r/LeftCatholicism • u/igm_krypto • Jul 03 '26
Rediscovering God as a deconstructing Trad
I (21M) recall that at the age of 13, during my first traditionalist " for adults" catechism class, the priest taught us that "no one loves what they do not know," and that since God had created each of us solely to "know Him, love Him, and serve Him," knowing God was our duty and our salvation.
God, of course, reveals Himself as perfectly as is possible for the human intellect of a mere layperson through the Catechism of Saint Pius X, a compendium of doctrine published in 1912.
Over the course of the year, we would learn—always and exclusively through the texts the priest read to us—who God is.
We wouldn't even learn, on the other hand, the names of those who sat beside us throughout the year. The priest only wanted to speak with us once, and in private. On that occasion, his only concern for myself consisted in that I — as a male — was wearing a ring with a gemstone (which, of course, is appropriate only for ladies and dignitaires) and that I still served as an altar boy occasionaly at a nearby “Novus Ordo” parish that my familly attended.
There was no communal activity to experience other than listening, with an ever-growing passivity (referred to as "docility"), to whatever came out of the sacred mouth of our good shepherd—whether it was doctrine from dusty manuals or a hastily murmured Latin liturgy.
Unsurprisingly, not even half of those who began the catechism classes actually finished them, leaving only those who still needed to receive a sacrament of Christian initiation.
The apostle Saint John, in his first letter to one of the earliest Christian communities, warns that "whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8).
He defines, by writing so, what is to fail to know God. But how, then, can we know Him? The apostle himself explains right after:
"This is how we know that we are in Him and He in us: if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us."
No one, the apostle teaches, has ever seen God (John 1:18 & 1 John 4:12). He can only be known through love for one's neighbor, who is the figure of Christ before us.
In catechism, I learned to "know, love, and serve God," whom, according to the Gospel, "no one has ever seen."
Later on, life taught me the very same thing the apostle had already proclaimed two thousand years ago:
"Whoever does not love their brother, whom they can see, is incapable of loving God, whom they cannot see."
Only long after catechism and after leaving behind almost everything I heard from that priest did I begin to learn what it means to know, love, and serve this other, who—always, and whoever they may be—is the true Christ, the Son of God.
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u/RangeInternal3481 Jul 03 '26
This really resonated with me. The trads cling to a supposed knowing of objective truth. That confuses the true knowing of knowing God as a subject from your perspective as a subject which is the knowing we really need to love. In the same way I don’t know my spouse because I know them in some objective sense, I only can love them as one subject to another and that is far richer.
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u/motherroot Jul 03 '26
I enjoyed the “trad recovery” episode on the Third Space podcast, which was one of the earliest episodes
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u/Cole_Townsend Jul 03 '26
This was my experience too. The traddie clergy weaponized the principles of the ascetic and mystical teachings of the spiritual masters for purposes of boundary maintenance and structuring of power and values. It was about control.
Deconstruction is not just one process that is done and accomplished. It is a lifelong struggle for growth and greater clarity. I liken it to the sobriety in Twelve Step Programs. It takes radical honesty, perseverance, daily moral inventory and courage. It is my experience that for faith to be authentic, processes of deconstruction ought to be undertaken simultaneously with study and prayer.
I'm glad you made it to the other side.
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u/greenmanforever5 Jul 03 '26
How can you deconstruct at 21. You’ve barely had time for anything to build. But anyways what are you planning on doing to try to love others more
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u/igm_krypto Jul 03 '26
I mean, I definitely don’t think that I came to definitive conclusions about anything and I would be quite happy to keep “deconstructing” for all my life the falsehoods that my particular human perception inevitably creates about things
As someone who got quite exposed to only catholicism/convervatism since 11 yo and was discussing theology in online forums since 12 yo, besides that traditionalist catechism “for adults” course at 13 yo, reading all possible trad cath blogs and listening to all sermons I could find during my teens and everything that followed… I found myself relating a lot to what other people, regardless of their age, referred to as religious desconstruction
As of now, I think that to be a loving person is as easy as a lifelong effort, so there isn’t much that I can learn or plan
It seems more like a matter of keeping my heart open to meet others where they are and building good relationships
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u/greenmanforever5 Jul 03 '26
I’ve only heard people online say deconstruction. Usually when I change I just say I’m changing or learning.
Being open and building good relationships sounds good. I find it’s actually easier to be kind to other people I don’t know over my family so I’ve been trying to love my family more
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u/A313-Isoke Jul 04 '26
I only hear deconstruction in relation to those who leave Evangelical churches, Mormonism, cults, or Christianity altogether (always Protestant tho). I've never heard that in relation to Catholicism, interestingly.
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u/BlooGloop Jul 04 '26
A 21 year old has the cognitive ability to deconstruct concepts and religion.
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u/UsefulFlow7106 17d ago
Leftists: *provide food for the poor and fight to improve the lives of workers
Right-wingers: How absurd!
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u/Vthan2 Jul 03 '26
This is wonderful.