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Originally Posted by Milesian
My own father subscribes to this train of thought.
Despite being a devout atheist who has been known to ridicule religion, he paradoxically bemoans the decay of society & morals that correlates with the decline in religion. In fact, despite his caustic attitude to religion he also considers it to be of central importance in a healthy society.
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I'd fully agree. AntiYuppie at Phora probably said it best, "To be culturally Catholic is to be culturally European." In fact it was the strong connection between the Church and its traditions to Europe that first drew me back to the faith from atheism.
I have admitted to a few people that I myself have the tendency towards being more of a "cultural" or "social" Catholic than of actually being a spiritual one. Not that I dont have a spiritual side, I do, its just I tend to pay more attention to social/cultural aspects of the church.
I guess you could compare it to Hilaire Belloc's sense of Catholicism as this article explains:
http://www.seattlecatholic.com/a050524.html
Another reason why Belloc considered the political battle in which the Church was engaged to be of principal importance was no doubt connected with the manner in which he would downplay his own private, personal Faith. He was, by his own admission, one with which all who knew him would happily have concurred, an instinctive, natural sceptic. His belief in the Church found strongest expression in his belief in Her as a force, a personality, an institution acting upon history and upon men. His life was spent in the service of the hierarchical, civilizing Church. The political and cultural attachments of the Church he was in many respects more cognizant of and sensitive to than Her theology or mysticism.
Another interesting aspect of this is when a friend suggested to him that he read St. John of the Cross, to which he replied that he found
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...the whole thing repulsive. I don't say-I am not so foolish to say-that it is false. But I do say that I was never made for understanding this "union with God" business: St. Theresa and the rest. I don't know what it is all about and the description of isolation and detachment, "the necessary night of the soul," disgusts me like Wagner's music or boiled mutton. Good for others: not for me. I am no more fitted to it than is an elephant for caviar, or a dog for irony.
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I really do enjoy St. John of the Cross, so Id have to disagree with Mr. Belloc on this specific issue. But the main point he touches on I certainly agree with. There are many aspects of Catholic spirituality that I personally find utter nonsense. Not that it's false or anything, it just doesnt appeal to me.
Good example of this veneration of the Virgin Mary. I certainly venerate her and recognize her importance to the church and the spiritual lives of fellow Catholics; but in my own personal spirituality she has little if any place in it. Same can be said of the eucharist. I know full well its importance in Catholic spirituality, but the way theologians constantly discuss it ad nausem really just annoys me.
I even further touched on this at CCF when discussing Lourdes. I stated that Im actually quite skeptical of claims of visions of the Virgin Mary there, and even more so towards the claim that the waters there heal the sick.
Nevertheless I still value Lourdes as an important spiritual and cultural center for Catholics(and particularly the French). Whether or not the Virgin actually appeared there is irrelevant IMHO. And just because Im skeptical of the claims doesnt mean I could not find spiritual strength from travelling to Lourdes, or Fatima, etc.