Staying on the Boat

I don't generally comment on other people's commentaries, I usually restrict myself to news stories, but today I make an exception. The most recent featured commentary on CatholicCulture is about a topic near and dear to my heart, and one I was formulating a posting about myself.

The topic is fidelity with Rome and fringe groups. The article discusses the similarities between Traditionalists and Modernists. At first glance, these two groups seem diametrically opposed, one essentially focusing on bringing the Church back to pre-Vatican II times, the other focused, essentially, on a relativist view of the faith. The one thing they have most in common is rejecting the authority of the Church, and in that way, they are both moving away from the true faith.

The two groups don't like being compared, as their motives and visions seem to be diametrically opposed, however the two groups are very similar. For what it's worth, I think that both groups do considerable harm to the faith, but the modernists do more harm. At it's root, the "sin" of traditionalism is mirrored in modernism: the denial of proper authority in the Church. Both groups tend to deny the proper teachings of the Magisterial on the liturgy. On the other hand, the modernists deny many more aspects of the faith, and I believe most matters of faith and morals have been denied by some group associated with modernism. Nevermind that modernism is much larger in size, and is not opposed to society in general.

The article posted is a good start to understanding the relationship between these two fringe groups. I could hope that (at least) a traditionalist who came to see this commonality between the two groups might be made to realize the error of his ways. We could only hope. I encourage everyone to at least skim the article to see what I mean.

Peace and long life.
-JG