I have been pondering the notion of Church tradition recently.

Intimately bound up with this is the question: whose knowledge counts?

Why tradition matters

Tradition has a value in that it distils the knowledge, experience and wisdom of those who have gone before. Succeeding generations can build on this experience, knowledge, wisdom and skill and so develop and evolve.

Simply put, tradition saves us from having to re-invent the wheel in each new generation. Can’t argue with that.

Dynamic, not static

Tradition helps form us as human beings, but, importantly, we in turn mould tradition.

Where tradition is dynamic, holding the past and present in a creative tension, it fosters growth to maturity. It enables adults to take responsibility for themselves and the wider community.

It promotes group identity and continuity, yet remains open to the possibility of development and change.

Where tradition is static and becomes an ideology, it limits freedom by demanding conformity. It stunts personal growth, restricting people to a kind of infantilism, waiting for the ‘authority’ to tell them what to do.

Living practices

Tradition plays a central role within the Church and has tended to be presented as something static, dependable, reliable, solid, and unchanging.

There begins the problem, because whose knowledge, experience and interpretation has formed this embedded tradition? – that of the male and the clerical.

And yes, they have a legitimate role, but so do the female and non-ordained male members of the Church, whose contributions are in serious deficit. Their knowledge also counts, and is of equal value.

Ronald Witherup, in his book on Dei Verbum, sums it up perfectly: “Tradition embraces the living practices of the community of faith, as well as the biblical history that led to the birth of the church.”

The space between conserving the tradition and making it an idol is very thin indeed. In this, we all have a role in valuing the tradition but refusing to idolise it.

“Tradition is tending the flame, not worshipping the ashes” (Gustav Mahler).

The question for us as the wider Church, and I don’t think I’m being a grumpy Catholic here, is: do we collaborate and collude with a system that does not yet value our experience and wisdom and does not accept that our knowledge counts in helping to mould and transmit the tradition of the Church?

The space between

To lightly adapt a saying of Frankl’s to my purposes: between the tradition and the response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our responses.

In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

• Angela Hanley studied theology as a mature student, graduating in 2010. In 2015 she completed a research MA on Catholic same-sex relationships. She is currently undertaking PhD studies. She has published many articles and two books, Whose a la Carte Menu?: Exploring Catholic Themes in Context and What happened to Fr Sean Fagan?