It has not been an infrequent occurrence to correspond with those who remain at home on Sunday instead of going to mass who are not altogether right in the head. I do not mean to draw a causal connection between the two, as conjunction is not proof of causation, but I do believe there must be an underlying cause or condition which must account for the higher frequency of having to converse with fools.
There are assumptions made in any thought, either known or not, which stand, as it were, at the back of the room of the thought. I am conscious of at least one assumption that my assertion above makes, and that is that the claim, ceteris paribus, any correspondence with people outside the home alone cohort would yield the same frequency of foolishness, is false. Be that as it may, I assume that the claim is false, though I cannot strictly prove it unless I try to verify the assumption by emailing fellow bloggers in my genre, which I’m not entirely inclined to do, at the risk of myself coming off as a correspondent equally foolish.
Moving on, then, with the thrust of my argument, I would say this: the reason, perhaps, for the higher frequency of bizarre beliefs and manners among home alone Catholics is that they are, well, alone. Not absolutely, of course, but compared with their counterpart religionists, with their parish hall, community outreach programs, school, congregation of smiling faces ready to greet you at the door, and, above all, priests and confessors to instruct you in spiritual and life matters, home alone Catholics are emphatically alone. And this being alone is dangerous.
Man is a social animal, which means that he is fitted by God to live in society. It takes a great deal of actual grace and practice living out the virtues to live in a society peacefully with others—and it takes enormously more grace to live peacefully outside society. Home Alone Catholics are just abiding by the commandments of God and the laws of the Church. I do not say Home Alone is wrong, so please do not misunderstand me. But I do so that the position is fraught with danger, both spiritual and mental, and even physical. Being in the desert is dangerous.
The physical dangers of living home alone are quite obvious. Your dependence on your physical welfare becomes almost completely dependent on those services your taxes afford, which is not exactly a consolation. If you are estranged from your relatives (perhaps most of us are) and your friends were all from Church you no longer attend, you are going to have a difficult time if a life issue happens, say, you are hospitalized with kidney disease, and there are no family or friends to help you make the life transitions that inevitably follow such a health crisis.
Let’s take the mental next. There are any number of issues, or problems, both practical and theoretical which a man is called upon to solve. If he has a community of persons, friends or associations with whom he can communicate, he is alleviated of the burden of bearing all the intellectual labor involved which is demanded by the problem. He asks a fellow parishioner, let’s say, who happens to be also an investment banker, whether he thinks it a good idea to sell short this month on a particular stock, since rumors are in the air of a merger. The fellow parishioner obliges him with free financial advice, and says the merger is a myth concocted by lunatic communist conspiracy theorist podcasters and mustn’t be heeded by any rational entity worthy the name. This man, being a rational entity himself, heeds the friend’s financial advice, cancels his subscription to the podcast “Red Scare” and saves himself the indignity and destitution which would have surely been his unhappy lot had he not a friend from Church with whom to consult.
Then there’s the spiritual. Let’s say you struggle with a vice of the flesh, perhaps it is gluttony in the form of the abuse of alcohol—not an entirely inconceivable probability in a country which had to pass a constitutional law forbidding hard drink. You belong to a parish-supported AA meeting group, which helps those like yourself overcome the sinful overconsumption of intoxicating liquor. You meet every Wednesday night, which is good, because otherwise you would be drinking yourself to hell-knows-where, down at the sports bar watching the seasonal game (it matters little which). Now you have a band of supporters you can work out your sinful addiction with and rely upon for moral encouragement.
But let’s remove you from those societies, from the parish hall where you were want to talk financial investment strategy over a donut and styrofoam cup of coffee, or the AA meeting which was the last thread keeping you sown to sanity and out of Satan’s jaws, and see how you fair home alone. Without a great deal of natural and supernatural virtue, I think you will agree, you won’t fair very well at all.
We who remain at home instead of soliciting sacraments from doubtfully valid and illicit priests whom the Church has not sent, do not do so because it is easier or because it is fun. On the contrary, the physical, mental and spiritual labor and suffering is arduous, and a great sacrifice. I truly believe that we who are home alone and who, by God’s almighty mercy, make it to Heaven, will wear shimmering crowns of golden glory for our spiritual martyrdom. Home alone calls us to live according to a higher demand on our natural intelligence and spiritual vigilance, just as one would need to in the desert, the path through which we trod is not primrose but penitential purple, mortifying our flesh, our minds, and our souls on our natural dependency on society in favor of a supernatural dependency on God and His Mother—have you prayed the Rosary today?For those who can endure it, and not long for the garlic and onions of Egypt, we must pray everyday for the unseen Manna from heaven, which is sanctifying and actual grace, to give strength to our bodies, clarity to our minds, and holiness to our souls.
Home alone is dangerous, but so is following Christ, for He is leading us to our death: God is leading us to Golgotha.
Catholic Eclipsed 
Everything in this article is correctly reflected, a very dangerous path in social conditions against nature and natural order. However, I believe that you separated from Teresa, and it only makes loneliness even greater.
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I think the “home alone” position or “traditionalism” in general can create certain stressors that may create a tendency towards “different” behaviors in response.
I suppose though it is worth mentioning that the “non-home alone” also have their practical problems that arise from their views on things, like a lax or incorrect view of marriage which leads to divorce and stress for such a family. So perhaps everyone simply has problems.
On the other hand, some of the “non-home alone”, the “liberal” heretics who believe that everyone will be saved, might not have a problem associating with a home aloner (whom they already believe is going to heaven). Or various “traditionalists” may be “tradcumenical” and kind of get along with each other, while having serious disagreements at times.
There’s something to be said about “big tent” movements like in politics or other ventures. For example, on the topic of abortion, I believe the typical Catholic view is going to be against abortion even in cases of assault. Perhaps someone else is against abortion in all other cases but for abortion being legal in such cases of assault. Would a Catholic be willing to work with them then to pass laws against abortion in the other cases that are agreed upon? There may be such instances where there can be principles which are broadly accepted and where people from viewpoints not in agreement might be able to work together towards common goals.
Sometimes I think that in character the “crisis” today is really “sedeprivationist”: the sedeprivationist believes that Catholic Church’s institutions are taken over, and Catholics cannot elect a pope for themselves, until a non-Catholic entity that has taken over such institutions becomes Catholic again. Likewise, a lot of “traditionalists” seem to believe the Church is kind of “stuck” until we get a traditional pope (or a pope at all), or until the world ends. In society, we typically live among non-Catholics and probably associate with people we may disagree with on things to varying degrees. We don’t really have a separate organized “home aloner” institution (yet?) nor a city or state of only home aloners. So our society is taken over by non-Catholics, and we’re just kind of among it – but while we might avoid certain churches, we live in a society somewhere not by choice, under a coercive State.
So I feel like “sedeprivationism” is true in the sense of Catholics being stuck with a society that is not Catholic that we just have to deal with while it is not Catholic or until it is anyway.
I guess there’s kind of a conflict between punishment or judgment, and mercy and love. Heretics may have been punished severely by exile or other things by the Church in the past, and at other times people have tried to overcome their heresy by doing good to them.
“But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you” Matthew 5:44
“But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.” Romans 12:20
“A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid” Titus 3:10
So I guess I’ve been torn here at times. Sometimes I feel like I’m supposed to simply just be kind towards everyone, at other times some people seem knowingly aware of their guilt in doing some bad thing and I feel judgmental towards them. Jesus rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees, yet was forgiving towards the woman caught in adultery. Maybe the former was unrepentant, while the latter was sincerely sorry for sin.
There’s been a lack of professionalism to me at times among “traditionalists” and a need to try to systematically work together to patiently put disagreements to rest if possible perhaps with dedicated organized efforts to try to pray and talk through certain issues. The phrase “if we don’t hang together we shall hang separately” comes to mind. If we are outnumbered, then it would be wise to ally with each other if we can, even if we aren’t in total agreement on the issues. However it can be challenging to do this as it can introduce other unexpected problems as well.
I think also if God allows people to be more “home alone”, then He can also send help for people to deal with it. There are all kinds of “breakaway” groups and non-religious people today who may be associated with a small group or no religious group. They find other groups of friends or family to associate with and some way to survive. I would therefore expect God to be able to take care of the Catholics who are likewise living like them, but for a different reason.
“Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.” Matthew 6:31-32
The Lord can provide for those whether they are part of a worldwide institution, or a small group, or are “home alone” and dependent on non-Catholics. There are also a large amount of conciliarists who may broadly share similar values.
Some of these needs have also pointed to me to the necessity of organization. “Conclavism” or electing a pope came to mind immediately, not only for me but also BetrayedCatholics at one time. It seems absurd for the Church to not be able to just elect a pope for itself, and have its own operations, for the mutual benefit of the faithful especially on practical matters as well. There are certain issues reserved only for the pope to resolve.
For example, I know someone who married a non-baptized non-Catholic and got divorced. Are they now free to marry a Catholic under the Petrine or Pauline principle (I forget which one)? Typically I believe the pope would decide on such an issue. So what do “home aloners” do on some of these issues reserved only for the pope to resolve? I guess they follow the law strictly even if it seems absurd. Or their conscience may in some cases tell them to override a certain principle if there are principles in conflict.
So in summary, I think home aloners associate with non-Catholics of necessity at times, they probably should organize into a group in my view, and God will help in whatever necessities if Catholics pray for the aid needed.
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