reputation

i see a rising trend on social media within some Catholic circles of Traditional Latin Catholicism. i don't quite know what to make them. they aren't like any Traditional Latin Catholics i know.  they tweet every time they veil or wear an ankle-length skirt, debate about obscure parts of the Liturgy and quote a lot of Thomas Aquinas. and hashtag incessantly.

if this applies to you or someone you know...y'all seem to have the best intentions but I get the feeling some of you don't really know what you are talking about.

you seem hell bent on proving you are not so different from other Catholics. (as if our church doesn't have it's foundations in diversity, as if our differences don't make us stronger). “See, I veil but I wear pants outside of Mass, I’m normal.”, “Look, I’m smiling, I’m not your typical Traditional Latin Catholic. I'm a #RadTrad” or “I carry a missal but I’m cool enough to hang with outside of Mass”. as a "typical" Traditional Latin Catholic, i resent what is being inplied. underneath these statements, a finger points. that “we” are wrong and y'all are “right”. that something needs changed (us). that there are lines and sides and battles to be won and wars to be fought and Y'ALL! E n o u g h  already.

for people who want to proclaim how traditional they are, i'm amazed how every other thing you say disses the more old school traditionalists. i am also abhorrently against trendifying our most beautiful, beloved faith, so i'm speaking up. (please go easy on the hashtag rage if this applies to you. and for the love of God stop talking about leggings as pants there ARE more important things happening in the world.)

what if i told you the beauty is in our differences? what if i told you that everyone who gets close to us sees the beauty of these bones beneath the stern exterior? what if i told you i don't appreciate your marching in to change the charisms of our Rite on a self-proclaimed mission to help us be less misunderstood? we don't need changed. we are fine with not fitting in. people walked away from Jesus when He was misunderstood and He didn't change to accommodate them, just like people walk away from us when they mistake our reverence for a lack of joy. honestly, i'm quite comfortable with the Rite that has so many parallels to Jesus’ life on earth. the many Traditional Latin Catholics i have known over the course of my life are deeply spiritual people, unfazed by what the world thinks of them. by being unconcerned with the world, we are changing it. After all we attracted you, didn't we? perhaps you could learn from us, to be a little more okay with uncomfortable and a little less obsessed with normalcy. silence is golden, “not all those who wander are lost” and sometimes the very best things are meant to be revered in our hearts, not shouted to the world on Twitter or Instagram.

this isn't meant to be a "you can't sit with us" post, not at all. welcome! welcome to the wonderful world of Traditional Latin Catholicism. maybe you could look with your eyes and not try to touch eeveryyyyything after being here for all of 5 seconds. you're young. enthusiastic. you have good energy. i'm happy you're here. stop trying to change something that's perfectly fine. stop trying to fix something that's not broken. happy to be here? me too. but there are more honest, less harmful/divisive ways to share your joy. and social media shouldn't be the main place you talk about your religion anyways.