Catholic Culture Part 1

Author Alex Long

Father preached pretty recently about the importance of recreating a distinct Catholic culture. I wanted to unpack that a little bit, because there's a lot there.
In this first part I'll explain how Catholic culture is separate from theology, spirituality, and philosophy. In the next post I'll talk about it as a tool for the New Evangelisation, and in the third post I'll talk about it as a way of preserving our own faith.

What is Catholic Culture and Why Does it Matter?

As Catholics, we believe everything God creates is good, true, and beautiful.

While all objects of creation display these three virtues at the same time, most display one virtue more than the others, and that primary virtue acts as a gateway to the other two. Things like science and philosophy deal firstly with truth, and it takes some work to see the good and beautiful in them. But once you’re able to see that the rules of physics and Socratic dialogue are good and beautiful because they are true, and that reality is inherently good and beautiful at every level, that elevates your relationship with each virtue and the objects embodying them (i.e. everything that’s real.)
Catholic culture puts forth beauty first.
  The word culture comes to us from Latin and French words for cultivating land. Culture is when humans make something with raw materials provided by God. Culture can take the form of art, technology, music, and literature, as well as the ways we behave, communicate, organize socially, and treat others. It lets us see the ultimate goal of Catholicism which specific teachings and doctrines point to.
  Catholic culture isn't beautuful in the narrow sense we in secular circles. Beauty isn’t meant to look good and please the senses for a short burst of time. Beauty is the aspect of anything that lures a viewer outside theirself in order to confront the full reality of the world beyond the viewer's limited perspective. Beauty isn’t entertaining; it’s demanding, mind-bending, and soul-expanding. A painting, or a song, or a person, isn’t beautiful because they temporarily amuse you, but because they draw you outside of yourself and closer to the source of all being.
  Anything less than that isn’t beauty, it’s distraction.