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<\/a><\/div>\nThose who\u00a0separate\u00a0Catholics into groups and those who don\u2019t. \u00a0Ha! \u00a0Well, for this little exercise, let me be part of the first type. \u00a0We\u2019re going to look, briefly, at three general strains, or approaches, to Catholic holy living that I\u2019ve noticed in my seven years or so of hanging out in Catholic circles. \u00a0The three groups are the \u2018below the waistline Catholics\u2019, the \u2018above the waistline Catholics\u2019, and the \u2018above the neckline Catholics.\u2019<\/p>\n
Briefly, the below the\u00a0waistline\u00a0variety is your basic, traditional, somewhat stereotypical Catholic of yore, focusing much on the sins of the flesh, sometimes accused of being puritanical in its approach. \u00a0A Catholic \u00a0variety\u00a0of the old don\u2019t drink, don\u2019t smoke, don\u2019t chew and don\u2019t date girls who do. \u00a0Sure, gambling, drinking and other such things are OK, but much emphasis is placed on the, shall we say, carnal vices. \u00a0 Much is on what not to do in life, and there is a basic traditional, even conservative way of\u00a0looking\u00a0at Catholic living. \u00a0Virtue is not being\u00a0adulterous\u00a0 gay, carousing, or embracing the seedier side of modern life. \u00a0Or pre-modern life for that matter. \u00a0This is the rural type. \u00a0Views on various sweeping political and social movements may vary, and in fact many are as Democrat blue as CNN, but when it comes to the social issues, the \u2018what makes me holy\u2019, they tend to default to more\u00a0traditional\u00a0approaches\u00a0\u2013 shun fleshly lust, spare the rod, and quite frankly, realistic use of war, capital punishment, and other old time approaches to life. \u00a0In this approach, holy living is living a life of chastity, it is defined mostly by what I don\u2019t do. \u00a0Sure, good works and charity may well play a part, and pushing for justice as good as any. \u00a0But don\u2019t be shocked if this side prefers the veiled woman, the woman with long trousers or dresses, and typically would emphasize our abilities to live holy based on what we can do, not on the grand, lofty issues of the day.<\/p>\n
The above the waistline are, for want of a better word, the \u2018liberals.\u2019 \u00a0That is, liberal in the Christian, even academic, sense. They\u2019ve long since abandoned such notions as a real Jonah, a real Moses, or even a real Jesus in some cases. \u00a0Justice is that which is associated with promoting liberal values. \u00a0Pro-gay, pro-choice, pro-ecumenical, and even post-Christian. \u00a0Such ideas of a real Hell or God really sending His Son to die on the cross are every bit as suspect as they are in most mainline progressive Protestant\u00a0denominations\u00a0 \u00a0Holy living, though seldom called such, is seen as supporting equality (women, gays, minorities), railing against wars and military might (at their worst, only when advanced by\u00a0conservatives), and generally\u00a0railing\u00a0against the traditional Christian West, the United States and most things seen as foundational to those traditions and civilizations. Political Correctness and Multi-Culturalism\u00a0are the name of the game, and it\u2019s entirely possibly that with no Hell to worry about, salvation is for everyone anyway, so breaking other traditional teachings in the Church is a distinct possibility. \u00a0Odd thing is, sometimes folks who lean this way are fanatics about certain things: when a prayer is said, how to stand during this or that Sacrament. \u00a0You may not have to cross yourselves any more, but by goodness you better do it right if you do. \u00a0Here, the big thing is embracing the new minorities, giving that cup of cold water, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and generally doing good as the Gospel calls us, to the least of these.<\/p>\n
The last one is the one common on the Catholic Blogosphere. \u00a0These are the above the neckline Catholics. \u00a0In this world, holy living is virtually never talked about. \u00a0Generally, there is almost as much leniency toward sins of the flesh as you get in the more progressive side. \u00a0This is the one that celebrates Andy Warhol. or the late Roger Ebert, dismissing their advocacy for more porn-styled entertainment, their various approaches to Catholic living (or atheism), and more or less reminding us that God is a merciful God who is about mercy and calls for mercy and so it\u2019s all mercy. \u00a0\u00a0Sympathy\u00a0 if not almost complete acceptance, of gays, women\u2019s rights, popular culture, rock culture, what have you, are the name of the game. \u00a0Expect Ferris Bueller not to be condemned as a symbol of all the narcissism and hedonism that the West has\u00a0achieved\u00a0 but rather as a paragon of Christian virtue, a Christ figure in his own right. \u00a0So where is the angst? \u00a0The debate? \u00a0The outrage in this approach of apparent welcoming and affirming of everything? \u00a0That would be the sweeping, global geopolitical strategies and polices of the day. \u00a0It\u2019s where you stand on the Church\u2019s\u00a0teachings\u00a0about lying, the death penalty, wars in Iraq, gun control, war in Iran,\u00a0Capitalism\u00a0 Socialism, or any one of a hundred topics that dominate college textbooks where holy living is found. <\/p>\n
Wielding\u00a0the Catechism like a KJV Bible, and whipping out Aquinas \u00a0like a gunslinger whips out his six shooter, this group prides itself in its\u00a0intellectual\u00a0grounding on the deep and rich Catholic\u00a0tradition\u00a0 and dares anyone to challenge its stance on the Church, which is now always right, even if it changes tomorrow (in which case, it will then be always right). \u00a0Here, the holiness is derived by right thinking, not\u00a0necessarily\u00a0right living. \u00a0And unlike the former two, the\u00a0feeling\u00a0of spiritual satisfaction may come from being right on the teachings of the Church. \u00a0Sure,\u00a0doing\u00a0good to help, or refraining from orgies is good, but that\u2019s not what\u00a0separates the sheep from the goats. \u00a0What does is sometimes a stance on an issue that doesn\u2019t come close to impacting me one way or\u00a0another\u00a0 \u00a0And therefore, like much of Internet morality, it can lull me into a false sense of righteousness, especially if I\u2019m willing to let others die if I\u2019m wrong, but unwilling to sell\u00a0everything I have and give it to the poor. \u00a0Something about that approach to Christian\u00a0living\u00a0 IMHO, bodes more ill than the first two approaches.<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t know which group I tend to lean toward, I\u2019ll bet you were able to figure the one I see as most dangerous.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Those who\u00a0separate\u00a0Catholics into groups and those who don\u2019t. \u00a0Ha! \u00a0Well, for this little exercise, let me be part of the first type. \u00a0We\u2019re going to look, briefly, at three general strains, or approaches, to Catholic holy living that I\u2019ve noticed in my seven years or so of hanging out in Catholic circles. \u00a0The three groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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