WAUGH, Evelyn.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Autograph manuscript archive signed: "A Layman's Hopes of the Vatican Council". An autograph manuscript with two associated pieces preserving Waugh's reflections on the forthcoming Second Vatican Council and his hopes and concerns for the future of the Roman Catholic Church. The article was first published in The Spectator on 23 November 1962 under the title "The Same Again Please" and reprinted in the National Review later that year as "A Layman's Hopes for the Council".In this essay, Waugh presents himself as an ordinary Catholic: "I believe that I am typical of that middle rank of the Church, far from her leaders, much farther from her saints". He questions the idea that liturgical reform was widely desired by the laity, arguing instead that it was being driven by a small but influential group of progressive elites.A devout Catholic since his 1930 conversion, Waugh remained a practising believer until his death and was strongly attached to the traditional Latin Mass. He expressed particular concern about what he viewed as an alliance between "archaeologists absorbed in their speculations on the rites of the second century, and modernists who wish to give the Church the character of their own deplorable epoch. In combination they call themselves 'liturgists'".Liturgical reforms to the Mass began to take effect during Waugh's final years. Though he struggled with the changes, he ultimately remained faithful to the Church. The Jesuit priest who gave Waugh's panegyric at his f

• Printing: later

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