Skip to main content

Hipster Catholics and Eunuchs

By
These, I am told, are "hipsters" - and I feel a sudden desire to puke.

A friend and blog reader writes that he thinks one of the hallmarks of the new "Hipster Catholics" - by which he seems to mean the cool young crunchy "independent music" types who are more or less orthodox (unless a bit of heterodoxy suits them) and who are self-consciously and deliberately "counter cultural" and "independent" in a way that shows how seriously and deeply they really do identify with superficial things - that one of the hallmarks of "Hipster Catholics" is "lack of masculinity".  Some of them, he even implies, have an "apostolate", which means they sponge off others while engaging in "ministry".  This is kind of like living off Mom, Dad and student loans while getting your second B.A. in Art History at age 30.

He contrasts them with sober and mature men, who, whether lay or clergy, take responsibility for their own lives and families and finances and whose charity and friendships are more adult and realistic.  And who, unlike hipsters, really don't care how they dress.

But what the hell is a "hipster", anyway?  Until just now I had no idea what a "hipster" was, much less a "hipster" Catholic.

If they're anything like the characters described in glowing terms by this article, then let me state that - contrary to the universal call to Christian charity - I hate every single one of them.

And above all I hate this ... .

They form book clubs and meet in the back of the local open-mic cafe to chuckle over G.K. Chesterton – you wouldn’t understand.

To use Chesterton as a shibboleth for the "in crowd"?  Despicable.  Hang every one of them.  St. Gilbert would agree with me.  At least Belloc would.

***

Meanwhile, I've been Hip since Sammy Davis Jr. used to use that word.  And I've been Funky since before the Funk dried up.  And I've been both Intellectual and Anti-intellectual at the same time - and that's hard to pull off.

But I have never been a "hipster" (or a "eunuch" for that matter, even though I'm married).

I am, however, getting to the age where I may soon need "Hipster Replacement Surgery", and if that happens, I'll be sure to let you know.


ADDENDUM:  Lots of reaction to this post over on Facebook.  As I expected, the humor is offensive to some, especially to hipsters or to those who know and like hipsters.

"That came across as needlessly angry," was my favorite Facebook comment yet.  Of course it's needlessly angry - that's why it's funny.

So let me say, in seriousness - who cares if you're a "Hipster" or a "Boomer" or a "Neo-Cath" or a "Traddie"?  The point is to be an Integrated Catholic, not a Disintegrating One.  If some Hipster Catholics are superficial and let fashion trump Faith, some other types of Catholics let ideology trump Faith - and both are worthy of laughter and ridicule.

So, if the comments over here start to match some of the reaction over on Facebook, just keep in mind that the point of this is that Jesus Christ is more than just a fashion or an ideology, and following Him more than a choice equivalent to what sort of music you put on your phone or what political party you happen to support.

Another Facebook commenter said, "But all of that goes back to the old chestnut, real community. In its void you end up having these artificial excrescences." - and that, I think is really what I'm saying.



Labels:

Comments

Chris said…
Good point. The hipster or pop-catholic or conservative Catholic phenomenon is not good. I think they often have one foot in the world/the pop-culture and don't even realize it. They are often not so much Catholic as conservative or alternative or "pop" and they still engage in behaviors, attitudes, and the like foreign to Catholic sensibility, whether in t.v. shows they watch, movies, music, magazines, the way they dress, etc. They often seem to have a hermeneutic of discontinuity, thinking that truly "traditional" Catholic customs, attitudes, practices, are "old-fashioned," though they may have adopted some authentic ones. To put it another way I think these are among those who went uncatechized and were raised more in the popular culture, so they often try to baptize elements taken therefrom and then claim these are now Catholic or part of Catholic culture. As you point it, this also means they can adopt in piecemeal fashion different elements of Catholicism when they think it's "cool" or it suits them, but discarding others if not so deemed; so they end up with a kind of Catholic schizophrenia and there is so much a renewal of catholic culture but a diluting of it.
October 21, 2013 at 6:44 AM
Terry Nelson said…
Now in this post, you remind me of Bill Geist.
October 21, 2013 at 8:24 AM
Indhra Kannan said…



Thank you so much! That did the trick, you saved me more endless hours of searching for a fix.

Catholic Music cds
October 11, 2015 at 9:27 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Escape from Utopia

By
“Karen, I was right!  Someone escaped!  She says they are a cult!” I said to my wife, exuberant. It was Monday, Labor Day.  We were at the Lake of the Ozarks, in mid-Missouri, and Karen, my wife, noticed a group of people standing near the overlook on the hill above the lake’s dam.  A man about my age was about to take a picture of a group of teenagers with the lake in the background.  All of them were well groomed, well behaved and wearing polo shirts and caps that said “Shepherdsfield” on them.  Karen offered to take the picture for this man, so he could be in it as well.  He was very grateful. “What’s Shepherdsfield?” I asked after the photo had clicked. “We’re a Christian community near Fulton, Missouri,” the man answered.  “We’re on our Reward Trip.  These young people have been working very hard all summer, and we’re taking them on a Reward Trip before school starts again.”  My eyes locked with one of the young people....
Post a Comment
Read more

Charlie Johnston's Followers take the Next Wrong Step

By
NOTE - On April 29, 2106, Charlie Johnston responded to this post and my previous one with outright lies, doing his best to libel me in the process. I go into detail about that here - Charlie Johnston Lies about Me - and I Admire Him for It! Charlie is one of the most outrageous frauds in the Catholic Church. He actually fascinates me - in a sad way. Read on ... Charlie Johnston is a false prophet. His archbishop has "strongly" advised Catholics to be cautious of him.  His archbishop has also banned him from speaking in his own archdiocese. Charlie, in the great tradition of false prophets, has spun this warning to his own advantage , and Charlie's True Believers have rallied around him and have been guzzling the Kool-Aid since the bishop's letter and Charlie's spin appeared earlier this week. I posted about Charlie Johnston last fall , detailing at least one of his prophecies that have proven false, and detailing, from evidence on his Faceb...
13 comments
Read more

A Note on my Religious Work

By
For those of you who know me from EWTN, the Society of GK Chesterton, the Prairie Troubadours or The St. Austin Review, I am no longer affiliated with any of those groups. "The truth will set you free" ( John 8:32 ) "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." ( John 18:37 ) If we deny the truth, we are bad Christians and bad human beings. If we put our faith in a lie - including a Big Lie - we are bad Christians and bad human beings. If we endorse vulgarity, violence, bullying, gaslighting, fraud, irrational conspiracy theories, sedition and hate, we are bad Christians and bad human beings. Since March of 2020, I have felt like a character in the play Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco.  In that play, the bestial inhumanity of rhinoceroses becomes a fad and people start turning into them - willingly discarding reason and free will and mocking others who don...
Post a Comment
Read more