Researchers explore misconceptions about Latin Mass community
For many who attend the Traditional Latin Mass, the reasoning behind their draw to the liturgy is not what some may assume, according to two Catholic professors.
There are a number of public misconceptions regarding Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), according to two Catholic professors who have been researching TLM communities.
Though the TLM community, broadly speaking, can be “perceived to be almost a cult within the Church,” the reality is that many who attend the traditional liturgy are like any group of people strongly committed to practicing religion in a secular world, Stephen Bullivant explained in a Nov. 3 interview with Publishers Weekly’s Emma Wenner. His research on the TLM is encompassed in the book he co-authored with Stephen Cranney called Trads: Latin Mass Catholics in the United States, which is set to be released Dec. 1.
Cranney told Wenner in the interview that he and Bullivant undertook the book project amid widespread disputes on TLM-attending Catholics’ motives, who they are, and whether they support the Second Vatican Council. As the book draws on surveys and interviews, Cranney said these questions could be scientifically measured and explained that the co-authors wanted to speak to ordinary lay TLM-attending Catholics.
“A lot of the people that get all the attention are the edge lords on social media, not the grandma sitting in the pews that just likes the Traditional Latin Mass,” Cranney said. “Her story wasn’t being told.”
Bullivant is a professor of theology and the sociology of religion, and director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society, at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham. According to his biography he holds doctorates in theology, earned at Oxford in 2009, and in sociology, earned at Warwick in 2019. Cranney is a data scientist who teaches sociology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
In March, Pope Leo XIV had an audience with Bullivant and Cranney. As is custom for private papal audiences, the Holy See Press Office did not provide any further information about the meeting.
Bullivant told Wenner that in his opinion, the most misunderstood notion of TLM-attending Catholics is that they are in general “opposed to the wider Church” in areas like Vatican II, the the Ordinary Form of the Mass, the bishops, or other Catholics.
“There's a perception that these are kind of oppositional, bunker communities, and that just isn't the case,” he said.
When reviewing the data, Bullivant said something that surprised him was that TLM-attending Catholics are “surprisingly normal, as normal as any group of people deeply committed to practicing religion in a secularized world.”
“They’re perceived to be almost a cult within the Church, essentially,” he added. “The TLM has become caught up in a polarized church in a polarized world, and there's a symbolic value to it that extremes on both sides can use to fight a proxy war. It becomes a symbol of all that's wrong or all that's right.”
According to Trads: Latin Mass Catholics in the United States’ description, the book shows that Catholics who attend the TLM “are more complex than media portrayals suggest” and outlines how papal reforms have affected Catholic congregations. The book cites surveys, interviews, and fieldwork to build its assessment. Its table of contents indicates that it reviews topics, including what motivates traditional Catholics, how the TLM community relates to the wider Church, TLM communities after Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, and the future of the TLM community.
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Traditionis Custodes significantly restricted the celebration of the TLM, and local bishops’ implementation of the motu proprio has been varied. Now more than a year into Pope Leo’s pontificate, many Catholics wonder what direction he might take in regards to directives on the TLM. The Pontiff has spoken about liturgy, tradition, and Vatican II on numerous occasions, such as during several of his Wednesday General Audiences. According to reports, in March Pope Leo asked the bishops of France to foster “generous inclusion” of those devoted to the TLM.
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The complex pastoral situation and the topics of liturgy, traditionalism, the TLM, and Vatican II have been points of contention for years, particularly this year when the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which celebrates the TLM, carried out new episcopal consecrations without the authorization of the Pope. This led the Vatican to declare that the SSPX and those who formally adhere to it are in schism. The situation came after a number of meetings between SSPX and Vatican officials and a personal plea from Pope Leo to the Society to end their plans to carry out the consecrations.
However, the SSPX is not the only group that has a devotion to the Latin Mass; the Institute of Christ the King and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) both celebrate the TLM while remaining in communion with the Pope. Further, two international organizations that are devoted to the TLM — International Federation Una Voce and the Latin Mass Society (England and Wales) — spoke out in February with concern over the SSPX’s intention to consecrate bishops without the apostolic mandate.
In the Nov. 3 interview, Cranney told Wenner that, based on his research and interviews with average TLM-attending Catholics, the history and tensions related to the liturgy don’t necessarily pinpoint the reason why most attend.
“A lot of them just like the aesthetics of the Traditional Latin Mass,” he said. “They're not trying to make some big statement; they just like it.”
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