When Harrison Butker gave his now-famous and controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College, he probably didn't expect to be the subject of this month's (or more) debates. Even though it has only been a week since the subsequent discourse began, people are approaching this issue from different angles. There's a lot to unpack in this speech, and I suspect people will be unpacking it for quite some time. However, rather than focusing on the hot-button issues brought up in Mr. Butker's speech, I want to focus on points that are important to understanding why he (and others) think the way they do. I think.
I think Mr. Butker is employing something that will be familiar to anyone who classifies themselves as a “traditionalist” or who attends the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). He has adopted a kind of “DIY traditionalism” with a rather radical emphasis on personal responsibility, is populist in nature, and has little direct connection to church authorities. The result is a dynamic yet chaotic creative energy within traditionalism that exerts its own influence.
Mr. Bhatkar said in his speech:
Still, we have so many great resources at our fingertips that it doesn't take long to find traditional, timeless teachings that haven't been vaguely paraphrased for modern times. Moreover, there are still many good and holy priests, so it is up to us to seek them out.
The turmoil in the world is unfortunately reflected in the turmoil in our parishes, and sadly in our cathedrals…. There seems to be so much confusion coming from our leaders that we need concrete examples in places like Benedictine that people can refer to…
You will notice that there is little emphasis here on the importance of the local parish, and even the local priest, in helping you live your vocation. Butker encourages priests to lead their parishes, but his emphasis is not on building up the parish, but on fulfilling their personal mission. That may seem strange to those outside of the traditionalist world, since the way most Catholic communities grow is through parishes or as extensions of parishes.
Many Catholics are accustomed to the world of priests. Gerald Talen (a composite of several priests I knew in a typically conservative Catholic diocese). Father Gerald is a tireless preacher and tireless administrator of the parish. He comes to the diocese and launches one new program after another. Many are programs he has tried elsewhere or read about in magazines and articles establishing best practices for the parish. In many cases, some of the current parishioners of a parish come from Fr. The former parish of Talen. When he goes to another parish, the same people will likely follow.
I don't bring this composite sketch up to criticize it, just to explain it. This composite sketch depicts priests with thousands of people in their dioceses, whose dynamism leads to solid diocesan budgets and enthusiastic volunteers and donors. In his average TLM community (the diocese to which Butker likely belongs), the situation is different.
This is how I felt after watching this work. The TLM community is deep-rooted in the diocese and wants to spread the news about TLM. In addition to promoting his community, an individual visits a nearby parish and asks the priest if he can celebrate one of his TLMs there as a gesture to the flock. That priest doesn't have to say TLM, but I wish he could come to social after that. If the priest agrees, the individual calls several local priests he knows who can come say mass. If someone needs to learn how to do this, that individual will contact a lay association/group that trains priests to chant TLM. He then provides priests with his YouTube videos and conducts personal training sessions, often at their own expense.
To promote the Mass, contact a few key people at the location, send emails, and post on social media. They spread the word in their communities. In addition to the local individuals who participate, these communities send “delegates” from their communities to attend to answer questions and show people what they have found to be most effective. Masu. Perhaps at this point the parish priest has advertised it in the parish bulletin, but that bulletin is unlikely to be widely read and most of the people in that community who are attending are not from that parish. . Once that Mass is said, the cycle is set up in another parish, those who wish to help are identified, and the cycle begins anew. The important point here is that the involvement of the priest is minimal.
Both models can lead to great organizations of faith-filled Catholics. But perhaps it was this amateur dynamism that created the environment frequented by the Harrison Butkers of the world. This dynamic was often an outgrowth of the TLM's decades of growth in an environment of suspicion and even hostility from some ecclesiastical authorities. A new beginning). traditional management).
Without an emphasis on individual vocations, often independent of a wider parish that they may not have, the Latin Mass will not grow. Rather, it withers and dies. Of course, this approach can also have drawbacks. This active evangelization can often take on an overly combative attitude. Every good soldier fighting on the front lines needs to be reminded from time to time why he fights, lest the fight itself become the reason or the mission. If there is even a slight oversight, people can make mistakes at a much higher rate. (I think this can be seen in Butker's coded research in NFP; this practice is perfectly easy to defend from pre-Vatican II sources.) The lack of precision is , may be refreshing in a way, but its precision exists for the sake of society. reason.
This world presents special challenges for church authorities, from priests to bishops to Rome. Due to past strategies of deliberately excluding these communities, these communities lack the long-standing relationships of trust that parishes and dioceses have. Combine this with a general crisis of authority within the church (where the church struggles to exert influence among the most tolerant), and without many corrective mechanisms you could potentially go off the rails. Movements that can come off occur.
But in many cases, growth is undeniable. How the church balances the excesses of this movement while encouraging its dynamic growth will be a major challenge in the coming years and decades. But in order to engage with it and help it, we have to understand it.
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