Fr Michael Cullinan delivered a short paper at the recent international conference organised by the Theology Faculty of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. The conference was entitled: ‘Towards Reform of the Liturgy in this generation: Usus Antiquior as landmark and backup’. It aimed to investigate the relationship between tradition and reform in the Roman Rite, given renewed interest in the pre-Vatican II liturgy the (usus antiquior) and the debates following Pope Francis’s restriction of the provisions for its celebration that were made by Benedict XVI.

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The conference featured historians, liturgists, theologians, canon lawyers, and sociologists from Europe, America, and Australia, including an invited paper on the Jewish sacrifices behind the Mass by Dr Angela Costley who teaches at Oscott Seminary.

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The Leuven Faculty is not generally seen as at all traditionalist, so it might surprise some that the majority of participants were supportive of the traditionalist case, highlighting serious problems in the way the changes were developed immediately after Vatican II. The sociologists helped to clarify the relatively small number of traditionalists in the US (although it seems that many Catholic students in Munich regularly attend the Usus Antiquior), and the situation of those who attend the normal form of the Roman Rite was not forgotten.

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Fr Michael’s paper was entitled ‘Towards Reform of the Liturgy in this generation: Usus Antiquior as landmark and backup’. It argued for the retention of the Usus Antiquior as a backup after changes of unprecedented magnitude and speed, as a pastoral response to the demand for it by those of a different generation, and as a landmark for the ongoing reform of the liturgy mandated by Vatican II. It was delivered almost at the end of the proceedings and was received without comment or questions.

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Leuven is a beautiful old-fashioned town full of cobbled streets and colleges. The Faculty made everyone very welcome (indeed the conference dinner was excellent!) and the atmosphere was friendly and very constructive.