"the nation's expert"
By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 11, 2003
If William Dinges is "the nation's expert on Roman Catholic traditionalists," as Knight-Ridder reports, how come none of my Roman Catholic traditionalist friends have ever heard of him?
I suppose not many potatoes ever heard of Luther Burbank, and he was an expert (from my home town, I might add).
The difference is that traditionalists, unlike potatoes, are human beings, and someone who seeks to understand them can actually talk to them.
I suspect that the expertise of Professor Dinges regarding traditionalism is like the expertise of the USCCB (see here) regarding authentic Catholic thought: indirect and distant.
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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