Catholicism and Carnival II

This is a follow-up to my previous entry Catholicism and Carnival. The responses [on Facebook] went a good distance towards helping me answer my questions. I started typing my thoughts on those responses with the intention of posting them as comments to that [Facebook] post, but I think they're long enough to deserve a blog entry of their own.

The main question was why does the Catholic Church not oppose carnival? My objective here isn't to criticise Catholicism, though I do realise that because of my position and the way I phrase my questions it may come across as though I'm doing that. What I want to do is figure out how the Catholic non-opposition and support for Carnival are justified within a Catholic framework. I'm basically wondering why the rationale for the evangelical condemnations of Carnival does not result in a similar Catholic condemnation of the the festivities. I realise that the Catholic church isn't the only one with such a stance, but I've chosen it for a variety of reasons, among which are that I know more about Catholicism than, say, Anglicanism, and because I think Catholicism typifies some of the other, older, established Christian denominations in this regard.

So to the follow up. People said lots of stuff in their comments. I'm using this note to address the points that were made in direct response to my questions. I commented on the other contributions in the comments section of the last note.

The reasons given for the Catholic church's non-opposition/support were:

• It's our culture; it's part of our identity. [Shanique]
• It's tradition. The church has not opposed (or has supported) carnival for years. [Kevon?, Kevyn, Anya]
• It brings in money. Carnival is profitable so it would be difficult for the church to oppose it. [Kevon, Anya]
• You can participate in Carnival without sinning. It isn't necessarily about excess. [Shaun, J'elle, Jomokie]
• We're small, so it isn't something that would've attracted the attention of the Vatican. [Shaun]

I hope I didn't miss or conflate any.

From the above, I'd first strike out the money one. It may be a pragmatic concern for some Catholics and maybe even some leaders in the Caribbean's Catholic Church, but I don't think it's an ideological one. I don't think it addresses how Carnival fits into the Catholic worldview or ethic. If anything, I think that such a reason would be outrightly and soundly rejected on ideological Catholic grounds.

On the matter of culture/identity, the only way I could see a Catholic cogently arguing from that angle is if s/he says it's part of his/her Catholic culture and identity. I say this because I don't see how any Christian could seriously argue that something tolerated, accepted or promoted just because it is part of a society's culture or identity. The "It's our culture!" cry simply doesn't interact with the kind of universal, objective moral arguments that Christians usually make. One can imagine or read about a hundred and one cultural practices (honour killings, female circumcision...) that would not hold up to a second's scrutiny in any discussion set in a Christian moral framework. Perhaps one could argue something like:

1. Since something is cultural and
2. Given another reason
3. We should do Ex or we shouldn't do Zed

But I don't see how one could just say "It's our culture!" alone and expect that to stand.

Now if someone argues that it's part of his/her Catholic culture and identity (and it seems that a case can be made there given Carnival's origin as a pre-Lenten festival), that quite naturally raises the question of why. Why is it part of Catholic culture? Why has it become a Catholic tradition? If we phrase the question in terms similar to the ones I initially asked we'd see that we're back to the start. Saying it's part of our Catholic culture and identity doesn't answer the question.

From there we could go nicely into the "It's tradition" reason, but I'll put that off for a bit because I think there's really something there. So before I get to that, I want to talk about the last reason that I find insubstantial. That reason runs something like "we're too small for the Vatican to pronounce on it". That sounds reasonable. But not everything is left up to the Pope or the Vatican to decide, right? Surely if there's an issue in a region then the priests, bishops and cardinal(s) of that region can come together and decide something, can they not? Plus, I gather that Brazil's carnival is rather like ours in the respects that I've outlined. I think Brazil has the world's largest Catholic population, so it is anything but insignificant.

So now to the "It's tradition!" reason. I can see how that would be compelling to Catholics. Whereas Protestants champion (or claim to champion) sola scriptura, Catholics are unapologetic about the role that 'Holy Tradition' plays in their faith. As most Catholics should know, though, in Catholicism there's a difference between common-t 'tradition' and capital-t "Holy Tradition". Whereas one is considered fallible and not truly an indispensable part of the Catholic faith, Catholics consider the other as authoritative as Protestants take the Bible. Granted that Holy Tradition is usually used to mean the teachings and practices handed down from the Apostles, the early Christian community and prominent later Christians, I don't think that any Catholic would seriously argue that the Caribbean carnivals are part of Holy Tradition.

So if it's a tradition it's definitely a common-t tradition. We're familiar with the history of Carnival, so we have an idea as to why that tradition has developed. It seems that good question can be raised as to why it was allowed to develop in the first place (see Jo-Ann's comment in the last note), but let's leave that aside for now and ask another question: why has it persisted after its initial development when, by almost everyone's assessment, the Caribbean's Carnivals have changed?

I think the Catholic answer to that question might be in the final reason: that Carnival isn't necessarily about excess and sin. A person can participate in and enjoy Carnival without sinning, without participating in its excesses, and without condoning the wrongdoing by his/her mere participation.

This seems like a very slim line to use as a route of escape, especially given the strict and largely consistent Catholic sexual and larger moral ethic. So far I don't think it works, but, as I said, the responses have moved me some way along understanding the Catholic position here, so I guess I'll work with this new-found understanding for now.