Catholic Traditionalism in the United States: Postscript – Five Years Later

(In this new year, I thought that I might revisit our “Notes” on the history of Catholic Traditionalism in the United States. We had concluded the series in June 2014 with a review of the first year of Pope Francis. It is now nearly five years later. Where do American (Catholic) Traditionalists stand today?)

Last year, before dawn in the season of Advent, the following scene was reenacted in many parishes.  In the darkness of the church the only illumination is the glow of massed candles surrounding the altar – the priest and ministers preforming the ceremonies are silhouetted against this mysterious light.  A music more somber than usual is heard and in the obscurity the fragrance of the incense seems stronger. Only as the pale light of dawn spreads do the windows, statues and paintings emerge.  It is the celebration of a Rorate Mass during Advent. An old custom, revived in a handful of churches after the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum (“SP”) has now spread everywhere in the Traditionalist world – and, judging from recent photographs, well beyond that. The bulk of this growth has been just in the last four or five years.

The rediscovery of this ancient custom perfectly illustrates the growth and maturity of the Traditionalist movement. Other examples abound: the revival of sung vespers at the parish level, the use of the folded chasuble and, most notably, the celebration of the “pre-1955” Holy Week rites. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to state that today’s liturgical celebrations are in every way more complete and precise than was the case in all but a handful of places before the Council.   Moreover, the atmosphere of legalism, fault-finding, capriciousness and eccentricity that used to characterize discussions within Traditionalism have yielded to a focus on understanding the meaning of the ceremonies and, to the extent resources permit, achieving their completeness and perfection. It is a true renaissance – the “recovery of the sacred!”

The progress of the movement has continued unabated. We see it in the increasing number and quality of the celebrations of the Traditional mass this year. We see it in the ongoing interest of so many seminarians in the Old Rite despite the obstacles often put in their path. We see it in the parishes – usually those who have chosen to celebrate the Traditional mass frequently and regularly – that gather large regular congregations for the Latin Mass.  

A glance at those pews reveals that most of the faithful have come back to Tradition in the last 20 or so years – and many more recently than that. For by now the handover of the cause of Tradition to a new generation is all but complete; in the sanctuary newly ordained priests and youthful ministers are assuming leadership roles. This is not to disparage in any way those (like me!) who had experienced the Traditional Mass prior to the revolution of the Council and who had “fought the good fight” over the long years prior to SP or even Ecclesia Dei. But we must acknowledge that by now a new level of understanding and practice has been attained.

As has always been the case, American Traditionalists do not stand alone.  Scholars, writers, religious and bishops from other countries regularly visit these shores. Developments in the Church outside the United States are closely followed here. The network of websites and blogs which serve as Catholic samizdat continues to perform invaluable services in this regard. It is a strong contrast with provincialism of the average Novus Ordo parish.

A continued benefit of the current Pontificate is the almost complete disintegration of “conservative Catholicism” as writer after writer has been compelled to take a stand against the policies of Pope Francis. Not that these figures have become Traditionalists! But at least the decades-long cold war between Traditionalists and “Conservatives” is now largely a thing of the past. George Weigel may continue to take swipes against “the traditionalist millennial who has no idea why Vatican II was necessary “ – what a bizarre statement indeed! –  but he is now in the minority.

The FSSPX and the Ecclesia Dei communities have continued to make steady advances: increasing numbers of priests and seminarians, new seminaries and new pastoral undertakings. We hear that not all those wishing to become seminarians can be accommodated! It must be said, however, that it is primarily the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, which has grasped fully the new possibilities open to Traditionalism after SP. Displaying a welcome flair for publicity – restoring magnificent old churches and celebrating splendid liturgies – they haven’t been afraid to reach out to the broader Traditionalist, and even non-Christian world. In contrast, the Fraternity of St Peter seems resolutely bound to the pre-SP world. And even the FSSPX – apparently mesmerized by the never-ending discussions with Rome regarding their full regularization – is keeping a much lower profile than did their founder in the 1970’s and 80’s. 

But additional spiritual resources also have emerged.  The Benedictine monastery of Norcia, located in Italy but with mostly American monks, has exercised a worldwide influence. And that not just within Catholic Traditionalism – do we need to mention its role in a certain widely publicized book on current options for Christians? In the United States itself, a series of female convents and monasteries are now exclusively Tradionalist. The development of Traditionalist contemplative life is a major step forward. 

Not is all rosy in the Traditionalist world – far from it! If anyone thought embracing Traditionalism would free Catholics from the administrative incompetence, materialism, personality conflicts, jealousies and rivalries – great and small, that have dogged the Church for ages – he soon found out otherwise. More specifically to Traditionalism, the celebration of the Old Mass remains under restriction and close supervision in many dioceses in the United States. Seminarians often face hurdles in participating in Latin Masses; some members of mainstream orders who celebrate the Traditional mass don’t want to be photographed or identified. Ecclesiastical favor or disfavor is all very random and often changes month to month.

But, of course, the main threat hanging over the Traditionalists’ heads is the threat of the papacy of Francis. The Pope has continued to denounce them over the years, in uncouth but unambiguous language, as mentally ill and worse.  And the sycophants of Francis, both in and outside of the Vatican, have amplified his words. It has not eluded them – nor their master – that so many of the opponents of Francis’ regime have connections to the world of Traditionalism. 

Outside the United States, the Vatican has struck again and again with utter ruthlessness at smaller Traditionalist seminaries, orders and congregations. In the United States itself, we have the actions of Cardinal Cupich, Bergoglio’s main paladin in the American hierarchy, against the parish of St John Cantius. Moreover, any action the Pope might take restricting the old liturgy would be unlikely to encounter any organized episcopal opposition. For if Bergoglio has demonstrated conclusively one thing over the last six years, it is that, aside from individual exceptions, the hierarchs of the Catholic Church will not oppose anything he says or does.  

Yet, so far, the Pope has not sought to impose any general restrictions on the Traditional liturgy. True, the pope has just abolished the Ecclesia Dei commission, (charged with certain supervisory and appeals functions under SP) but we do not yet know the exact intent of that step. Why this reticence to act? Perhaps, as I surmised in 2014, Bergoglio first has had to deal with other aspects of the progressive agenda that – so it would seem to him – affect the Church more broadly: divorce, homosexuality, married priests, female deacons and even priests, “synodality,” etc. Moreover, at this very moment, the Church’s handling of issues of clerical sexual abuse and homosexuality is generating a crisis even shaking the strongest pillars holding up Bergoglianism– the Western secular media.

Recently certain prominent Traditionalists seem to have lost their heads over this situation, predicting the imminent demise of the Traditional Mass or of SP due to a papal prohibition. I am not so sure! Are not these voices still imprisoned in the Ultramontane world, where everything depends on official support and papal favor? We have seen how American Traditionalism has survived and even flourished in the last five years. And, paradoxically, hasn’t the papacy of Francis had a liberating effect on Traditionalism? A Pope, for example, who so prominently disregards liturgical norms from the earliest days of his pontificate also empowers Traditionalists to “do the right thing” liturgically instead of anxiously pondering issues of rubrics, authority and legality. If the Pope takes some repressive action, I do not know what the reaction of the Traditionalists will be – as opposed to that of the hierarchy. But I do believe that, whatever may come, a movement that by now is so broad in its membership and support will continue, in the ways open to it, the slow but relentless course of renewal and reform.