As a prelude to Fr. Cartwright's talk readers should review the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments' Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy. Copies can be ordered from the Central Catholic Bookshop or else the document can be viewed here.

The Directory is significant not only for placing popular piety within its historical and theological context but also for providing guidelines on how the faithful can enter more authentically and deeply into the heart and mind of the Church, whilst avoiding certain excesses in their devotion.

Another source for readers is Pope Pius XII's Encyclical Letter on the Liturgy, Mediator Dei, in its chapters on "Worship external and internal" and "Non-liturgical devotions". Copies of the encyclical are available for reading at the Library or online here.

Finally here are two articles on popular devotions which readers might like to reflect upon. The considers them 'extensions of the sacred liturgy and touchstones of faith' and the second addresses the apparent 'suppression of popular devotions'.