Ecumenical Liturgy, Its Possibilities and Problems

FROM THE EDITOR ECUMENIC A L LITURGY , ITS POSSIBILITIES A ND PROBLEMS Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Editor’s note: An earlier version of this essay was presented at the cal movement came with Vatican II ’s Constitution on the 43rd International Ecumenical Seminar in Strasbourg, France, on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium). Since the faithful theme “The Liturgy as Ecumenical Chance and Challenge.” must “take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects” (§11), a number of reforms are necessary. There should be “more reading from Holy Scripture, and it is to be more var- The Liturgical Movement and the Ecumenical Movement ied and suitable” (§35.1); preaching is to be emphasized, Already, among the ecumenically-minded, preparations improved, and included in every mass, with its content are underway to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of drawn “mainly from scriptural and liturgical sources, and the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, its character should be that of a proclamation of God’s which is regarded as the birthday of the ecumenical move- wonderful works in the history of salvation” (§35.2); the use ment. What seems to be quite a bit less well-known is that of the vernacular is permitted (§36.2); and “communion this year, 2009, is also a hundredth anniversary celebration, under both kinds may be granted” (§55). Further, though and for a movement that has impacted the Christian world the magisterium reserved to itself the right to approve all every bit as much: the liturgical movement.1 liturgical changes, it was conceded that “[e]ven in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity Roman Catholic Beginnings In 1909, at the Malines in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of Conference, Dom Lambert Beauduin, a Benedictine monk the whole community; rather does she respect and foster in Belgium, delivered a paper on “The True Prayer of the the genius and talents of the various races and peoples” Church.” Following and building on the concerns of Pope (§37). Pius X to restore Gregorian chant and to urge more fre- quent communion among the faithful, Beauduin argued Protestants, Orthodox, Pentecostals It is easy to that the corporate liturgy of the church is the heart and imagine how Protestants reacted. Four hundred years later, soul of Christian existence. Therefore, it is necessary for all these Reformation dreams were coming true—a renewed the laity to attend worship, understand it, and participate commitment to Scripture and preaching, liturgy in the ver- in it fully and intelligently. This apparently simple observa- nacular, communion in both kinds, evangelical freedom in tion sparked a much-needed renewal in the church’s wor- worship! Suddenly Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed, and ship. all the rest in the Protestant family of churches began to pay For the next fifty years or so, the seedling liturgical move- attention. The Roman Catholic church suddenly became a ment grew slowly, mostly at the initiative of monastic com- leader in the liturgical renewal of Protestant churches. This munities within the Roman Catholic church such as Maria was possible also because the same Second Vatican Council Laach in Germany and Klosterneuburg in Austria. The issued the decree Unitatis Redintegratio, officially announcing liturgical movement was formally recognized by Pope Pius the entrance of the Roman Catholic church into the ecu- XII in 1947 with the encyclical Mediator Dei et Hominum. menical movement. From here on out, the ecumenical and But the most significant breakthrough for the liturgi- liturgical movements were intertwined. LUTHERAN FORUM 3 Protestants had already seen some bers in worship and discipleship, and there is a sense of loss in those who connections between liturgy and ecu- that was the founding insight of Dom were used to older liturgical styles; the menism before the Second Vatican Beauduin in 1909. liturgical movement has caused a fixa- Council.2 In 1937, the newly formed To summarize, the liturgical move- tion on correct performance at one World Council of Churches commis- ment has had at its heart concerns that extreme and user-friendly entertain- sioned a study called Ways of Worship have found an eager ecumenical audi- ment evangelism at the other; what is to compare liturgies.3 Over the years ence. It has stressed the participation passed off as progress, ecumenically there were also many formal attempts of all the baptized in worship, not only or theologically, afterward appears to pray across denominational bound- the clergy. It has looked backward to a to be a passing trend; language that aries, such as the World Day of Prayer, time before the division of the church, is easier to understand decreases the the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, lifting up the earliest known informa- sense of transcendence and mystery the Week of Prayer for World Peace, tion about the liturgy as found in Justin in worship; emphasis on public wor- and the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle.4 Martyr, Hippolytus, and the Didache, ship has undermined private devotion After Vatican II , many Protestant among others. It has expanded the and prayer and, consequently, per- churches adopted the three-year lec- role of the Scriptures. It has looked sonal commitment to public worship; tionary introduced in the Roman to what other churches past and pres- the “non-liturgical” churches have Catholic church, or at least a revised ent have done. Perhaps most of all, been completely ignored by the litur- version of it. Common Scriptures the liturgical movement has promoted gical movement; the Roman Catholic raised the question of common lan- the eucharist (as it is generally called church is seen to be pulling back from guage, since many denominations in ecumenical circles to emphasize the many of its original commitments to used their own translations of prayers elements of prayer and thanksgiving) reform; and so on. and Bible passages in their liturgies. as the center, summit, and source of The relationship between the litur- Once again, the Roman Catholic Christian life—as the main thing in gical and ecumenical movements, church led the way with International which the laity ought to participate. their success and their failure, can Commission on English in the Lit- be profitably analyzed through the urgy (ICEL , later ICET and now ELLC ), Decline The ecumenical and litur- example of ecumenical eucharistic litur- in which non-Catholics soon came to gical movements have one last aspect gies. Since ecumenism and the liturgi- be involved. Many English-speaking in common: namely, that both now cal renewal have seen the eucharist as churches now use the same words for seem to be in decline. It has been com- the goal and center of Christian life, common liturgical texts like the Lord’s mon for the past twenty years or so to it is not surprising that these move- Prayer, the creeds, and biblical canti- say that we are suffering through an ments have come together in attempts cles like the Kyrie and Gloria. Parallel “ecumenical winter.” Liturgical schol- to create common eucharistic litur- translation projects are also found in ars have been saying much the same gies.8 The task here is to examine the other languages. thing about the liturgical movement. content of the newly created eucharis- The liturgical movement has been Roman Catholic theologian Aidan tic liturgies, not the practice of differ- dominated mostly by Roman Catho- Kavanaugh has predicted the out- ent churches communing together or lics and mainline Protestants. The come of liturgical renewal as “liturgi- individual churches’ policies regarding Orthodox churches have perhaps made cal paralysis… the bringing of prayer other Christians at their table. The an impact on the liturgical movement and worship into fundamental disre- question is how well these liturgies as more than they have felt it. There was pute, and the dispersal of the Church such represent and enable true ecu- a hope that the Orthodox churches itself as a worshipping assembly.”6 menical reconciliation. could reintroduce the West liturgi- Another Roman Catholic, W. J. Gris- cally to the “undivided” church. Some brooke, argues that “liturgical reform Ecumenical Eucharistic Liturgies Western churches therefore adopted has been hijacked in the service of Orthodox chants or an epiclesis in the philosophies and attitudes, of move- Three eucharistic liturgies in particu- eucharist. Evangelical, charismatic, ments and ‘causes’ which have nothing lar have been significant for the ecu- and Pentecostal churches have a repu- to do with liturgy, nothing to do with menical movement. tation for being “non-liturgical”—an worship, nothing to do with prayer— imprecise term at best, meaning they nothing to do, in the end, with Chris- The Church of South India Since don’t use the traditional liturgies of tianity.”7 An initiative to increase the it was missionaries who started the the past—but it has been suggested laity’s participation in communion in ecumenical movement, it is fitting that that their success is to some extent a Great Britain, called “Parish and Peo- they were also the authors of the first product of the liturgical movement.5 ple,” is now seen to have done more real ecumenical eucharistic liturgy. These churches emphasize the full to reduce churchgoing than to increase It is even more fitting that this lit- and active participation of their mem- it! Other criticisms have been voiced: urgy was for one of the first churches 4 FALL 2009 formed by the union of confessionally liturgists restored the peace to con- and chants with only a few words, disparate bodies. In 1947, the Church gregational usage. From South India musically beautiful but not complex, of South India was formed out of it spread back to Europe and North easy to understand and translate, and several Anglican dioceses, a province America.

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