Rethinking Independence

Is "independence" a good word or a bad word? It depends on who you ask, and what the context is. Independence is a bad thing if you are referring to a five year old child (he should be under his parents so that they can protect him and guide him--he is too immature to take care of himself). Independence is a good thing if you are referring to a twenty-five year old man who has a problem "cutting the apron strings". Context matters.

Now let us think in terms of nations. Should nations be independent of one another? In one sense, yes, they should; no nation should be forcibly subjugated to another nation. Yet, in another sense, there is an importance of nations having a care and concern for one another, so there should be some kind of connection between them. That one is highly dependent on the situation at hand.

Shift one more time. Is independence good in the Church? Non-catholic denominations (including Eastern Orthodox) like independence; they do not want to be under the Holy See and so they break off and seek the freedom to do it their own way. This is unhealthy, since once you begin to break off, you will not know where to stop. Protestants have been moving away from this historic faith for 500 years, and Eastern Orthodox have been doing it a bit longer, but they are both aiming at being independent.

Finally consider the Catholic Church. Can you imagine anyone saying that he wants to be in an independent Catholic Church? That would be like someone saying that he wanted to get married to someone he will never be together with; you cannot have it both ways. In fact, we could go so far to say that one of the central elements of the Catholic faith is interdependency (and not independency). Catholics are supposed to be engaged in one another's lives.

Thus, when we live in a nation that claims to celebrate independence (not just the nations' independence, but personal and individual independence), it is bound to influence the thinking of the Catholics in this nation. It is an oddity that American Catholics tend to be more traditional in many ways, but at the same time they have a hard time being submissive to their leaders (even the ones they agree with!). It is as though traditional Catholics in America are rebelliously traditional. Is there such a thing as an "independent traditionalist"? I hope not.