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Notes -
@hyrdoacetylene
Curious about your thoughts on The Benedict Option.
If I had to - very roughly - summarize the central concept driving the wedge between conservative and progressive Catholics, it would be how they each answer "How does one live a Catholic life in the world, but not of the world?"
I see progressive more or less saying "Eh, let's just round up to "of" and start allowing all of these whacky secular trends." Your post describes well what the backlash to that looks like.
On the conservative side, I see a few different strands without a single one really offering a full answer. What I'll call non-goofy Trads/Conservatives do a good job of saying, "Hey, nothing has changed. God's Truth is God's Truth. Keep doing what you're doing." But there's also a fair amount of awkward silence when the Pope does something goofy like allow for same sex blessings (note: this is starting to change, per your post).
You then have the RadTrads who want to blow up Vatican 2 and have leadership who are willing to get a little more than testy with Rome (SSPX, Strickland, (maybe) Ripperger). But I see an idea of cultural and social "retreat" in that wing (hence my opening question about the Benedict Option). Maybe the world is really going to hell in a hand-basket, but does that mean we (Catholics) should try to head for the hills / build cool forts and keep out the non-believers until the next Flood? Can I even participate in politics / technology / pop culture without unavoidably plunging into a sinful existence. It troubles me to think the One True Answer is to become Amish-Caths and never use electronics again.
Anyways, thanks for an excellent write-up. It's always intriguing to me how much a lot of leadership issues come down to day-to-day management level failings. Maybe Francis is Closer To God than we realize, maybe not. But it seems apparent he can't run the shop well.
A more moderate interpretation of the Benedict Option I've heard is that while a negative world makes it impossible to fully participate in the culture and necessitates at least some form of withdrawal to avoid the effects of the secular acid bath on the conscience, the goal is not to turn fully inward but to strengthen faith and communities so that there is a strong foundation of art, culture, and tradition from which to evangelize. This is similar to Dreher's idea but differs in degree. It wouldn't entail a complete, multigenerational Amish-like retreat from broader society, but rather 1-2 generations of intentionally forming communities that still engage partially with the wider culture.
I think Dreher would say that what you describe is his idea, and everybody who thinks it's something more extreme is misinterpreting him.
There has always, unfortunately, been something of a gulf between what Dreher actually wrote and what Dreher insists that he wrote.
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The SSPX is playing nice with Rome and trying to suck up to cardinal Pizzaballa in the hopes that as pope Anthony I he’d let Schneider’s deal for regularization go through, which is very generous to the SSPX, without requiring them to perform sacraments in the new rite. Strickland is mostly giving retreats since he was removed; I suspect he’ll wind up administering vows and tonsures for convents; and FSSP and SSPX priests are busy telling their flocks not to listen to fr Ripperger so much. The true hardliners- Vigano, Fr Nix, bishop Williamson, etc- have less influence than commonly believed. Most actual leadership position traditionalists expect to wait a generation or two for the progressives to die out and win by default.
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