There is No Right Cookie Cutter Kind of Catholic

Amy Wellborn has a nice post that speaks a lot of truth at The right kind of Catholic. After quoting Pope Benedict on this subject she says:

That is not a call to paper over differences, to pretend that is all is well as we join hands around the campfire. It is not a call to abandon mutual fraternal correction. It is simply, as a first step, to look to Christ and open ourselves to him, together. And to go from there, dependent on the Spirit to bind us together, to reveal the truth to us, and to empower us to bring the Gospel to a world that thirsts and hungers.
What is true is that this unity is indeed not uniformity, as St. Paul notes and as only one who is blind to history can deny. The diversity within the Body of Christ runs deep, and is complex - as complex as life itself.
One sometimes reads, not only in Catholic sources, but non-Catholic sources as well, as sort of wistfulness for the right sort of Catholic. “If only all Catholics were like….I might be more open to it. Too bad the other ones have to be around to ruin it.” Fill in the blank: Mother Angelica. Thomas Merton. King Louis IX. Dorothy Day. Take your pick.
It’s too bad, the implication lurks, that there are those other sort of Catholics who mess up the pretty picture, the perfect embodiment of the Gospel.
It is, indeed, a difficult reality to grasp and live with: the fact that the Body of Christ lives and breathes in the world as it is, not in a world expressive of our own desires and ideals. It is the obstacle that every one of us encounters and must deal with. It is a mystery, but one that when humbly confronted, leads us ultimately to Christ, for we find it is He in whom our faith must rest, not in his poor servants.

She then goes on to describe how in Rome you confront this reality head on. The need for Fraternal correction cannot be bypassed in recognizing this truth as she points out. Sadly that has happened in the past.

However we see this tension everywhere and especially in this past election season. Though I think the Bishops were very right on the problems that Catholics faced in voting for "You Know Who" it does illuminate the mystery we are in. Thought the " Dorothy Day" Catholics might find the fact that there are Archdiocese for the Military they exist and are valid. While more conservative Catholics might think some of the ideas of the Catholic Worker folks are radical and smack of danger that too is valid and has a tradition.

Anyway good read