The Gentle Traditionalist

194 pages | Paperback

Note: Our ‘Youth’ category includes some books which would be suitable for secondary school/high school readers but probably not younger. This is a title that parents will want enjoy reading themselves before deciding to give it to their children.

Geoffrey has a problem. All his life he’s lived according to “sensible” sceptical, secular values. Then, his true love left him for a New Age community in Scotland. But it gets worse: now she wants to be a traditional Catholic nun! Geoffrey is bewildered, angry, lost. Until, one Valentine’s Day in Ireland, he meets a mysterious guide — the Gentle Traditionalist. Together they commence a most unusual dialogue of ideas concerning:

• The Heart of the Gospel

• The Real Nature of the Church: a Supernatural Mystery

• The Crisis in Catholicism today: the Loss of Tradition

• The New Age Movement

• Catholic Ireland

• Why Secularism gets away with murder

Both whimsical and serious, the dialogue in this book offers a probing exploration of the Catholic Mystery, Christendom, and the crisis of the West today. Join us for a very special Valentine’s Day when Geoffrey’s barren, rational world gets turned upside down. . .

Praise for The Gentle Traditionalist

“This is one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read. It’s a spiritual journey, a romance and a quest; a reflection on history and a discourse on faith and tradition; a fable and a meditation about place and location… written throughout with passion and engagement, with a touching and deep-seated love for Ireland.” — MARY KENNY​, author of Goodbye to Catholic Ireland and Crown and Shamrock

“The Gentle Traditionalist is a book with a ‘strange magic,’ like unto the Ireland it loves and mourns. With unforgettable images and a wry sense of humor, Buck unfolds a tale of whimsical fantasy, melancholy realism, and supernatural joy, ever so gently exposing the intolerance and incoherence of the New Secular Religion…. Buck’s deftly-reasoned post-modern apologetic for full-blooded Catholicism will be salutary for those who are still wandering and for those already arrived in port.” — PETER KWASNIEWSKI​, author of Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis

“Writing with great wisdom, insight, and a most warm sense of humor, Roger Buck offers us a contemplation of the religious predicaments of our time in the spirit of Chesterton and Belloc. He takes on everything—from the reforms of Vatican II to the New Age, from the postmodern religion of science to the fallout from agnostic ennui—in a charming (and disarming) manner sure to delight readers already participant in Christian tradition, and to prove at least intriguing to those who are not. It is a wonderful book.” — MICHAEL MARTIN​, author of The Submerged Reality: Sophiology and the Turn to a Poetic Metaphysics

“This striking novel by Roger Buck, set in Ireland, is composed with extraordinary sensitivity and insight. The Catholic Church is travelling through a time of seemingly paralysing crisis. It has lost touch not only with its roots but also with its unique sacramental nature. However, periods of crisis can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, create openings—and one prays that the Church will again become an instrument of salvation, prayer and God-centred worship. We are indebted to Roger Buck for his spiritual clarity and striking mental lucidity.” — COLIN MAWBY​, KSG, Choral Director of Radio Telefis Eireann (RTÉ), Artistic Director Emeritus of Ireland’s National Chamber Choir

“The Gentle Traditionalist is a tremendous book: moving and humorous, opening up the most profound issues, engaging the most strident of polemics with the lightest touch. Ireland’s place in the English-speaking world, the revolutions and counter-revolutions of the Enlightenment and the modern era, and the human weakness and divine resilience of the Catholic Church, are the book’s themes. Today it is hard to know what to say to the sincere enquirer, when the Church appears to send out such mixed signals and internal disputes take up so much of her time and energy. Roger Buck is to be congratulated for making the case for the Church at this moment of confusion.”

— JOSEPH SHAW​, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales

About the Author

ROGER BUCK is a Catholic convert who once resided at Findhorn, Scotland—probably the most renowned New Age community in the world. He was a full time New Age activist for many years. Then, a profound conversion experience changed his life forever (as described in his book Cor Jesu Sacratissimum). He lives in the rural northwest of Ireland, an endless source of inspiration for all his writing, as well as YouTube videos.