Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Tradition vs. Traditionalism

This is a really interesting thought that popped up in the middle of an article about the Chieftains performing at the Communion and Liberation gathering (seems like too small a word) in Rimini, Italy. (Hat-tip to to my sister who was there!)
I think that there is an important distinction to be made, which Don Giussani, the priest who founded the movement this Meeting comes out of, made clear between tradition and traditionalism. Tradition is the wisdom of inheritance. It is something living. Traditionalism is the obsession that comes with preserving this, keeping it safe and free of all other influences, which is a terrible thing.
I think part of the problem we have with traditionalISM today is that tradition is under attack and it's easy to respond to that attack in an unbalanced and inappropriate way. I find the distinction above extremely helpful in understanding where the balance lies. The whole article is quite fascinating.

You can read it here: RIMINI MEETING/ The Chieftains, a living tradition discovering the world

I was already a big fan of the Chieftains - their Christmas album, Bells of Dublin, is my favorite Christmas album ever, and I have the San Patricio album and at least one other one too.

By the way, the quote above also reminds me of something Pope Benedict said in his book, Light of the World:
…to what extent do people still belong to the Church in the first place? On the one hand, they want to belong to her and do not want to lose this foundation. On the other hand, they are of course also shaped and formed interiorly by the modern way of thinking. It is the unfermented coexistence, with and alongside each other, of the basic Christian intention and a new world view, which leaves its mark on all of life. To that extent what remains is a sort of schizophrenia, a divided existence.

We must strive to integrate the two, insofar as they are compatible with each other. Being Christian must not become a sort of archaic stratum to which I cling somehow and on which I live to a certain extent alongside of modernity. Christianity is itself something living, something modern, which thoroughly shapes and forms all of my modernity – and in this sense actually embraces it.

That a major spiritual effort is required here I expressed most recently by founding a “Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization”. It is important for us to try to live Christianity and to think as Christians in such a way that it incorporates what is good and right about modernity – and at the same time separates and distinguishes itself from what is becoming a counter-religion.

Additional afterthought:

It’s important to keep in mind that there are different meanings of the world traditionalist and, naturally, not everything that is described as traditionalist is bad. An example that comes to mind for me of the problematic kind described above would be someone who strongly objects to the addition of the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary. a) They probably have an unclear concept of the origins of the Rosary (and thus think Our Lady gave it to St. Dominic exactly the way it was before Pope John Paul II changed it, which is not correct) and b) I think anyone who looked at the concept objectively would see that it’s not only *not* a detraction to the Rosary or its particular tradition, but in fact an enhancement and completion of it – more like a restoration of something that was lost than any sort of negative.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Because We've Been Watching the Two Towers

...and I love this line:
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.
And this one always makes me laugh...
Treebeard says, "That doesn't make sense to me. But you are small."

A Few Photos from Ria

Fountain at TAC:




P1000017, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Ria sent us a few photos now that she has a camera. Isn't this lovely?


Amazing View from the Dorm Courtyard:




P1000015, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Another beautiful shot from Thomas Aquinas College

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Do You Do Temperaments?

I've been hearing about the temperaments for awhile - you know, sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic - but never really paid any attention to them until recently. I know I had a book on my shelf once about it that I didn't get around to reading and just passed it along after awhile. A number of my family and friends would talk about them and I couldn't get straight which word meant which thing.

But a few weeks ago, the topic kept coming up in the randomest places, enough that I started to have a guess of which temperaments I had. During this random streak, I was at a friend's house and she had a copy of The Temperament God Gave Me sitting out from the library. I picked it up and quickly read an overview of one of the temperaments I thought I was - melancholic. Wow. There was an awful lot of "me" on that page, including: "They are skeptical about what may appear to be simplistic labels and categories - such as the four temperaments." (Ha!) - But really a lot more too, including the need to fight to achieve self-confidence and "Ironically, however, although small details can stump them, melancholics can often handle the truly big crises with grace and aplomb."

I went home and ordered the book right away. I haven't finished it, but have found it quite helpful overall. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, the temperaments refer to the part of your personality which is innate rather than learned. I had a sense that some aspects of my personality that were frustrating to me had pros and cons, but this really helped me sort some of them out and stop battling my own nature unnecessarily and try to work with what I have.

Upon further reading, I discovered that the other temperament I had suspected belonged to me - phelegmatic - was actually the dominant one. The section in the book entitled "Discovering Your Secondary Temperament", which describes temperament combinations, including potential pitfalls, was particularly helpful. This paragraph particularly rings true (and I've been working on doing many of these things, especially in recent years):
This temperament combination can face at times a greater challenge to your confidence than other temperaments (especially the choleric or sanguine). For this reason, when you are facing a major challenge or have been given a multifaceted and demanding project, it will be absolutely critical for you to maintain your level of energy and motivation - not to mention your prayer life - to complete the project. You will want to anticipate the way your moods can get you off track and take concrete steps to maintain accountability in order to remain focused and energized throughout the task. Motivational tapes, exercise, a healthy diet, spiritual guidance, and a strong sacramental life will be critical.
I haven't come close to finishing the book yet, but have found it quite helpful so far. The book is written by a licensed marriage and family therapist.

 

Friday, August 19, 2011

7 Quick Takes, 7/19/11



I thought I'd use the Quick Takes Friday to catch up on a few things now that I'm trying (again) to get back to blogging.

1.

DSC_8724

I mentioned in the previous post that we held a performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It (or rather selections from...) in our backyard a few weeks ago. It was directed by my daughter and some friends. I think it went really well and we sure enjoyed the performance. Here is the first video:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLrOVx1Kxvc]

You can find the rest of the videos here. Unfortunately the quality isn't great as we just had a little Flip Video and we missed a significant chunk in the middle. You can view pictures from the play here.

2.

I was so excited to hear that our friend, Matthew Alderman, is having some artwork published in one of the editions of the New Roman Missal. Congratulations! (hat-tip Robert Gotcher)

3.

I haven't yet put my notes together on the blog from my culture talk at the homeschool conference in Napa. I am working on an article on gratitude that's kind of grown out of the talk for a future issue of mater et magistra magazine. I'm excited about the article and hope to sit down and spend some time on it.

4.

We got together with some friends at a nearby lake last weekend (and has the weather ever been beautiful lately - what a change!!!). I was pretty impressed with what the kids built on the shoreline (and many of them were just little tots):

Killer Sand Creation

5.

I really enjoyed this animation of a talk by Sir Ken Robinson. I've been hearing about this educational speaker for a long time (including from my brother Dan) but had somehow neglected to actually listen to any of his talks until this week. Here's the video:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U]

This was a great time to watch this video as I'm trying to get my head into gear for the new school year and I continue to wrestle with conventional wisdom vs. what actually seems to work with my kids. The video also brought to mind a few related items:

a. Lots of bits and pieces from the book Nurtureshock by Po Bronson and Angela Merriman, b. The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph #1937 (we all have unique gifts and we're supposed to share them with each other - not turn out the same as each other!) and c. the article "Listening to Experts Inhibits Decision Making in the Brain" from the Eide Neurolearning Blog.

6.

On Monday, our family sang for the feast day of the Assumption at our local parish. Ave Maria in 3 1/2 parts (a little family joke since the tenor part is a little hit and miss still), and little harmony on several classic Marian hymns (Immaculate Mary and Hail Holy Queen) and also on Holy Is His Name. We love singing as a family and it was nice to get one more chance before Ria left for college.

7.

Before Ria left for college, we had a bit of a movie festival with flicks we wanted her to see. We got through maybe a dozen of them, including Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Premonition, Regarding Henry, A Good Woman, and The Mission. They were some really good, though serious, flicks, and we enjoyed working our way through them with her.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

She's Off!

I haven't posted here in an awfully long time. It's been a busy summer (homeschool conference, mission trip, trying to get the house painted, etc. etc.), but mostly we've been focused on getting Ria off to Thomas Aquinas College. She has arrived safely and gets to start moving in and getting oriented today.

She flew out by herself. I would have loved to have driven her out or flown out with her, but it seemed neither necessary, nor reasonable, since we have family right nearby who were able to transport her about, we're completely familiar with the college (John and I are both alums), and we all drove out there in April and had a nice visit.

We all (John and I and the younger five kids) had a great time with all the conspiracies of preparation. I think these projects were quite therapeutic for us! These mostly fell into three categories:

1. Ria had a notebook out at her graduation party last year for people to sign. There was a lot of room left and she came up with the idea a few weeks ago of having all of her friends write notes for her that she could read on the airplane on her way out. Well, the rest of us really ran with this and had a blast getting as many people as possible to sign it (or share a favorite quote, draw a picture, or whatever). At one event at our parish where the notebook wasn't available, Gus and Terri got a bunch of people from this summer's mission trip to write little notes on post it notes, which not only added to the substance of the book, but made a fun and colorful display as well. We also put together a few fun collaborative "features" in the book. The one that worked out the best (and came out to ten pages!) was a conglomeration of "Things We Say", which included things like silly words our family made up for things (like "squeezy cheese" for grated cheddar cheese), funny Freudian slips among family and friends (like "Miller Lite Stadium") and favorite and oft-quoted movie tidbits (like "in the best sense" from Sense and Sensibility).

2. We helped pull off a surprise goodbye party that a number of her friends put together at a friend's house the night before she left. Our job was to get her to the party location without suspecting. Our ruse was that we were all going to meet Daddy for dinner in a town where some dear family friends live. One of the party planners was with us and part of the scheme was that we picked her up for a visit to Old World Wisconsin and that she was going to dinner with us (which was plausible under the circumstances). Pulling it off required some clever and impromptu acting from everyone involved and they played their parts beautifully - including Frank who pulled off an "I have to go to the bathroom" moment (which was true) at just the right time (which was part of the ruse) in order to get a freezer chest with the cake snuck into the back of the van. Such fun!

3. Since Ria was flying out, we shipped most of her stuff to the college. It didn't seem like unreasonable stuff getting packed, but it was amazing how much stuff it turned out to be in the end (just heard from her - she's mostly unpacked now and it really isn't too much stuff, LOL). Just the bedding is so bulky, but she had won a nice comforter in a raffle a few months ago at our parish (that also came with a Target gift card - woohoo!) and we didn't want her to have to deal with buying EVERYTHING once she got out there. We shipped a couple of large boxes (mostly the bedding), plus two small book boxes (media rate is still a great deal!) and the rest were in those wonderful USPS flat rate Priority Mail boxes that cost $15 to send (including the price of the box). The clerks at the post office love to tell you how much they would have cost without the flat rate box - one of ours would have come out at $37!

One of the great things about boxing up her stuff for her (she had a busy last few weeks with, among other things, a Shakespeare play in our backyard) was that we got to sneak all kinds of goodies in for her. Chocolate, cocoa, tea, a small set of Prismacolors, a deck of Five Crowns and Terri's little Woody action figure (if you've seen Toy Story 3, you'll understand the significance and fun of this!) and some other goodies were squirreled away in the nooks and crannies. Again, being in on the surprises was really great for the kids.

_____________________________________________________________

This is, naturally, a difficult transition for us. We are thrilled and excited to death for her and I think I'm basically at peace with potential worries about her safety or how well she'll do and with the distance and length of time she'll be gone. I've also been overwhelmed in the last few weeks with gratitude for who she is and how God has blessed us through her, but I must admit that it's a challenge to accept that things will never be quite the same again and that that's the way it's supposed to be.