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How do you define Traditionalism? What is the Traditional Catholic Movement, and is it building up the Church or tearing it down? Is Traditionalism compatible with or even necessary to Catholicism, or has it become a modern ideology at odds with the Faith?
Since the Traditionalist movement emerged in the tumultuous wake of the Second Vatican Council, these are questions that have been discussed and debated for the last fifty years. Recently, both Trad and mainstream Catholic social media fomented over these questions again, following the discovery of an upcoming “TradRecovery” conference to be hosted in July by the Diocese of Helena (Montana). TradRecovery is an apostolate dedicated to helping Trads who have been confused, hurt, or abused by individuals or groups in the Trad movement, and/or by the dysfunctional and un-Catholic elements present in some expressions of Traditionalism.
A few Trad influencers were reasonable and even keeled about the news, offering constructive concerns and criticisms about the apostolate and its advertising for the July conference. Unsurprisingly, however, the majority of online Trad reactions to this news were less mature, ranging from outraged name-calling sessions to callously making fun of the event, organizers, speakers, and members of the growing TradRecovery community.
Kennedy Hall of the Kennedy Report, in a YouTube video entitled “These People are SICK! They Think Catholic Traditionalism is a Disease. Trad Recovery?”, declared that the upcoming conference was “an abomination inspired by Satan,” and over the course of half an hour labeled the organizers and presenters as “modernists, schismatics, charlatans, Marxists, communists, and unintelligent liars whose spiritual father is the Father of Lies.” In a follow up video, “Trad Recovery: Wounded Pharisees Leaving Jesus because of Judas”, he continued his rant about this “demonic movement,” this “vengeful, holier-than-thou movement,” dismissing it as a bunch of angry, crazy, worldly people who just want revenge on Traditionalists, and he even went so far as to suggest that the trauma some of them experienced may have been their own fault anyway.
Anthony Abbate of Avoiding Babylon created a parody “Trad Recovery Conference Commercial”, which flippantly suggested that the people at TradRecovery hate traditional prayers and sacramentals like the brown scapular (“hanging like a millstone around your neck”), support casual liturgy and the liturgical abuse of unnecessary extraordinary ministers, and are in favor of deaconesses. Dr. Taylor Marshall also jumped onto the mockery bandwagon, going even further than Abbate. On X (Twitter) he sarcastically lamented about his uncontrollable addiction to the Latin Mass and other traditional practices, until he met “Jimmy”:
The next day I saw my old Jesuit High School friend Jimmy. He had also gone down the path of Traditional Catholicism. He told me how stressed out he had become trying to become a saint. With the help of a Jesuit priest he had abandoned the Latin Mass and was now in a sexual relationship with his best friend. He invited me to their “couples blessing”. Everyone there was so chill. They didn't worry about confession or attending Mass on Sundays. That’s where I learned about the [TradRecovery] Catholics in Communion Conference in Montana! I attended and realized I had been part of a big schismatic cult that treated the TLM as an idol. At this conference, we worshipped Pachamama and trained to be Eucharist Ministers. We learned that Vatican 2 is the best council EVER, Communion in the hand is what all ancient Christians did, and that the Novus Ordo Mass is the REAL liturgy of the early church. We committed ourselves to following POPE FRANCIS alone as the infallible oracle of divine revelation. Everything he says about climate change, immigration, vaccines and liturgy comes straight from God. What a relief to learn this. I’ve been Latin Mass free for 24 days and I feel so chill. So that’s my journey. I want everyone to attend the Catholics in Communion Conference in Montana. If you have a child or friend affected by traditionalism, you must force them to attend. They need it.
At Crisis Magazine, Dr. Janet E. Smith wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about the much greater need for a Modern Catholic Recovery Conference, making a list of the ways modern Catholics have been traumatized or scandalized in the post-conciliar era. She also suggested topics for breakout homily sessions and absurd “therapeutic” activities. While she glibly acknowledged that there might be some small need to minister to the rare and elusive traumatized Trad, like the others she too was dismissive of it, preferring to point bitterly (yet again) to all the problems in the contemporary Church.
Based off the above sample of Trad reactions, along with many other examples of irresponsible commentary and juvenile attempts at comedy not included here, several common misconceptions of TradRecovery emerged:
The name “TradRecovery” is insulting and misleading.
The people behind the apostolate and conference are evil.
They hate Trads and want revenge.
They think Tradition or traditional things are bad, like a drug addiction.
They are in favor of sin and liturgical abuses.
It is a waste of time and effort since there are bigger problems in the Church today than a few disgruntled Trads.
These misunderstandings were shaped by the hasty and shallow investigations of the above writers and content producers, and their imbalanced or unserious treatment of the upcoming conference. Add to this Kennedy Hall’s encouragement of his followers to contact the Diocese of Helena and TradRecovery to protest the “Satanic abomination conference” taking place in July, and you will understand why our diocesan chancery and the kind-hearted people at TradRecovery were verbally assaulted by disturbed, unkind, and disrespectful Trads from all over the country for three weeks following the news.
Since I personally know the founders of TradRecovery and I will be one of the speakers at the upcoming conference, I am in a better position than most to understand what the apostolate is really about. By addressing some of the misunderstandings listed above, I hope that I can help to defend their good names and the goodness of the community that is growing up around them.
Is the name “TradRecovery” insulting and misleading?
No, unless someone is already predisposed to be insulted and misled. Many Trads have developed a victim mentality because they feel persecuted, and I don’t blame them for feeling this way. But we should be honest about this and recognize that this is going to influence how they perceive an organization like TradRecovery, which could seem like the newest stick that they are to be beaten with. Nothing could be further from the truth: TradRecovery’s purpose is to heal wounds, not inflict more.
On the homepage of the TradRecovery website, you will find this mission statement: “Trad Recovery was established to provide resources, educational material, and a support group network for those coming from various forms of Traditionalism* and seeking full integration into the Catholic Church, including those in need of personal healing after suffering religious trauma and spiritual abuse in Traditionalist environments.” If you follow the asterisk in this paragraph further down the page, they define the Traditionalism they are talking about as “an ideology that includes rejection of or suspicion of the entirety or parts of the Magisterium from the Second Vatican Council up to the present day, as well as the reform of the Roman Rite. We believe that to be authentically Catholic is to be "traditional"; however, "Traditionalism" takes that love for older usages a step further, fostering schismatic attitudes and behaviors that tear apart, rather than build up, the Body of Christ.”
Trads vocally expressed their disapproval of this definition, but a striking fact remains: there is no reliable consensus on the definition of Traditionalism among Trads. Traditionalism means something at least partly different in each group (i.e., Ecclesia Dei communities such as the FSSP or ICKSP, the SSPX, the SSPX Resistance, Sedevacantist groups, independent Trad clergy, “Cancelled Priests”, etc.), and there is no general agreement on who is “in” or who is “out” of the Traditional Catholic Movement. Since there is no established and universally recognized definition of Traditionalism, and since each Trad group offers a different one, they have no basis for this criticism (in fact, an original historic definition of Traditionalism is the rejection of reason’s ability to know truth, a 19th century heresy!).
It is therefore fitting for the TradRecovery apostolate to choose a name and define its terms in such a way that enables it to reach the right people and fulfil its purpose, which is to care for souls coming from dysfunctional Trad environments, which no reasonable Trad will deny exist. If this is not your version of Traditionalism and it does not apply to you, move on. But there are tens of thousands of ideological Traditionalists in the movement that the TradRecovery definition does apply to, and they can be found in every one of the groups mentioned above. When they are ready to establish a healthy relationship with the Church and their fellow Catholics, TradRecovery is there to provide support and encouragement from people who have already walked the same path.
One final point: there is a three-part Trad documentary called “The Mass of the Ages” about the old Roman rite. If I am a Catholic who worships according to the Byzantine, Alexandrian, Maronite, Chaldean, Armenian, or Syriac rites in the Catholic Church, could this not be perceived as a slight toward my form of worship, as though the producers think that the Latin Mass is the only “Mass of the Ages” and all the others play second fiddle? If I actually contacted the producers and asked them what they meant by the expression, they would probably assure me this was not their intention at all. Even if I still disagree with their choice of words, at least I understand what they are trying to communicate. Did any of the Trad influencers mentioned at the beginning of this article offer this prudent courtesy to the people at TradRecovery before publicly criticizing or mocking them? Not even one.
Does TradRecovery think that Tradition or traditional things are bad, like a drug addiction?
Of course not! The people at TradRecovery love the Church’s Tradition and traditions, and they want to help people reestablish a love and appreciation for these things if they associate them with negative or abusive experiences. Some Trads were scandalized or turned off by some of the discussions taking place on the TradRecovery.com forum, and several of the more irresponsible people shared excerpts out of context that they thought demonstrated hate or dislike for traditional things. No benefit of the doubt was given, no consideration for these sincere Catholics trying to process things together in a supportive private online forum, no patience, no mercy. Entomb them in an avalanche of harsh criticism, disdain, and mockery on social media before they make Traditionalism look bad. If Trads wanted to cement their reputation for running over people in the name of their crusade, they couldn’t have done a better job.
The negative experiences many people have had in the Trad movement can be physical, mental, or spiritual. Thank God, I never experienced physical abuse while growing up in SSPX circles, but my sister was struck on the face by an SSPX priest when she was little. Another sister of mine was mentally abused by an SSPX priest, who told her she couldn’t leave the confessional until she promised to do as he told her. My young sister hesitated, completely confused, and then burst from the confessional in tears, terrified and socially embarrassed. These traumatic experiences damaged my sisters’ relationship with members of the clergy and the sacrament of confession, and that is something they need help recovering from. Whether it be physical, psychological, or sexual abuse, Trads often find themselves in a cultural environment that frowns upon victims, and they frequently face unresponsive clerical administrations with no oversight or accountability.
Some Trads have suggested that this is all TradRecovery is about, but these are not the only kinds of abuse souls are subjected to. Besides these two, there is a third, more subtle kind of abuse in the spiritual order, and this is one that stems directly from the large schismatic groups in the movement. The spiritual trauma experienced by Christians in these situations of ecclesial separation is real, and can be likened to the emotional trauma experienced by children in a divorce, whose relationship with one or both of their parents is severely damaged. Bonds of trust have been broken, and it can take years to recover and reestablish a healthy relationship with holy Mother Church and their fellow Catholics. As seen above, this is the explicit purpose of the good people at TradRecovery and they should be lauded for it, not shamed and condemned.
Is TradRecovery a waste of time and effort since there are seemingly bigger problems in the Church today?
Certainly not! Perhaps people forget that Trads are usually former “Modern Catholics” who were scandalized by abuses in the Church and seek refuge in the Traditional Catholic Movement. For many of us, however, this was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, and we ended up being burned by various schismatic splinter groups that were profoundly disordered. There is a real need in the Church today for an apostolate like TradRecovery, precisely because many modern Catholics are trying to find their way back into the full life of the Church after taking a wrong turn.
While I recognize that there are many other problems in the Church that need to be addressed, that does not mean we should ignore the danger of ideological Traditionalism, which is growing in the Americas and Europe. This dysfunctional type of Traditionalism is indeed spiritually diseased (see my article at the Ecclesia blog on schism and its effects on the life of virtue), and I fear it is spreading into the good and wholesome parts of the movement.
Don’t like my diagnosis? Here are some symptoms to consider:
There is a driving force behind the Trad movement that is profoundly negative and destructive of good relations between Catholics: a dislike or disdain for the Second Vatican Council and its reforms, especially the New Order of Mass (Novus Ordo Missae), upon which Trad media pours out a steady stream of vitriolic media, journalism, and literature.
There are Trad scholars who have fully dedicated themselves to undermining the authority of the Pope, teaching Latin clergy how to justify their disobedience to him so they can have the liturgical rite they want, all in the name of “true” obedience.
Trads have begun to align themselves with the SSPX, a priestly fraternity with a worldwide following of laity that have refused submission to the popes for half a century, rejecting the Second Vatican Council and the New Order of Mass as “harmful to the Faith.”
There are now Trad bishops who are ordaining priests in secret. These priests then unlawfully minister to the laity apart from or even in opposition to local bishops’ authority.
Trads are criticizing and shaming Catholics for practicing approved devotions (such as Divine Mercy and the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary) and revering certain saints, whose canonizations they consider doubtful (i.e., St. John Paul II, St. Paul VI, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Faustina, etc.).
Trads are rejecting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, arguing it contains serious errors and writing their own alternative catechisms (Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s Credo).
These trends do not seem to follow the consistent pattern of faithful Catholic movements in history, and I find them to be very disconcerting, as they should be to any Catholic with a properly formed sense of Faith. The authority of the Church is foundational to our lives as Christians (1 Tim 3:15; Matt 18: 17-20), and the men that Trads have chosen as their leaders are taking the movement in a direction that can only end in strife and division. I pray to God that good Trads wake up in time to turn away from these ungodly men and reorient the movement back into the heart of the Church.
In the meantime, individual people need to be taken care of in the midst of this Traditionalist confusion and conflict, and that is the mission of TradRecovery. They have taken the Good Shepherd as their model, who leaves the flock of ninety-nine in search of the one sheep that has been lost or carried away by robbers and thieves (Lk 15:1-7; Jn 10). Just as the Protestant Reformation sparked the Counter-Reformation that led to a renewal of the Church, it is my joyful and cherished hope that ideological Traditionalism will spark a new Traditional Restoration faithful to Apostolic Authority, a holy movement that builds up the Church instead of tearing it apart.
TradRecovery might just be that spark, a Christian light to shine when other lights go out, bringing weary warriors and tired travelers home.