The American Catholic Church is big, rich and powerful. Compared to the marginalised Catholic Church in England, American Catholicism is a global force to be reckoned with. Time magazine, in a recent feature on the Pope's visit to the US, recognises that Benedict XVI understands and is intrigued by America’s "totally modern, yet totally religious" worldview.

The American Catholic Church is also highly polarised. At one extreme are the ‘rad traddies’. They argue for the Latin Mass and support schismatic groups opposed to modernising the Church. These radical traditionalists want to turn back the clock to some golden age before the Second Vatican Council. They live in a black and white world where anyone outside their group is a damnable moderniser. They come across as angry, self-righteous kooks.

At the other end of the spectrum are the ‘rad trendies’. These ‘Spirit of Vatican 2’ Catholics mistake every politically correct cause for the teaching of the Catholic faith. They seem oblivious to any traditional aspects of Catholicism, and feel compelled to reinvent the faith according to the latest ideas of popular culture. With their liturgical dance, ecology stations of the cross and encouragement of sexual ‘diversity’, they come across as wounded, angry victims who, like their opposite numbers, seem to be self- righteous kooks.

In between the ‘rad traddies’ and ‘rad trendies’ are the largest group which my friends refer to as ‘AmChurch.’ These bishops, clergy and laity do not take particularly radical views either in the ‘traddy’ or ‘trendy’ directions. Instead they follow a bland, comfortable kind of American Catholicism with a mix of traditional devotions, parish social events, mediocre modern music and social action. Moving here from England, this in between ‘AmChurch’ seems cut off from any real sense of the historical and cultural continuity of the Catholic faith. In a country separated geographically from the rest of the world, AmChurch Catholics also seem distanced from the traditions of the Catholicism, which would give their faith depth and universality.

Bobblehead Pope gives Vatican a headache

To the dismay of the Vatican, the Pope’s trip has spawned a large range of kitsch memorabilia including a bobblehead doll

Background

• America holds a papal birthday party

• Pope's 'shame' over paedophile priests

• The Pope in quotes during his visit to the United States

• Pope to pray for redemption of terrorists

• American Catholics must stop and listen to the Pope

Background

• A commitment to keep faith in the public space

• Multilingual Pope calls for peace

• Vatican looks to heal 950-year Orthodox rift

• Pope to discuss influx of Anglicans

• Vatican workers promised higher reward

Multimedia

• Pictures: Pope visits America

• Best of the worst Pope memorabilia

• Popemobiles past and present

At the end of the 19th century, the Catholic Church was highly suspicious of all things American, and even coined a name for a new heresy called 'Americanism.' Pope Leo XIII’s analysis rings true: In his 1899 encyclical, Testem benevolentiae nostrae, Leo criticised Catholics who would, in order to “attract those who differ from her…shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit of the age and relax some of her ancient severity and make some concessions to new opinions.”

This pretty much sums up the problem of AmChurch: It reveals the extreme position of the ‘rad trendies’ and the extreme reaction against it evidenced by the ‘rad traddies’, but is left in the mushy situation of most in between Catholics.

The answer to the problem is the present Pope’s emphasis on the “hermeneutic of continuity”. It is a splendid sounding phrase, but what does it mean? “Hermeneutic” refers to a perspective, a method of interpretation. A "hermeneutic of continuity," means that the past informs the present and guides us into the future. Benedict wishes our understanding of the Catholic faith to be guided by that continuity.

Pope Benedict’s philosophy permeates his actions and teachings. In his Wednesday public audiences, he began by expounding on the Gospel and then went through the lives and personalities of the apostles; now he is continuing through the ages to pick out and explicate the teachings of the great saints and doctors of the Church. The Pope is asserting that the faith Catholics practice today is the faith they have had through the ages, a faith that makes no sense unless it's viewed through the lens of the past. Furthermore, we cannot march into the future unless we are informed, enlightened and inspired by the past. Continuity is therefore a dynamic concept; it is another way to talk about the role of tradition in the Catholic Church. Tradition is not a dead letter, but a living Word.

This hermeneutic also informs Benedict's approach to the liturgy. In his seminal work The Spirit of the Liturgy, the then Cardinal Ratzinger argued that the purpose and aim of liturgy is not primarily to develop human relationships, be creative in worship, and promote humanitarian agendas. Rather, the liturgy is the worship of God. The forms and styles are given to us by the Church of the ages, and the bishops and clergy are not innovators but custodians and stewards of the inheritance they have been given. This explains Benedict's ruling last July granting more freedom for the celebration of Mass according to the pre-Vatican II Latin Rite, and his encouragement of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony. These moves are not an attempt to impose the pre-conciliar rite and archaic forms of music on the whole church; rather, new freedoms were given so that traditional forms of worship might be celebrated more openly and widely, priests would be trained in the older forms so that contemporary worship might be properly informed and deepened by the tradition.

By paying attention to Pope Benedict’s underlying philosophy, the American Church will be able to move forward into the 21st century with confidence and balance. A proper understanding of the hermeneutic of continuity does not reject the advances of the Second Vatican Council in some vain attempt to turn back the clock, instead it helps correct the abuses that arose from that council.

If American Catholics can stop and listen closely and follow Benedict’s lead, the ‘rad traddies’ will have confidence to take their place in the mainstream, the ‘rad trendies’ will root their contemporary concerns in the historic rule and practice of the Church, and all the in between Catholics will re-discover the great traditions of the Church.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker is Chaplain to St Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville, South Carolina, USA, and serves on the staff of St. Mary's, Greenville.