Many Mansions in Our Father’s House


This article in the Australian magazine Oriens has been around for a while and I’ve read it before. But it was referenced again recently and it strikes me as being even more timely now than when first published. Some of my dear traditionalist brethren do seem to have a far longer list of excommunicable offenses than the poor old Spanish Inquisition ever dreamed of. (And, of course, not just those “others” --sigh!-- but me, too. Push one of my liturgical hot buttons and I will be out there collecting kindling for the auto da fe before you can say Quo Primum.) But it shouldn’t be so. That attitude isn’t even part of our “tradition”.

The heretics have generally been the puritans, fanatics and purists. The Catholics generally had the softer approach to life. The heretics were always wanting to clean up the house like Martha, the Catholics content to put up their feet and chat with the head of the household like Mary. The Catholic attitude to life should be just a little bit irresponsible and perhaps even scandalous, rather like the Church’s founder.

The Traditional Movement because of its unfortunate marginalisation is always in danger of this temptation to tidiness which historically has not been the characteristic of a Catholic outlook but of a heterodox one. The Church of Christ has never been tidy, efficient or well organised. Catholics, with some notable exceptions, have never been very good, for example, at running wars or bureaucracies. This is as it should be since the Church’s job is to get people into heaven, not to wash or scrub them or to make them into model citizens of whatever sort.

The author’s name isn’t given. I wish it were so more of his articles could be searched out.