A reader responds with a critical but honest reaction:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are terms used in the blog that I find out of place for my experience.\u00a0 In the article about \u201cliberal\u201d Catholics and contraception<\/a>, it frequently uses the term \u201cliberal\u201d in a pejorative manner.\u00a0 I find the word \u201cliberal\u201d does not fit.\u00a0 At one point, it states, \u201cliberal Catholic elites\u201d and then names two Catholics. \u00a0Do you use terms like \u201cconservative\u201d or \u201cconservative elites\u201d? Even if you did, it would not add balance to it; rather, it would polarize it further.\u00a0 It would further adopt the elected-political terms into the life of the Church where I find they incite rather than bring understanding.”<\/p>\n His response continues:<\/p>\n “I try to refrain from using the elected-political terms, insights, or dare I say \u201cagendas\u201d of that system that I don\u2019t think fit in the Church.\u00a0 Here is an example.\u00a0 Dorothy Day \u2013 was she conservative, liberal, or what? She was strongly against abortion, war, and any form of violence used by Catholics.\u00a0 Thus, what does that make her? To me, it makes her a Catholic \u2013 neither liberal nor conservative.\u00a0 I find both sides \u2013 liberal and conservative Catholics \u2013use these terms to \u201ccategorize\u201d or \u201cbox in\u201d the others or the opponents \u2013 which I don\u2019t find helpful.\u00a0 Rather, it carries with it to me, a sense of triumphalism that those using the terms are the \u201cfaithful\u201d Catholics and the others are not as faithful as we are.<\/p>\n In general, I find the blog helpful in wrestling with some issues.\u00a0 Yet, do the people whom the blog calls \u201cliberal\u201d refer to themselves in this manner?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These are great comments and questions, and deserve a response.\u00a0 Below are my initial thoughts:<\/p>\n I use the term \u201cliberal Catholic\u201d in part because we have data from national surveys that use this term (alongside moderate Catholic and traditional Catholic).\u00a0 In academic articles like this one<\/a>, I have explored, through in-depth interviews, exactly what people mean when they self-identify as \u201cliberal Catholics\u201d and where these identities come from\u2014some prefer the term \u201cprogressive\u201d in open-ended questions but when asked to respond to the closed-ended question they are still willing to identify as liberal Catholics.\u00a0 \u201cTraditional Catholic\u201d was preferred over \u201cconservative\u201d by more of my interviewees, but several used the two interchangeably.\u00a0 In my research articles, I have used traditional because, again, that is what the national data included as a category and it fit with my in-depth interviews.\u00a0 One of the reasons that I undertook my in-depth interviews was to explore the validity of these terms, and as a result of my interviews, I argue that they are valid self-identifications for many Catholics.<\/p>\n While I have some issues with these categorizations, much as the reader does, I was certainly not intending to be pejorative in using the term.\u00a0 \u00a0I think Dorothy Day would find the current divisions of traditional and liberal Catholics problematic\u2014which is part of the point of examining them\u2014but most of the Catholic Worker types I interviewed identified as liberal (though some did not).<\/p>\n Finally, these identities or self-identifications are not set in stone and I certainly do not want to completely reify them<\/strong>, but as a sociologist I\u2019m most interested in understanding what the actual lived realities of Catholics are, and Catholics in the U.S. are self-identifying as traditional, moderate, and liberal Catholics.\u00a0 So, I wouldn\u2019t feel comfortable excising these terms from the Catholic conversation.<\/p>\n Interestingly, while some Catholics used these terms negatively in depicting others, I found that many spoke positively of these different identities and talked about how they complemented each other\u2014suggesting that traditional Catholics root Catholics in our faith and liberal Catholics force the Church to grapple with the larger world.<\/p>\n Still, I appreciate the chance to nuance these terms and to recognize the diversity of self-identifications available.\u00a0 As I mentioned in another post, we, as Church, may want to \u201ctranscend\u201d such identity divisions, but that does not necessarily require eliminating them.<\/p>\n Maybe putting it this way would help–The Catholic Conversation can and should include traditional, moderate, and liberal Catholic voices\u2014otherwise it wouldn\u2019t be very catholic would it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A reader responds with a critical but honest reaction: \u201cThere are terms used in the blog that I find out of place for my experience.\u00a0 In the article about \u201cliberal\u201d Catholics and contraception, it frequently uses the term \u201cliberal\u201d in … Continue reading