Pensees On Catholic Traditionalism

Rather than attempt a systematic "legal" critique primarily from canon law and all the various proclamations of the Church regarding schism and authority, and so forth, rather, I have sought to analyze the premises, presuppositions, logical and ecclesiological "bottom lines" and (in a word), the spirit of a false and divisive "traditionalism" practiced and held by a distinctive sociological sub-group of Catholics. One might regard such an enterprise as logically and conceptually prior to a formal critique (whether theological or philosophical) of the modes of thought involved. As Pascal sought to examine and "expose" the underlying assumptions of the unbeliever and the skeptic of his time (similar to Socrates' own modus operandi), so I am trying to arrive at the foundational assumptions or "mindset" of the self-proclaimed "traditionalist," under the further assumption that ideas do not develop in a vacuum, and have a history, and a pedigree.