I haven’t been a Catholic for very long, to be honest. I was lucky or perhaps blessed that, when I was in RCIA, our program director was an inadvertently tradition-minded permanent Deacon. I say tradition minded not in the sense that he promoted that Tridentine Mass; rather, he would seamlessly insert traditional Catholic teachings about morality, faith, dogmas, and general living into the RCIA lessons, and in his ministry as a Deacon in what some call the Novus Ordo Church.
The other essential experience I had at that time was accidentally discovering the homilies of FSSP priests on Youtube, the writings of GK Chesterton, and the legendary work of Archbishop Fulton J Sheen. This exposure to a more traditional view of Catholicism was central to my formation as a novice Catholic, often causing confusion when talking to other Catholics. Despite many Catholics being very left-wing politically, I saw in the faith something else, something not specifically right-wing per se but definitely not compatible with American or broadly Western notions of progressive or socialist politics. As I explored the faith further my confusion about this grew more and more.
I’m a pretty political person. I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Political Science and am a Doctoral Candidate in Public Affairs and Policy. I understand politics, especially political theory, ideologies, and social movements more than most people do. That’s not to brag, it’s just a fact born out of my over-priced but otherwise useless education. Chesterton, Sheen, and the FSSP inevitably led me to discovering the Social Teaching of the Church, which has become the subject of my dissertation (which I’ll address later).
What I noticed was the absolutely beauty built into the faith — not “only” in the Mass, but in all aspects of the faith. Beauty points to God. I am convinced that God creates objectively beautiful things to constantly call to those of us who have doubts about His existence, especially in this age of degeneracy, ugliness, excess, and atheistic scientism. Beauty in traditional teachings of marriage, human sexuality, the social order, and our relationship with God and with one another called me into the Church and later called me to seek out Catholic tradition.
This blog will explore that journey. I plan to start a YouTube channel to discuss Catholic traditionalism, with the specific call of Catholics in North America and Europe to embrace traditional Catholicism, among other things. If this is of interest to you, follow me here and we’ll journey together.
Viva Cristo Rey.
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