"Rediscovering Traditionalism" by John Casey

John Casey is lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College. He has written an article "Rediscovering Traditionalism" for the online journal Open Democracy which I heartily recommend.

This balanced introduction to the question would be suitable especially for an intelligent enquirer who was wondering what all the fuss was about. I am sure that most of us who have been engaged in this discussion will appreciate the accuracy with which Casey sums up the principal issues at stake.

He analyses the culture war within the Church, the question of participation, and the impact of Summorum Pontificum. Along the way, he examines the question of papal power and the liturgy, quoting Pope Benedict to great effect, and the real import of the Regensburg address. (The anecdote about Pope John Paul II calling Pope John XXIII a "maniac" is fascinating.)

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