I've been thinking more about that commentary on the four general categories over at Commonweal. I was struck by the description of "fundamentalist" American Catholics as those who want "something…that can be relied upon to provide their identity." He points out that the identity piece is important in all of other, even more "liberal" categories, as well.
The whole "Catholic identity" thing is something I reflect on with some frequency. Where do we get it? How to we express it? How do we pass it on? While I think it's something that perhaps we can pay too much attention to this issue, like an adolescent experiencing an identity crisis who obesses over what to wear and who to be seen with, I don't think it's something we can simply dismiss. After all, the relief we feel in adulthood, when we aren't agonizing over those outward signs of our identity, comes in large part from having a sense of ourselves.
So, how do we get that kind of "adult" identity as Catholics?