Click
link below or scroll down to view all:
While in reality,
there should only be one "type" of Catholic - a good and
faithful Catholic - the period since the
Second Vatican Council has seen
marked differences among Catholics - both external and internal. With
regard to this fact...
*
All should wish that no real differences would truly exist
*
Many would wrongly pretend that no differences actually do exist
*
Some differences among Catholics may involve only externals or
expressions of the same truths
*
Some of those who call themselves "Catholic" may be 'Catholic' in
name only
*
Many of today's Catholics may not be recognized as Catholics by previous
generations
While some may think
it divisive to classify Catholics by 'type', one must remember that:
*
Many of the differences are significant and important
*
It is undeniable that there exist different "types" of persons
calling themselves Catholic
*
It is more honest to admit there are different 'types' of persons
calling themselves Catholic than to gloss over this fact
*
High ranking prelates have used 'classifications' with reference to
various Catholics
*
It may be important for other users to know which type of Catholic
persons claim to be
Finally, it should
be noted that pointing to the different classifications is not
the same as creating the differences. Rather, it simply serves to
provide helpful information. It is the situation that is divisive, not
the pointing out of the situation which is divisive. Note that we will be most
happy to remove options for 'type of Catholic' when there no longer are
underlying differences that warrant such classifications.
Indicated religious
affiliations are provided by users (e.g. selected from a list of
options) and have not been verified and are
not endorsed by us. The classifications may reflect the opinions of the
submitters and may be inaccurate. Remember that we cannot guarantee
accuracy of any information, Catholicity of any item / individual / post
/ group / organization / etc., or make any other guarantee(s) regarding
any item(s).
The classifications
for 'type of Catholic' refer to certain characteristics / behaviors /
preferences / practices / etc. For more specific information on what
makes a Catholic 'traditional' / 'conservative' / 'progressive' / etc.,
consider the matrix below.
The following 'key
items' may help you determine which 'type' of Catholic you are...
|
If you...+
|
You may be...
|
|
Traditional
|
Conservative
/ Moderate
|
Progressive
/ Liberal
|
|
Attend the
traditional Latin Mass++
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Do everything you can to attend
only the
traditional Latin Mass++
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
|
Want the complete restoration of the
traditional Latin Mass and the abolishment (or near abolishment)
of the Novus Ordo rite
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
|
Accept / don't mind the practice of
female altar servers
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Receive Holy Communion in the hand
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Receive
Holy Communion under both
species
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Want to receive
Holy Communion kneeling
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Want to end priestly celibacy
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Want women 'priests'
|
N
|
N/M
|
Y
|
|
Are
involved
in 'charismatic' activities
|
N
|
M
|
M
|
|
Are
involved in other new movements
|
N
|
M
|
M
|
|
Reject the Church's prohibition against
contraception
|
N
|
N/M
|
Y
|
|
Want / promote large families
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Believe
in the Real Presence as always taught by the Church
|
Y
|
Y/M
|
N
|
|
Choose which doctrines of the Church you
will follow
|
N
|
N/M
|
Y
|
|
Readily
accept novelty
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Accept novelty after initial complaint
/ rejection (or immediately if no initial complaint)
|
N
|
Y/M
|
Y
|
|
Willingly pray
publicly with Protestants
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Are
involved in dissident group
|
N
|
N
|
M/Y
|
|
Reject homosexual behavior
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
|
|
Consider Mass
primarily as a 'celebration'
|
N
|
M/Y
|
Y
|
|
Consider Mass
primarily as a Sacrifice
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Talk in church
|
N
|
Y/M
|
Y
|
|
See church
building as place of prayer
(as opposed to place of fellowship)
|
Y
|
Y/M
|
N
|
|
Accept the inerrancy of Scripture
|
Y
|
Y/M
|
N
|
|
Wear a veil to church (if a woman)
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Reject slacks for women
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Strongly desire priest at Mass to face
Eastward
(towards altar, not
people)
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
|
Say
the Rosary daily
|
Y
|
Y/M
|
N
|
|
Add 'Luminous' Mysteries to Rosary
|
N
|
Y/M
|
Y
(if Rosary is said)
|
|
Likely to
have Sacred Heart image in home
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Wear Scapular
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Believe
in Eternal Hell
|
Y
|
M
|
N/M
|
|
Accept
traditional roles for men and
women
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Like Latin at Mass
|
Y
|
N/M
|
N
|
|
Fast throughout Lent (40 days)
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Observe daily / weekly devotions
|
Y/M
|
M
|
N
|
|
Receive
Sacrament of Penance frequently
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Reject guitars at Mass
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
|
Reject applause at Mass
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
|
Reject the concept of lay readers at
Mass
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
|
Call priest by first name (e.g. Fr. Bob)
|
N
|
M/Y
|
Y
|
|
Engage in Eucharistic adoration
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Are saddened by Eucharistic abuses
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
|
|
Read pre-1960's books
|
Y/M
|
M
|
N
|
|
Seek conversion of non-Catholics
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Receive Holy Communion from hands of lay
person
|
N
|
Y
|
Y
|
|
Stay after Mass to make thanksgiving
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
See self as a sinner
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Strong sense of the sacred
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Central
dogmatic beliefs are orthodox
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Reject
abortion
|
Y
|
Y
|
M/N
|
|
Believe
dogmatic teachings can 'evolve' in ways contrary to previous
teachings
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Consider
Protestant views to be heretical
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Believe
'path to heaven is narrow'
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Regular thoughts on the last things
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Saddened by clerics in lay dress
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Marian devotion
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Rejection of 'divorce'
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Want increased democracy in Church
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Belief in the constantly taught dogma of
'No Salvation Outside the Church'
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Concern for upholding tradition
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Rejection of pluralism in the Church
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Reject
'mixed marriages'
(marriages
between Catholics & Non-Catholics)
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Pray for the dead
|
Y
|
Y/M
|
N
|
|
Use of
holy water at home
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Want priests to show gravity of conduct
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Think
changes from Second Vatican
Council have helped the Church (in general)
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Want the Church to
modernize
|
N
|
N/M
|
Y
|
|
Attend Mass at least on Sunday
|
Y
|
Y/M
|
Y/M/N
|
|
Proud of Church's past
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Homeschool
your children
|
Y
|
M
|
N
|
|
Ignorance of
basic tenets of faith
|
N
|
M
|
M/Y
|
|
Prefer
independence to obedience
|
N
|
M
|
Y
|
|
Object to 'sign of peace'
amongst lay persons at Mass
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Object to hand-holding at Mass
|
Y
|
M/N
|
N
|
|
Want
increased lay involvement in the Church |
N |
M/Y |
Y |
|
Accept
Papal Infallibility |
Y |
Y |
M/N |
+ Y
indicates "yes", N indicates "no", M indicates
"maybe". Above is not authoritative. Above items are general
and may not apply to all persons. Bold items
indicate "dead giveaway" items, however even they may not
apply to all persons.
++ If you have never
attended the Traditional Latin Mass before, it does not necessarily mean you are not
traditional / conservative. However, if you understand the difference
between the Traditional and Novus Ordo Mass and if a Traditional Latin
Mass is
available to you, the above may apply.
To decide which
'Catholic Affiliation' option to select, ask yourself where you stand on
the items in the matrix above and compare your answers with those above.
Then consider the following...
*
If you are truly a traditional Catholic, you should have few or no
answers that agree with the 'Conservative / Moderate' or 'Progressive /
Liberal' position.
*
If your answers overwhelmingly (e.g. by a margin of at least
40) favor one of the three categories above, it may be appropriate to
select that 'Catholic affiliation'. Reminder: A true 'traditional
Catholic' should have few or no answers that agree with the
'Conservative / Moderate' or 'Progressive / Liberal' position.
*
If your answers are evenly spread out (or are somewhat evenly spread
out) among the three categories, it may be appropriate to select
'Conservative / Moderate'.
*
If you are not sure, go with the most liberal (e.g. if you can't decide between
Traditional and Conservative, choose "Conservative", if you
can't decide between Conservative & Liberal, go with
"Liberal").
*
Important: If many of your answers agree with 'Traditional' and many of
them agree with 'Progressive', you are probably 'Conservative/Moderate'.
It is unlikely that a true traditional Catholic would have many answers
at all that agree with the 'Progressive' position.
[Note:
This also goes for Conservative / Moderate - If many of your answers agree
with 'Traditional' and many of them agree with 'Conservative /
Moderate', you are probably 'Conservative/Moderate'.]
First note that
persons may change. If you have reflected on the above and realize that
it is appropriate for you to change, you may always do so.
Next, note that the
above types are not necessarily 'sharply defined'. Even within the above
types, there may be various 'subcategories' of the above. For example,
some traditionalists have been called "extreme
traditionalists" (e.g. Sedevacantists). Properly speaking, Sedevacantists
are not 'traditionalists' since they reject true popes.
However, they will no doubt see themselves as
"traditionalists". Therefore, one should be careful regarding
the above categories.
With regard to the
above categories, note that both "traditional" and
"conservative" Catholics who stay within the proper bounds may
be both be considered unobjectionable. As Catholics, we are
called upon to preserve tradition and reject novelty. The following may
be illustrative of the Church's view on tradition:
"Let
them innovate nothing, but keep the traditions." (Pope St. Steven
I, 3rd century A.D.)
"Be
zealously affected to command that in all the churches the pure
tradition be held." (St. Agatho I, 680 A.D.)
"Indeed,
the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor
innovators: they are promoters of tradition." (Pope St. Pius X,
"Notre Charge Apostolique", 1910 A.D.)
"It
is unlawful to alter the established customs of the Church... Remove not
the ancient landmarks which the fathers have set." (St. Peter
Damian, Doctor of the Church)
"With
these things let us be satisfied, and let us abide by them, not removing
everlasting boundaries, nor overpassing the divine tradition." (St.
John of Damascus, Doctor of the Church)
"It
behooves us unanimously to observe the ecclesiastical traditions,
whether defined or simply retained by customary practice of the
Church." (St. Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church)
"It
is needful also to make use of Tradition, for not everything can be
gotten from sacred Scripture. The holy Apostles handed down some things
in the Scriptures, other things in Tradition." (St. Epiphanius of
Salamis)
"The
best advice that I can give you is this. Church traditions - especially
when they do not run counter to the faith - are to be observed in the
form in which previous generations have handed them down" (St.
Jerome, Doctor of the Church, 4th century A.D.)
"It
is absurd, and a detestable shame, that we should suffer those
traditions to be changed which we have received from the fathers of
old." (Decretals, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"A
small thing is not small when it leads to something great; and it is no
small matter to forsake the ancient tradition of the Church that was
upheld by all those who were called before us, whose conduct we should
observe, and whose faith we should imitate." (St. John of Damascus,
Doctor of the Church)
"It
will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and
faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed
by the Apostles, and guarded by the Fathers. For upon this faith the
Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it he would no longer
be Christian either in fact or in name." (St. Athanasius, Doctor of
the Church)
"But
in regard to those observances which we carefully attend and which the
whole world keeps, and which derive not from Scripture but from
Tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended and
ordained to be kept, either by the Apostles themselves or by plenary
councils, the authority of which is quite vital in the Church."
(St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 400 A.D.)
"Keep
the talent of the Catholic faith inviolate and unimpaired. What has been
faithfully entrusted, let it remain in your possession, let it be handed
on by you. You have received gold, so give gold. For my part, I do not
want you to substitute one thing for another; I do not want you
impudently to put lead in place of gold, or fraudulently, brass. I do
not want the appearance of gold, but the real thing." (St. Vincent
of Lerins)
"Therefore,
brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions that you have been taught,
whether by word or by our letter' (2 Thes. 2:15). From this it is clear
that they did not hand down everything by letter, but there was much
also that was not written. Like that which was written, the unwritten
too is worthy of belief. So let us regard the tradition of the Church
also as worthy of belief. Is it a tradition? Seek no further." (St.
John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, c. 400 A.D.)
"'Guard,'
says [St. Paul], 'what has been committed' (1 Tm. 6:20). What does it
mean? It is what has been faithfully entrusted to you not what has been
discovered by you; what you have received, not what you have thought up;
a matter not of ingenuity, but of doctrine; not of private acquisition,
but of public Tradition; a matter brought to you, not put forth by you,
in which you must not be the author but the guardian, not the founder
but the sharer, not the leader, but the follower." (St. Vincent of
Lerins)
"But
for Catholics nothing will remove the authority of the Second Council of
Nicaea, where it condemns those 'who dare, after the impious fashion of
heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties
of some kind...or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow anyone of the
legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church' ...Wherefore the Roman
Pontiffs, Pius IV and Pius IX, ordered the insertion in the profession
of faith of the following declaration: 'I most firmly admit and embrace
the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and
constitutions of the Church'." (Pope St. Pius X, "Pascendi
Dominici Gregis", 1907 A.D.)
"Surely,
"blind and leaders of the blind" [Matt. 15:14] are they who,
puffed up by the proud name of science, reach such a point in their
raving that they pervert the eternal concept of truth, and the true
sense of religion by introducing a new system, 'in which from an
exaggerated and unbridled desire for novelty, truth is not sought where
it certainly exists, and neglecting the holy and apostolic traditions,
other doctrines empty, futile, uncertain, and unapproved by the Church
are adopted, on which men in their extreme vanity think that truth
itself is based and maintained.'" (Pope St. Pius X, "Pascendi
Dominici Gregis", 1907 A.D.)
For argument sake,
note that it may be possible that some "progressive / liberal" minded
Catholics who manage to stay within appropriate bounds may not be
deserving of rebuke [e.g. those who meet only a certain few "Y"'s and "N"'s above - providing, of course, that
they accept all Church teachings and do not engage in or promote any
sinful behavior (including contraception)]. On the other hand, liberal /
progressive Catholics may be "imbued with a spirit that is heretical
rather than Catholic" (Pope Pius XII), which of course is entirely
unacceptable. And, if they are truly modernists, consider that Pope St.
Pius X called modernism "the synthesis of all heresies" and
called modernists "the most pernicious of all the adversaries of
the Church", whereas Bl. Pope Pius IX called liberals (including
modernists) "the
worst enemies of the Church". As Pope St. Pius X said,
"And now, can anybody who takes a survey of the whole system be
surprised that We should define it as the synthesis of all heresies?
Were one to attempt the task of collecting together all the errors that
have been broached against the faith and to concentrate the sap and
substance of them all into one, he could not better succeed than the
Modernists have done." And, "the
Modernists, in perfect harmony, as you may see, with their doctrines -
methods and doctrines brimming over with errors, made not for
edification but for destruction, not for the formation of Catholics but
for the plunging of Catholics into heresy; methods and doctrines that
would be fatal to any religion." (Pope St. Pius X, "Pascendi
Dominici Gregis", 1907 A.D.)
Latin
Mass & Catholic Tradition: Q & A
Traditional Catholic (Topic Page)
The
Traditional Latin Mass vs. the Novus Ordo (New) Mass
Summary
of Changes Since Vatican II: A Revolution in the Church?
Vatican
II and its Fruits
Current
Issues (Catholic News Links Section)
Communion
in the Hand: Why Not?
Communion
Under Both Species: Is it Required?
Lay
'Eucharistic Ministers': Why Not?
Why
Priestly Celibacy?
Top
Reasons Why Women Can't Be Priests
Does
it Really Matter if I'm Catholic or Not? / Combating Religious
Indifferentism
Proper
Behavior in Church
Mixed
Marriages
The
Gift of Life: Life Facts (Abortion, Contraception, Euthanasia)
Some
Thoughts on Modesty/Immodest Dress
Traditional
Prayers & Practices
Classic
Encyclicals
Where
Do We Stand?
Free
Resources (Fliers that you may print & distribute)
Catholic
Basics Section
Church
Talk Section
Coming
Home Section
Latin
Mass & Catholic Tradition Section
Mary
Our Mother Section
Non-Catholics
Section (apologetics)
Prayers
& Devotions Section
Priests
& Vocations Section
Rosary
Section
Sacraments
Section
Saints
Section
Scripture/Parables
Section
Vatican
View
We
make no guarantees concerning any item herein. By using this site you
indicate agreement to all terms. For terms information, click
here.
|
