Trads

Who are "Trad" Catholics? And what can they tell us about the future of Catholicism? They've been called divisive, extreme, and even cult-like. They've also been hailed as the future of Catholicism. From The View to the Vatican, from Vanity Fair to the Vice-President, everyone seems to have an opinion about Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass Catholics--or "Trads"--but who are they really? In Trads: Latin Mass Catholics in the United States, sociologists Stephen Cranney and Stephen Bullivant provide the first full-scale, data-driven portrait of this strikingly resilient movement. Blending ethnographic observation, original survey data, and in-depth interviews, they reveal who attends Mass in Latin--a language that they (for the most part) don't speak--what motivates them, how they differ from other American Catholics, and what their growth means for the Church's future. Are they mostly young, edgy converts? Or are they rigid extremists warned about by church authorities? Do they reject Vatican II and the modern Church, or are they simply seeking beauty, reverence, and tradition in their worship? How have papal reforms affected their communities, and what does the future hold for this movement that seems to generate outsized feeling--both positive and negative--wherever it is discussed? Trads separates myth from reality, offering crucial insights for anyone seeking to understand one of the most fascinating phenomena in contemporary American religion. The result is a surprising account of a community far more complex than either its champions or critics might expect.