In a private forum we’re discussing a sad and decidedly personal (so no, I’m not going to link to it) article by a woman who was seeking God in her native Catholic faith, and was told at every turn, “Quit acting so holier-than-thou!” It is no surprise that, isolated and mocked for practicing the very religion she’d been reared in, she eventually decided it was not the place for her.
I wish I could say hers was an unusual case, but it isn’t. I’ve known families who won’t tolerate relatives who insist on attending Mass on Sundays and holy days. I’ve heard priests belittle traditional forms of piety, both those that are matters of private revelation (ex: approved Marian apparitions) and those that are central to the Catholic faith (“We don’t do Adoration”). The reality is that some people just can’t stand for you to be too Catholic.
What’s the response?
Stay calm and keep your Catholic on.
This kind of behavior is the hallmark of gross spiritual immaturity.
People who throw temper-tantrums because Mary-Margaret Immaculate has an opinion on pants*, or how to reverently receive Holy Communion, or what’s a good way to observe a feast day are, like 7th graders whispering about who’s out of style, massively insecure about their own faith.
When you know your own prayer life is in order, you just aren’t upset when someone else prays more or more-traditionally than you do. When you know that your own habits are perfectly modest, you aren’t upset when someone else lives a more retiring life than you do. When you know that your own theology is in line with the teaching of the Catholic faith, you aren’t upset if someone else takes a different, but also theologically-acceptable, perspective on a matter open to discussion.
There are times, of course, when you need to take a stand. When someone teaches the religious education class that making the Sign of the Cross left-handed is satanic (I guess certain amputees are de facto hellions, then?), or that if your butt touches the bench after receiving Communion then your Communion doesn’t count, we have a problem. Whether the piety police are patrolling on the right or the left, blatant error needs to be corrected.**
Likewise, there’s a significant difference between “This is a good and worthy practice and I think we’d do well to practice it generally” and “You’re going to hell if you do it this other way that the Church allows.” If Mary-Margaret Immaculate throws herself in front of you, weeping bitterly because you’re about to profane the Eucharist because you had a drink of water to clear that frog in your throat (currently water does not break the fast), the right response is to carefully step around her and reverently receive.
Correct genuine errors, but ignore juvenile blather. Whether patrolling from the right or the left, the piety police lose their power when we cheerfully ignore them.
Stay calm and keep your Catholic on.
Related:
- Taming the Feral Faithful: How to Lure Serious Catholics Back to Your Parish
- The Catholic Faith, Straight Up, No Agendas
- Three Things We Need From Our Priests Before We Can Evangelize
*I beg you: Please wear them. Clothing the naked is a work of mercy, and charity starts at home.
**Weirdly, I’ve heard the most bizarrely restrictive pious superstitions from, among others, people who take the most liberal-possible reading on other matters of the faith. Spiritual idiocy knows no boundaries.
Photo by Jon Fitz, all rights reserved.
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