A prelude...

Patricius is writing a post (or will begin to write, when he gets time) about what he believes, since his beliefs were recently called into question by a reader. Surely if all Catholic blogs said the same thing they'd all be boring? And personally I wouldn't look to a blog, which at the end of the day is a private endeavour, to find the general voice of the Church or as a guide of faith. Blogs, which I am sure Tolkien would not approve of (at least as an ''apostolate'' of the Church, in a literary context), are written by individuals who think they have something to say which may or may not be positive, informative, or whatever. I write because I enjoy writing, and hope that this small blog, which averages a readership of about 80 a day, redounds to the greater glory of God. I certainly do not have my readers in mind when I write, nor am I going to moderate my convictions to suit any of them.

I am a Catholic. I am not a ''traditionalist'' - such labels are spurious and entirely meaningless. Do you honestly think that God will care much when you stand next to the most raving liberal on the Day of Judgement and you are asked to give an account of your deeds? Oh but Lord! I was a Traditionalist! I am not a Roman Catholic, in the sense that I do not live in Rome (my relationship, therefore, with the Holy Father is markedly different from a Catholic living in the Diocese of Rome - to a Roman man, the Pope is local Bishop, Archbishop, Metropolitan, Patriarch and Vicar of Christ all at once - to me, he is not local Bishop, nor Archbishop nor Metropolitan - just Pope and Patriarch), and neither do I think that everything that emanates from Rome in the liturgical sense is necessarily catholic or apostolic, even in the broadest sense, and therefore is not for the good of the Church. For my part I love and respect the present Holy Father - he far outshines his most recent predecessors, and I think he is a very pious and erudite man. I am certainly not a Protestant or an Orthodox. I am a purely liturgical Catholic, and I reverence Tradition over novelty, unlike the present fashion of adhering to both in a comfortable relativistic fudge.

More on this in the actual post. Meantime, I have to be up early for work...