Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Traddies are Nuts: College Edition

This little testimony/exposé of a look into trad craziness comes from a reader and rather new friend of mine.

Now, I bet my readers could find tons of egregious examples like this from forums they might participate in or blog comment sections or whatever. I don't want to make this blog all about pointing out how insane some of these people are every time an example occurs (I'd be much too busy!) but this case was particularly ridiculous and contains so many hilarious examples.

The testimony, with the crazy traddie stuff quoted:


"I'm on a Catholic monarchist email list, because somewhere deep in my heart, I want some form of Christendom to come back. But I swear, these people are so, so crazy. Someone just asked for recommendations for a traditionalist Catholic university (ha, as if you could get enough for more than a dinky college), which accepts only traditionalist Catholics.

Now, I have to say, I have no idea how can you can make sure you keep all the liberal modernist Catholics out. But let that pass.

Unsurprisingly, people favoured an SSPX school I've never heard of 'although it's unfortunately unaccredited.'

Now, check out this response after all that:
Before ending this thread, I feel the need to offer an extra word of warning to Mr. M*****. Frankly, I think that places like Thomas Aquinas that '[have] the Trid every day' are possibly *more* dangerous to young souls than 'mainstream' universities which are obvious in the evil they are promoting. Look at it this way: poison is easier to avoid when it's clearly a box of poison sitting on the table, but when just a drop has been mixed into that delicious soup, one may not think the soup poisoned but die all the same.

Such places give the young Catholic the very false notion that 'hey, I have the Classical/Extraordinary Rite (or whatever the "in full communion" people call it these days) every day, it's all good' whilst breathing-in the vile anti-Catholic atmosphere that features oecumenism, women's liberation, and the rejection of the Kingship of Christ. For example, going back to Dr. Carroll, his oecumenism presents itself subtly, when in his lectures he insists that Whittaker Chambers (an anti-Communist but a Protestant) is in heaven, that the Orthodox priests who died in the Russian Revolution are 'martyrs,' and that General Karl Gustav Mannerheim is THE great 'Christian hero' of the 20th century. The fact that Dr. Carroll rightly calls the 20th century 'the accursed century' diverts one's attention from the blatant oecumenism and relativism he is promoting (i.e. one need not be Catholic to go to heaven).

In short, such places produce liberal Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass. It's not impossible to go there without being thus infected, but I'd argue more difficult than even a 'mainstream' university because of the faux traditionalist surroundings which are seductive ('See,' Satan says 'you can have your cake and eat it too ... you can be a trad Catholic and get your "Trid" everyday without worrying about any of that old doctrine that will make people think you're a weirdo ...').

Another reason that daily Mass according to the 1962 books does not a good/safe university make: 'Certainly the question of the liturgy and the sacraments is important, but it is not the most important. The most important question is the question of the Faith.' (Abp. Lefebvre address to his priests given in Econe, Switzerland on September 6, 1990)
And this one:
I concur with Mr. W******. Having attended St. Mary's College for two years, and looking into all the other usual suspects (Christendom, Thomas Aquinas, Ave Maria, Magdalene, Thomas More) as well as having attended secular schools, it is my opinion that one either find an unambiguously Traditionalist college (St. Mary's, in Kansas, or the Institut St. Pie X in Paris) or choose a secular school which will provide one with useful degrees and certifications (aka, a 'work permit' in our modern world) without the pretense of being 'traditional' in any way, shape, or form. I went to a state school for a year, loathed it, and attended St. Mary's for my liberal arts education -'education for the sake of being an educated man,' if you will. After this, I went to another state school to learn a trade, and chose a school which would teach me that trade well, while simultaneously being affordable and conveniently located near a Traditional chapel, so that I could nurture my spiritual life in the wasteland I was obliged to attend.

I don't know a single Traditional Catholic who attended Christendom for 4 years, and ended up as a staunch Traditionalist at the end. They are very good at the 'soft sell' approach: 'We're a small school, and community is important, won't you just say the Rosary with us?' 'Well, if you say the Rosary, why not stay for Benediction? That's not so bad, is it?' 'You attend Benediction, with a Novus Ordo priest and a host consecrated at the NO, so why not come pray with us at the campus Mass?' (which happens to be Novus Ordo...) No indeed, the quite pleasant and traditional surroundings, fairly traditional lecture content compared to a modern school, and pretty girls who often wear skirts, mask a font of 'liberal traditionalism' which can do little good, and a very great deal of harm to the cause.

Probably, the best way for Traditional Catholics to get a college education, if they feel it necessary (think well on where or how you're going to practice your chosen career, for example, a professorship, as a Traditionalist, while supporting a family) is to attend a secular school, resolving not to take any dangerous classes (philosophy, biology classes which promote Evolutionary nonsense, lots of modern history and literature classes -in short, most of the humanities) while zealously pursuing the study of the faith, and these things from a Catholic point of view, outside of class. (e.g.: get a copy of the old Catholic Encyclopedia, read good history books at night, etc.) Get your degree as expeditiously as possible, and don't look back. Above all, don't live in the dormitory, and don't be tempted to participate in university social activities, clubs, activism, etc. Be purely a 'day student.' This is the best way to avoid contamination, I'd say. Seriously consider a field which is less oriented towards 'thinking' (the liberals have these very thoroughly propagandized) and more towards 'doing' (e.g., engineering, or a so-called "blue collar" trade, where one can often make as much or more money without being expected to become an academic and a communist in the process.)
. . . Seriously. That shit is messed up."

Indeed. And I think it speaks for itself, for the most part. "Liberal Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass"??? Yay us!! I'm glad to see they're being thoroughly paranoid in their dark spidery little enclaves by our modernist infiltration into Trad Cuckoo Land.

Seriously, though...wow. I don't know which would be scarier: if they really meant this stuff, or if they were just perpetually play-acting. Honestly, I really can't tell most of the time.

Now, in some ways, I think I know what they mean, of course. When they say "liberal traditionalist" they seem to mean what I'd call "neoconservative" Catholic, and the neocons can be crazy and annoying too. I don't know which of the two I dislike more.

Ridiculous stuff, though. "Contamination"??? Seriously??? Don't live in a dorm?! Don't join university clubs?? Yeah, there's a lot of immoral stuff going on at universities maybe, but...I really doubt these are the sorts of people who are going to be roped in. And what of the evangelism aspect? I attended a big State university, lived in a neocon Catholic dorm, and had "the Trid" every morning, while socializing with (in addition to the "renegade trad" guys with whom I served Mass) assorted Bohemians, gays, and [gasp] musicians! Where does that put me?


I'll admit, I'd probably find it hard to attend one of those small new Neocon Catholic colleges too. But it's not because I fear being being tricked into relativism, but just because the neocons can be super-annoying. Especially for trads, and especially for renegade trads.

And any conservative Catholic school, trad or neocon, can be, I think, extremely creepy, suffocating and paternalistic towards the students, from what I can tell. Some of those small neocon schools are just as crazy.


But "Infected"??? They really are insane.

7 comments:

Marco da Vinha said...

Wow, that's just nuts...

It's these kinds of people who will ultimately undermine any chance of seeing a revival of the ancient liturgy.

Notice all the buzzwords (and just in one phrase!):

the vile anti-Catholic atmosphere that features oecumenism, women's liberation, and the rejection of the Kingship of Christ.

Do they really believe this? Do they understand what they're saying? Or are they the type that reads the Otaviani Report uncritically and parrot all that they read in there?

One wonders if the Faith is their main concern or, if not in fact, it is just an add-on to their ideology/politics.

Anonymous said...

Sir:

(I just discovered your blog a couple of months ago and I LOVE IT!!!)

I have to deal with this kind of craziness all the time. These are the types who will not attend an EF Mass at any parish in my Archdiocese because at Communion, the priest will use reserve sacrament that was consecrated at the (evil Masonic) OF Mass. These are the types who are scandalized by the fact that I occasionally use women singers in the small schola I direct for a weekly EF Mass. These are the types who tell their fellow American citizens not to vote in elections because democracy is an illegitimate form of government, and our government is based on a revolt against the God-ordained kingship of George III (the fact that he was an Anglican is conveniently lost on them in that context I guess).

And so on, and so on, and so on....

Keep up the work on this excellent blog!

A non-categorical Catholic.

sortacatholic said...

This is phuq'd up s#!t.

I'm a modern traditional Catholic and damn proud of it (note: not traditionalist, tradtional). Guess this means that I'm headed for the big fryer downtown for supporting reforms like the 1965 Missal, women wearing pants and going to college, and love and compassion towards people of other religions. Sort of like that 1st century Galilean rebbe Yeshua bin Yosef. Heard of him?

What scares me about this guy is that he's all for reading commentary like the Catholic Encyclopedia, but not into learning the sacral languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) that will unlock the profound relationship between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The path to true tolerance is through education. If he could think for himself he'd be able to rescue himself from the mind-annihilation of cults like the SSPX. It's his choice, and I hope that he makes the change towards education and appreciation of other religious traditions.

Tony knows where I'm doing my PhD, and he can attest that it's Sodom and Gomorrah for the

sortacatholic said...

(cont'd) Abercrombie and Fitch set. I'm still going strong in my critical Catholic faith. This guy makes it sound like any interaction with the "heathens" will corrupt him somehow. I get the sense that this guy is probably gay and is trying to cope by getting all ultra-trad. I've been around the block with repressed priests that hide behind the fabulous vestments.

If you're reading this blog: dude, it's okay to be who you are. You don't have to run away from your problems. Be honest. Confront and challenge the world. Just live. It'll work out in the end.

Anonymous said...

Amen sortacatholic.

I too have used the explanation that I am traditional, not traditional-IST. When pressed by some for an explanation of what that means, I say that a traditional Catholic loves and reveres tradition, AND recognizes that traditions develop and evolve. A traditional-IST Catholic is someone who can't order a sandwich in a restaurant without consulting the 1917 Code of Canon Law to determine the "Catholic way" to order a sandwich.

A non-categorical Catholic

Tony said...

A Sinner, where did my comment go?

A Sinner said...

It mentioned a name, and I realized I had to edit those out.