Liberal? Conservative?

I have been called a liberal Catholic by some, and conservative Catholic by others. I myself have called some people liberal Catholics, and others conservative.  In any case, I have come to regard the titles of "liberal" or "conservative" as both incomplete means of belief with regards to Catholicism. A liberal is a closet aristocrat, and a conservative is a person who prefers the past, to borrow from the writer Frank Herbert. There, of course, are exceptions and derivations to this aphorism. But, regardless, in either case, there is the common error of placing the authority for the determination of orthodoxy (or -praxy) on oneself. Conservatives can as easily pick and choose pithy quotes or obscure documents to fit their needs as  liberals can. Liberals can be as hard-hearted and close-minded with regards to beliefs as conservatives can. But, overall, the individual picks and chooses what to take as authoritative, out of the entire corpus of Christian disciplines and doctrines as handed down in Tradition (containing tradition with a little "t", and Scripture). While we all have opinions, it is evident that the liberal/conservative divide, and all such polemics within the Church, do not contribute to the growth and unity of the body of Christ. As Aquinas notes, love is a desire for union, so when we engage in liberal/conservative politics within the Church, we ultimately cause division, and this, in turn, squelches love.

So what is one to do? Turning to Scripture, we can find sound and holy advice from St. Paul as he addressed conflict within the communities that he was working to cultivate in the ways of Faith:

"Live in harmony with one another" (Rom 12:16)

"If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all." (Rom 12:18)

"Is Christ divided?" (1 Cor 1:12)

"For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? (1 Cor 3:3)

"The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." (1 Cor 10:16-17)

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one, so it is with Christ." (1 Cor 12:12)

So if liberals and conservatives are causing dissension and harming the body of Christ, what is the alternative? Being a bland Catholic? Being a boring person with no viewpoints? I would respond with a resounding "No!" The healthy alternative between being liberal or conservative is being a "faithful" Catholic. Now, that doesn't mean that libs or cons are unfaithful, but that, by causing dissension, or making themselves their own magisterium, there is, in a sense, a lack of fidelity, not to particular truths, but to the whole Truth that is taught by the Church.  As evidenced by the etymology of "faith", the Latin word fides, means such things as trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, and belief. The word, and the adjective "faithful" imply that an individual is placing hope or authority in something beyond themselves. When we have faith in God, we place our trust in Him, and not in ourselves. When we have faith in a politician, we have belief that he or she will do what is right. Faith involves decreasing the self for the other. We may look at John the Baptist as an exemplar of faith as he says, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30). We may also look at St. Paul as he says, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20).

Faith, then, involves a very unpopular word in today's self-centered Western culture: submission. Faith, especially in Christ, involves submission to Christ, and that is exactly what Paul and John reference. They themselves decrease, submit, so that Christ may increase and live in their hearts. And as the Church is the body of Christ, to submit to Christ necessarily involves submission to the Church. That is why the phrase "Jesus: yes, Church: no", makes little sense, because to deny one is to deny the other, as Ratzinger points out. This submission does not make us automatons or mindless zombies, but it frees us, as Paul writes:

"But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have becomes slaves of righteousness... yield your members to righteousness for sanctification" (cf Rom 6:17, 19)

Submitting to Christ and to the Church which is His body, we are freed to lives of righteousness and salvation.

So what does a "faithful" Catholic look like? A faithful Catholic seeks to know what the Church teaches ( recall Christ speaking to the 12 Apostles, whose successors, the Bishops, comprise the Church's teaching authority, "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." (Lk 10:16) ), a faithful Catholic embraces what the Church teaches, and a faithful Catholic puts these teachings into practice in their everyday lives. A faithful Catholic does not pick and choose what to believe, but embraces the whole truth of faith, and is set free to live in imitation of Christ. A faithful Catholic, also, is not a rubricist who seeks to meticulously follow minute laws, but submits to the Church's laws because, ultimately, it is done for the love of Christ.