Being Catholic Means Upholding Apostolic Tradition

David Martin | The Daily Knight

With all the modernization that has stigmatized the Catholic Church over the past sixty years, we see the term “Traditional Catholic” being used to distinguish loyal Catholics from those of little fervor who simply flow with the times.  

However, the term Traditional Catholic is redundant since there really is no such thing as an untraditional Catholic because catholicity by definition signifies adherence to Catholic tradition. If one refuses to adhere to tradition and willfully professes a new gospel, he is not Catholic since being Catholic means submitting to all that Christ left us through Apostolic Tradition. As Jesus himself even said:

“Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it.” (St. Luke 18:17)

That is to say, only a childlike submission to doctrine and tradition can save us. Just because one is baptized Catholic doesn’t necessarily make him Catholic because if he falls away from the Church he is no longer part of Christ’s Mystical Body. In the words of Pope Pius XII.

Only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943)

This separating of oneself from the unity of the body could also include those who physically remain in the Church but who reject tradition and embrace a new religion of man. After all, it’s not where you sit that counts but what you embrace in your heart. St. Athanasius who had been expelled from the Church by heretics famously said to those who had likewise been expelled for their faith:

“May God console you! … What saddens you is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the building, but you have the Apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith.”

These words would certainly apply to those of our time who have categorically rejected tradition and embraced heresy. For instance, if a baptized person obstinately professes that Mary wasn’t ever Virgin and Jesus was just a man, and that Christ didn’t exclusively found the Catholic Church, he is outside the Catholic Church though he may sit in the pews on Sunday.

God is the Final Judge

What then, shall we say that all baptized members in Christ who attend Mass but who are taken up with the new mod are no longer part of the Catholic Church? Nay, we could never say this especially since many of these people have been innocently misled by modernist clergy. God is always the final judge.

But objectively speaking, we could say that those who scrap tradition and who profess Protestant ideologies are no longer Catholic in the same way we could say that those who physically leave the Church and worship at separated churches are no longer Catholic. But again, God is always the final judge, only he sees the heart. God will never judge one who is truly innocent.

But can one be innocent if he judges tradition, welcomes LGBT, denigrates Mary, denies Purgatory, praises Luther, and preaches that he is unconditionally saved by ‘God’s mercy’ in spite of his sins? Hardly.

Being Catholic is About Upholding Tradition

Hence it is good for loyal Catholics to identify themselves as tradition-minded Catholics to distinguish themselves from those who are not. That way those in their parish churches will understand that being Catholic is all about upholding tradition. Fellow Catholics must understand that being Catholic means (among other things):

# Praying to Mary through the Rosary

# Supporting the Traditional Latin Mass

# Placing God first before man

# Obeying the Ten Commandments

# Working out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)

# Observing modesty at all times

# Shunning bathing suits

# Avoiding the occasion of sin

# Avoiding TV and worldly amusements

# Living lives of penance, sacrifice, and prayer

# Publicly rejecting abortion and homosexuality

# Shunning ecumenism and DEI inclusion

A Fallen Away Catholic?

With that said, we might consider that Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina, could be a fallen away Catholic since he bent over backwards to suppress the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese and has shown disdain for virtually every form of tradition. However, it looks like Pope Leo called him on the carpet about this because we hear that the bishop is backing down now.

Pope Leo has also taken a couple of nice jabs at “Pope” Francis in that he has now restored salaries to Vatican personnel that Francis had nixed, and he has come out and refuted Francis’ statement that marriage and family life is just an “ideal.” Leo said that marital vows are not an ideal but a rule of life to be followed, so hopefully he will continue to undo Francis’ many errors.