely and faithfully in the present post-modern times that have more and more embraced a secular understanding of reality and more and more are inimical to the presence of and the teaching of the Catholic Church. This is indeed a difficult task, but surely no more difficult than in the time of St Paul and the early Christians, many of whom were martyred for their faith.
One of the problems never addressed by those who lead the Church, especially the bishops, is the lack of teaching by clergy in parishes throughout the world, but especially in the West, as to how Catholic lay men and women and families can or should witness to the Incarnation of the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ in the world in which we live. In this wise, Pope Francis is not helpful in advocating sermons at Mass that are less than eight minutes in an intensely secular and anti-religious age. Perhaps, as a first, the bishops should forbid priests from preaching sermons from the use of “homily subscription services” that offer a ten minute homily complete with introduction that might include a joke to make people comfortable, s cursory reference to the readings of the day, and a few lines to wrap it all up. That is not what the Second Vatican Council hoped for with respect to the clergy as part of their role in the re-evangelization of the world.
We must remember that the heart of our Faith, the heart of Catholic Tradition, is not a text but rather a person, the man Jesus Christ. And it is the person of Jesus Christ crucified and risen who becomes present in the Mass in the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Cross that has saved us and gives us the hope of eternal life. We must remember that Holy Communion is not the purpose of the offering of Mass. The purpose is to make present the Sacrifice that is our hope for eternal life. Holy Communion is the wonderful gift and affirmation of that real hope. It is that understanding of our faith and worship that alone can guide us through these times that make us cry out like Peter as he is sinking into the sea because of his fear: “Save me, O Lord!” And our Lord’s response: Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
