My youngest grandson recently asked, “Grandpa, Why do you always stand and salute when the flag goes by or when the national anthem is on TV?” My quick answer was, “To show respect.”
A slightly longer answer is that I believe “tradition” is very important.
Flag Day Tradition
This year’s June 14 Flag Day ceremonies at my local American Legion sparked many reflections on the value of tradition. Though not a federal holiday, Flag Day commemorates the major symbol of our republic – the flag.
“Flag days” have been celebrated since the 1870s, before any official declaration. President Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day and Harry Truman officially made it a national day of observance. That date was selected because on June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes for the American flag.
June 14 is also the birthday of the U.S. Army. As with many other federal holidays and days of observance, one effect is to pass on “tradition” for want of a better term, I will call citizenship.
Our small community promoted Flag Day as a “community event,” but only 17 Legionnaires and their spouses attended. It was an embarrassing turnout. I think the turnout indicates a lessened sense of patriotic tradition over our flag.
Church Traditions for the Month of June
Besides June being a month for a patriotic tradition celebration, it is also an important month on the Church’s liturgical calendar. It is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And there are many other important feasts in June, including Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
In addition, there are several important celebrations of saints. These celebrations include the birth of St. John the Baptist, St. Barnabas the Apostle, St Justin Martyr and Saints Peter and Paul.
Chances are, unless one goes to weekly mass, we pay little attention to these feasts. The Pride narrative has so swallowed up the mainline culture that it blocks out any other “traditional” messaging.
A New June ‘Tradition’
By comparison to the American Legion Flag Day ceremony, several hundred showed up the next day at our town’s city park for the “Pride in the Park” event. The event, of course, celebrated Pride month – a new tradition?
Although so called Pride” parades and events had been occurring for decades it wasn’t until 1999 that President Clinton designated June as Gay and Lesbian pride month. The month quickly became a month-long event celebrating and promoting the entire LGBTQ and trans gender community.
Pride month activities certainly offer quite a contrast to those on Flag Day. Over the years, numerous reports of public nudity, sexual language, and lewd behavior in many parades have been reported as quite common.
It’s quite a comment on the times that public celebrations of aberrant sexual behavior and lifestyles receive more attention that traditional patriotic or religious celebrations. As Genesius pointed out recently, not only are sexual sins now celebrated in June, but the classic deadly sin of “Pride” as announced in the title is on public display.
A disturbing trend is that Pride parades are being used as “recruitment” vehicles as noted in the lyrics of the San Francisco gay men’s choir “We’ll convert your children.”
Passing on Tradition
Tradition can mean many things, from passing on beliefs and ideals to group functions and individual behaviors. Whether the passing on of a religion, a culture or a sense of nationhood, “tradition” has always been a responsibility to pass on to the next generation. The elements of tradition aid in maintaining a cohesiveness of a religion or a country.
In the 40s and 50s the spreaders of tradition were the schools, churches, and youth groups such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. But adult social groups, like the Knights of Columbus, the military, veterans groups, and the culture at large did their share in spreading traditions as well.
The traditional ethic being passed on as “tradition’ was that of a sense of morality and responsibility to our God and nation. The American Legion motto “For God and Country,” reflected these beliefs. The effect was to reinforce patriotism, morality, faith, and citizenship. It was very much in tune with traditional Judeo-Christian ethics and morality.
Faith and patriotic traditions were intermingled as expressed in Sunday “blue laws” prohibiting commercial operations. I remember not being able to buy gasoline for three hours on Good Friday afternoons.
Pride month is also passing on a tradition of morality and responsibility, but it is one of a different ethic. It is an ethic of self-satisfaction, immorality, and responsibility only to self and one’s desires.
An example of the changes that are occurring is the Boy Scouts.
Tradition Changes
For years, the Boy Scouts served as a vehicle for passing on our traditional “tradition.” The Scouts have always been a teacher of flag respect and etiquette. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts of today are different than in the 40s and 50s and 60s. They did not even show up for our Flag Day ceremonies.
The numerous lawsuits over sexual abuse and their bending to the current LGBTQ culture to allow gay Scout masters and youth are just the tip of the iceberg. The Boy Scouts are changing its name to Scouting America and are allowing girls to join. These actions are an attempt to stem the reduction in enrollment. But it does seem odd that an organization that has paid out “more than $2 billion to men who say they were sexually abused as Scouts” would open its enrollment to those who practice an immoral lifestyle.
The Boy Scouts I remember taught an ethic of responsibility, citizenship and virtue. The Scout oath emphasizes three “virtues”: Duty to God and country, Duty to others and Duty to self-discipline. The Boy Scout oath summed it up:
On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
The “Laws” that scouts are to live up to – to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, brave, clean and reverent – are certainly “traditional” virtues worthy of emulation. There was also an ethic of self-reliance and “can do-ism”.
To some, those traits are old fashioned and “corny.” Independent of the current and future Boy Scouts status, I would hope they maintain their oath, laws and motto which unabashedly teaches traditional “tradition.”
Tradition Purveyors
In reflecting on these things, I have to wonder who will be the tradition purveyors in today’s culture?
The media, the entertainment industry, and the government are certainly not passing on the traditional ethics mentioned above.
Instead, they are increasingly passing on the new “woke traditions” – Pride celebrations, victimization, the need for safe spaces, and the need to not be offended. There is also an effort underway to undo the value of merit for academic achievement and job requirements, and to promote in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Who then will step up and pass on the “traditional” traditions?
There is no easy answer to this question because traditional traditions are now deemed countercultural to a certain extent. All we have to do is look at the public outrage over the Dobbs decision on abortion.
In my opinion it is about publicly showing and practicing “traditional” tradition. We need to support previously mentioned organizations, such as the American Legion, in their efforts to pass on citizenship and patriotic traditions. We also need to get involved on public school boards to counteract the progressive agenda occurring in schools.
Catholic Traditions
From a Faith perspective, I also think we need to be more public about our celebrations and feasts especially during the month of June. Parish and diocesan rosery rallies, as seen in pro-life activities, are examples. The current Eucharistic renewal efforts, with pilgrimage walks processions with the public exposition of the Eucharistic, can increase public expressions of faith traditions.
Then there are the “small t” traditions, such as sacramentals, to pass on a regular and daily basis. As an adult convert, I never experienced the sacramentals that cradle Catholics grow up with. I learned them basically by observing what fellow Catholics practiced. However, since being involved in teaching RCIA I appreciate their value as purveyors of tradition.
There are a myriad of sacramentals like relics, roseries, crucifixes, icons, holy water, the sign of the cross, etc. According to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (1677) “Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church to prepare us to receive the fruit of the sacraments and to sanctify different circumstances of our lives.”
Weaving the use of sacramentals into our daily lives not only provide reminders of our faith, they also model faith tradition for our family, friends and the public at large. All are necessary to counteract the cultural narratives that go against “traditional” tradition.
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Author: Tom Collingwood
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