Me in a nutshell

So I was giving my two cents over on Facebook the other day.  As a result, I was informed that my views were merely the product of my vile MAGA ways.  Anyone who has read my blog for any amount of time may now commence with the giggles. 

But while I shy from trying to pigeonhole people into slick categories, I admit there is such a thing as more liberal or conservative, more traditional or progressive, more left or right ways of seeing things.  No group is a monolith.  But there are trends and tendencies.  

A while back, I was talking to our former priest who has moved on to bigger things.  As my boys say, he's one of those fast risers in the Church and I imagine we'll see more of him in years to come.  Which isn't bad, since he's a good egg.  But as we chatted, we talked about the different ways Catholics approach the issues today, and how that sometimes drives wedges in the Church that might help Satan, but are problematic for most other concerns.  While talking about the most generic divide of Right and Left, I told him how I see myself.  I said I considered myself theologically Catholic, morally conservative, economically moderate, and historically traditional.  He said he liked that, and felt it wasn't too far from a healthy way to approach things if such labels must be used.

So given the individual who tried to tell me all about myself and my MAGA ways, I figured I'd post a refresher on me, or at least how I think I approach things.  You can agree or disagree as you see fit.  So here it is: 

Theologically Catholic - On the whole, I believe the Catholic Church hits the entirety of the history of the Christian Faith closer than the other traditions. Not that there aren't a few things that still get me to raise an eyebrow, owing to my former not-Catholic ways.  I just keep those between me and the Almighty.  Of course this is if you ignore the recent approach of some Catholics acting as if the first 2000 years was merely a deeply flawed pre-game warm-up, and we're now figuring out what the Church should really have taught.  The positive fruits of that tree appear to still be waiting to bud. 

Morally Conservative - When it comes to morals, I default to the old adage that change might be inevitable, but it is never inevitably good.  If we're honest, we're seeing that play out after decades of throwing any and all norms and morals out the window.  And by morals, I don't just mean only what goes on below the waistline.  I mean moral principles and standards and virtues that can no doubt impact the bedroom, but also extend far beyond the boudoir into places like the boardroom.  Things like self-sacrifice, humility over pride, ideas of honor and duty and loyalty and patriotism and defaulting to greater ideals than myself, and even manners and politeness.  Of course I see the converse of these things hoisted on our society as a bad thing.  Whether that attack on old morals and virtues is shouted from the rooftops, or accomplished by more subtle means.   

Economically Moderate - Sorry, but I'm in that camp that didn't leap for joy when Elon Musk became history's first trillionaire.  Call me commie, but somehow I just can't squeeze the biblical witness, much less the Gospel message, into a template that says when it comes to obtaining financial gain, there simply are no rules, just right.  I feel that conservatism's dogged defense of corporate interests in the name of defending Capitalism as the one true hill upon which to die is what keeps people willing to look at the barking mad insanity, if not downright evil, of the modern Left as a viable option.

Historically Traditional - Like morals, I default to the longer standing traditional accounts of the past as carried through the Western Christian Tradition, unless overwhelming evidence can be produced to make me think otherwise.  I understand that some of those traditional accounts were, in the day, new.  But if they have staying power, at least up until recently, they have my attention and my defense.  And by evidence, obviously I don't mean the latest theory, hypothesis, or wild guess based on a presentism laden contempt for the West or an axe to grind with the past.  That should go without saying. 

So there you go. When it comes to the prism through which I see things, that might explain the lunacy that happens whenever I open my mouth.