Discussing the idea of traditionalism versus avant-garde as that applies to catholicism in class was really eye opening for me. My father was raised in a catholic household however my mother was raised in a southern baptist church. Under my mother's lead the family has attended various types of christian services but never catholic.
Several years ago when my paternal grandmother passed away I attended my first catholic function, her funeral. After experiencing the varying degrees of welcome from various other denominations, this service was a shock. It was a beautiful ceremony, but my sisters and I along with various other cousins and guests were not invited to take part in several "rituals" including communion.
It was jarring. In my perspective to be at once grieving for the loss of my grandmother and at the same time being forcefully alienated from the service which was meant to be a pathway for saying goodbye to her, it felt unchristian. However, I'm sure for many catholic traditionalists if we had been invited to partake they would see it as completely unheard of.
It's a very strange line to walk but I think that looking at this conflict through our theorists might help me understand a little more.
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