WHICH Tradition?
You seem to ME to be what my Catholic Deacon called a "Protestant hiding in the Church." He taught us that there are 3 types that associate with and worship in the Catholic Church. They are:
CATHOLICS. These are the only Catholics in the Church. He estimated their number to be 20-25% of those you'll find in the RCC. embrace whatever the RCC says BECAUSE the RCC says it. They submit to the unmitigated, unabashed, unaccountable AUTHORITY of the Denomination - with quiet docility. When something is said, the ONLY issue that matters is: WHAT Denomination is saying it? If it's the RC one, then Jesus is speaking and we are to submit. As one of my Catholic teachers so accurately and clearly stated when I asked if something in the RCC was true, "Josiah - would you ask Jesus if He was correct in something He said? Of course not! So how in the world can you ask if the Catholic Church is right about something?" That's a Catholic. I personally think the Deacon's estimate of 20-25% is FAR too high, I think there are FAR fewer Catholics than that, but that's irrelevant to the point.
CAFETERIA CATHOLICS. He estimated these as "more than half" of those that worship in an RCC parish. These are people who reject the Authority of the Church and who take it upon themselves to to decide what they accept and what they don't. They are IN NO SENSE Catholic, they just call themselves that and (when they do worship) worship there. There have always been this types in the Church but their number has grown ENORMOUSLY in the past few centuries.
PROTESTANTS HIDING IN THE CHURCH. He regarded this group as not only the greastest evil, but "the greatest threat to the Church since Gnosticism." Similar to the group above, these people also reject the unmitigated, unabashed, unaccountable Authority of the RC Denomination, actually being very extreme Protestants since they hold EVERYTHING as potentially wrong in the RCC, and holding it all up to some norm THEY embrace (Tradition, Scripture, reason, history... whatever) then arbitrate for themselves if it's true or not. What makes this group so much more dangerous than the more typical Cafeteria Catholics, is that they are very radically Protestant (more so than most Protestants) and they tend to agree with the Church a lot more (perhaps 100%) - thus leading many astray. They have investigated everything, normed and arbitrated the matters, and decided the RCC is correct. They are radical, extreme Protestants who simply chose the RCC as the most correct denomination - and thus associate there. He estimated their number as 10% or so - but growing fact. they are the greatest threat since Gnosticism. He actually had a story to tell. At some state university (I don't remember which), there is a Catholic Student Ministry facility across the street from the university and to the student housing area. Anyway, it seems there was this freshman from some Arab Middle Eastern nation who was an engineering student. Unfortunately, he partied more than studied and ended up flunking out, being kicked out of school. To ashamed to go home and fact his family and friends but kicked out of the dorms, he hide in the Catholic Church across the street. For weeks, there were some very strange "going-ons"! Food disappeared. Strange sounds were heard. Late at night, lights would go on and off. No one could figure how this mystery until one day when the custodian found "the man hiding in the church." Our deacon pointed out, this happens in EVERY Catholic parish. And often, they are among those who agree with Catholics more than most.
BTW, I realized I was in the last group. Integrity, honesty caused me to leave. If I'm not Catholic at it's very core, at it's very center, at it's very foundation (quietly, blindly, just embracing WHATEVER I'm told because the denomination says I should), then I'm not Catholic. Ironic that I agree with the RCC far more than most Catholics I know, but that's how it tends to be with this last group. You often sound a lot like me in my late Catholic days....
Again, we see MUCH mention of "Tradition" Yet, no one will tell us WHICH. And no one will actually produce this "Tradition" so we can all see and read it. A countless number of phantoms.
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