Friday, April 29, 2005
... because I can't figure out what planet he's from with this comment: "The 'progressive' project is over --- not because its intentions were malign, but because it posed an ultimately boring question: how little can I believe, and how little can I do, and still remain a Catholic?" Funny, that sounds more like an attitude common to Catholicism amongst lukewarm believers. The Church has accommodated officially in saying you only have to go to Mass once a year, you only have to make a confession once a year, you don't really have to tithe, educate yourselves or your children, or really do much of anything but mark your life with baptism and a Catholic funeral. Everything else is optional.
Weigel must be running in pretty trim circles, because the progressives I know are strong advocates for the social gospel. Simplifying one's lifestyle to accommodate environmental awareness, energy consumption, less tv and radio, and taking more time to pray doesn't sound like minimalism to me. I remember a few of the shining examples of minimalism in my life:
- After the death of the pastor who baptized me, we received a German priest who prided himself on twenty-five minutes Masses. Parishioners used to good homilies and good music ousted the guy in less than six months.
- Just yesterday I received an anonymous phone call from someone upset we were doing music at the early Sunday Mass during Easter. Why can't we have a "quiet Mass?" The parish has had music at this Mass during Lent and Easter for years; why is this a problem now?
Are these the voices of progressive Catholicism? I think not.
The next thing Weigel will tell us is that progressives didn't want sung psalms, baptisms at Mass, Communion under both forms, adult education, RCIA, and the like because they take too long. I used to respect Weigel as a scholar, even if I disagreed with some of his ideology. But I have to wonder if he's not a spinmeister worthy of Reagan and the Bushes.
