The Growing "Mainstreaming" of Classical Rite Catholicism

There may have been a time, and not so long ago, when a priest, religious or scholar publically attached to the classical Roman liturgy might have been avoided as a sort of political hot-potato, particularly in Catholic academic circles. As such, I was encouraged when I heard recently of the University of Notre Dame's conference on Pope Benedict's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est where one of the two keynote speakers is Dom Philip Anderson, OSB, Prior of Clear Creek Monastery in the Diocese of Tulsa.

As some of you may know, Clear Creek Priory is a daughter-house of the Abbey of Fontgombault in France. Both use the classical rite as their primary liturgical books.

(Incidentally, Clear Creek has a beautiful, re-designed website which is worth visiting.)

Perhaps this is yet another sign of the positive shift in perception toward those attached to the classical liturgical rites, no longer to be understood as being inherently on the margins of the Church, but rather as being in her very bosom.

We can certainly hope this is a sign of things to come.