In the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church implemented reforms, known as the aggiornamento ("updating"). According to the essay "Roman Catholic Traditionalism," by William Dinges, these reforms were meant to bring both vitality and adaptation to the church. However, these reforms brought controversy and fragmentation. Three general groups that emerged from these reforms and later reforms are liberals, conservatives and traditionalists. Liberals, or progressives, are the term used by conservatives and traditionalists to identify those which instituted and support the reforms. Conservatives are made up of groups which both precede and were formed after the reforms. In general conservatives oppose the reforms and try to repeal them and transform the church to how it was before the aggiornamento. Traditionalists share conservatives opposition to these reforms; however, traditionalists do not follow the hierarchy of the catholic church. These groups differences show how different ideologies within a single religion interact.
Traditionalism is a movement that started by the aggiornamento implemented by the Second Vatican Council. The movement has been highly fragmented, and attempts to centralize it have failed. Traditionalists have also not had much growth due to their focus on dealing with internal issues. Although individual churches have stirred up controversy, the movement on a whole has not caused any significant controversy. The movement has not allied it with any other right wing movements, and I do not believe that this will be likely. The movement shares some ideology with the right wing Protestant movement. However, I do not believe that the movement will join with this movement because this movement started by believing that the reformers instituted brought in "Protestant" beliefs to the Catholic Church. Also an alliance with the right wing Protestant movement would not help the traditionalist movement, because this alliance would cause a schism with the church hierarchy. The traditionalists do not want their own church, but to change the existing Roman Catholic Church. This is shown by the mainstream traditionalist movement condemning those who no longer support the pope. Although the traditionalist no longer follows the church hierarchy, the movement is trying to force change in the church, and not leave it.
Conservatives share the views of traditionalists, that the reforms are bad for the church, but Conservatives believe the best way to undo these reforms are to remain a part of the church. Conservatives have formed intuitions within the church to further their gains. Despite a shared belief with traditionalists that the reforms made by the Second Vatican Council were bad, Conservatives are critical of traditionalists. Conservatives criticize traditionalists for leaving the church. This opposition is rooted in Catholics hatred of Protestants from leaving the Catholic church. The difference between Conservatives and Traditionalists is their mind set. Conservatives see the reforms as unsavory and needing to be changed, but they respect the authority of the church to accept the reforms for the time being. Traditionalists think that these reforms cannot be changed by practical means and branched off in protest. Traditionalist see the situation as more dire which means more serious actions.
Liberals have reacted in different ways to traditionalists. Some Bishops have taken actions to limit the growth of traditionalism by punishing traditionalist priests and not publicly debating traditionalist priests or apologists. These measures have been taken mostly by American Bishops. The Vatican has been more sympathetic to traditionalists.
Pope John Paul II allowed the old liturgy to be performed, one of the traditionalist demands, pending permission by the local bishop. The Vatican implemented these changes in order to prevent a schism. These changes illustrate that conservative and traditionalist efforts have made some gains, but traditionalists remain separated and conservatives are still upset with the reforms.These three groups demonstrate how a religion could possibly change over time. The reforms were made by the liberals in an attempt to modernize the church and attract new members. Both Conservatives and Traditionalists want the church to return to its old ways. The traditionalist approach of separating as a result of reforms shows how a new religion could branch out from an existing one. Traditionalists have not officially separated due to Catholics hatred of schisms stemming back to the Protestant Reformation. Conservatives demonstrate how a group can attempt to reverse reforms from the inside. All of these groups have made an impact on modern Catholicism and show how an age old religion can still change.
Excellent but...What I asked for in the first paper was, as I said in the syllabus, a discussion of chapters one and chapters two including an engagement with social scientific debates over what religion is, how the debate over Mormon origins reflects debates in social science over what religion is, how social scientists have approached religion quantitatively and qualitatively, an engagement with the history or religion, and an engagement with the documentary we watched in class on the Westboro Baptist Church and how that documentary raises questions about culture creating reality and how we approach social groups and religious groups (economics, politics, culture, geography, demography, emics, etics….
ReplyDeleteDiscussions of the readings (1-97 first) should be in later Reaction papers.
I am going to be a bit lenient on these first posts given that this is our first assignment and I do want you to get your feet and get a sense of what I expect in these reaction papers, but you do need to follow what I asked for in the syllabus and on classron's sidebar.