What worries me most about the angry comments from traditionalists in my combox is how many of them have either not read my posts, or completely mis-understood them. When I recounted the caricatures of both trad Catholics and trendy Catholics I stated quite clearly that this is the way each side is caricatured by the other. My stating of this fact was not to endorse those caricatures, but to condemn them.

That detail is beside the point. What is most worrying about the mad rad trads who commented negatively is their seeming lack of comprehension, their thin skinned self righteousness, their assumption of ill will and their denial of the basic facts I was discussing. Some other commenters observed that a good number of the mad rad trad commenters actually proved my point with guarded, implicit anti-Semitism and an instant and unthinking defense of their tribe rather than a discussion of the points raised–an instant condemnation of my sources because they came from a left-wing website, rather than dealing with matter discussed there. In addition to this the comments continue to flow in and they are increasingly personal, shrill, hateful, bigoted and sour. Mad rad trads–keep spewing your nastiness. You’re proving my point!

All that gives me the creeps, and unless more traditionalists jump on the bandwagon, and have little self righteous hissy fits, please observe that I am not condemning all traditionalist Catholics, nor am I condemning those who like the Latin Mass. Nor am I condoning clown Masses or all the “spirit of Vatican 2” liturgical abuses. Nor am I saying all traditionalists are Jew haters.

Traditionalist Catholics should consider me to be on their side. They’ll forgive me, however, if I don’t go so far as to join an extremist sect and join the wild eyed anti-Semites and their defenders who lurk on the lunatic fringe of the traditionalist movement.