Making the Perfect the Enemy of the Good

I originally wrote this post in 2018. Yesterday, I shared a video, Novus Ordo Refugees: Journey to Catholic Tradition with Brian Holdsworth, by SSPX attendee, Kennedy Hall.

Once again, in most groups, it got 'likes' and positive comments, but in one group, someone accused both Mr Hall & Mr Holdsworth of being 'ultra-modernist cowardly hæretics'. In a further comment he said, 'Jovan Weismiller is also a hæretical false trad.' (Kudos, though, on his use of the diphthong 'æ'.) I actually appreciate being put in the company of the two Traditionalist and solidly Catholic gentlemen.

So, here are my thoughts on making the perfect the enemy of the good from 2018:

On Saturday, I posted an article from The Remnant on the Eucharistic Procession around the Nebraska State Capitol Building, led by my Bishop, His Lordship James Conley, Bishop Conley Leads Massive Eucharist Procession in Nebraska's Capitol. I shared it on several Traditionalist Facebook groups as I usually do with articles I think will be of interest to the groups' members.

In most of the groups, it received 'likes' and positive comments. However, in one, it was denounced because the people in the procession were 'modernists'. I seriously doubt that the people who denounced it really know what 'modernism' is. I assume they think that anything after Vatican Two is, ipso facto, 'modernist'. I, on the other hand, have actually read Lamentabili sane exitu and Pascendi dominici gregis, the two Encyclicals of St Pius X condemning modernism, and I've sworn the Oath Against Modernism.

I also know that many of the clergy and laity in the procession are solid, orthodox, anti-modernist Catholics. I'm sure that amongst the clerics were professors and seminarians from the FSSP Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Denton, as well as from our solidly orthodox Diocesan Seminary of St Gregory the Great in Seward.

Why must people make the perfect the enemy of the good? Should we not rejoice that 2,500 people braved a cold, blustery Nebraska day to march in procession to honour the Eucharistic Presence of Christ our King? One of the biggest problems of any movement to restore orthodoxy to the Church is this attitude that if you don't meet my standards of orthodoxy, you're a modernist, a liberal, or a heretic.

As more and more 'conservative Catholics' are seeking Tradition in an attempt to flee from the filth and corruption in many Dioceses and Francis's War on Tradition, I can think of no better way to discourage and dissuade them than this attitude!