The Congregation of Saint Athanasius
Anglican Use: What's different about our Liturgy and -- Why?
We are Roman Catholics; we are a community worshipping
according to the "Anglican Use". If you join us some
Sunday, or feast day, for Mass, what will you see? How is it
different from the liturgy with which most American Catholics are
familiar, and why??
Well, to start from the beginning, the liturgy you will
experience on your visit is rooted in English history. In 1549,
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer published the first
edition of the Book of Common Prayer, a rite in the vernacular to
serve the Church of England following its rupture with Rome. The
Prayer Book has been revised over the intervening centuries, both
in England and in other countries, but Archbishop Cranmer's work
served in a unique way to mold the piety and spirituality of
Anglican Christians, and for this reason the preservation of this
liturgical tradition is an important part of the life of the
Anglican Use.
One of the first things which might strike you on your first
visit is that our worship is very -- deliberate. Part of this is
an inheritance from the English tradition, and perhaps part is
due to the fact that the Anglican worshipping tradition evolved
generally in smaller congregations than Roman Catholics are
accustomed to, but the difference will probable be evident to you
quite quickly. The liturgy is celebrated with deliberation and
reverence. The hymns at the Mass, for example, are each chosen
carefully and are treated as acts of worship in themselves, sung
through in their entirety. The congregation makes its responses
carefully, and the use of ritual gestures, incense, vestments and
vessels worthy of the altar are all evident.
Once the liturgy begins, you will notice that the Priest
celebrates the Mass "in the eastward position" -- his
back is to you. You might remember this as a regular feature of
Catholic worship before the Second Vatican Council. Is this a
throw-back to bygone days?
Not at all. Many Catholics are under the impression that one
of the major changes legislated by Vatican II was that the Priest
would now celebrate Mass "facing the people"; some even
saw this as an effort to make the Mass more intimate, as it was
in the Early Church. Actually, nothing of the kind was ever
legislated, and the actual reason for the traditional custom of
the Priest standing in front of the altar might surprise you.
It is rooted in the early Church. The early Christians were
deeply aware that they were only here for a time, that the Lord
was coming again. They longed for His second coming again. When
at prayer, they expressed this longing by facing East, for the
East was the direction from which came the Rising Sun, the most
powerful symbol they knew of the Second Coming of Christ. When
they built a church, they "oriented" it -- they made
sure it was built so that when the Priest stood before the Altar
offering the Mass, with his people behind him, they all were
facing east: Priest and People looking to the Second Coming of
the Lord (by the way, this is why traditional graveyards are laid
out with the feet of the deceased facing east -- it is the
traditional expression of their awaiting the Second Coming, and
the Resurrection).
So, you see, when we gather as a congregation for the
Eucharist, we don't think of our Priest as offering the Mass
"with his back to the people". We think of ourselves,
People and Priest, facing in the same direction, awaiting the
Second Coming.
Another thing which will strike you immediately is the
Elizabethan language. There are actually two rites in the
Anglican Use -- a traditional language and a modern language
rite.
We hold on to the Elizabethan language rite in our
congregation because we find it helpful to prayer. We are
familiar with it, and as you use it you will become increasingly
familiar with it as well. Archbishop Cranmer had a rare gift of
felicity of composition - he wrote lovely prose, and it enriches
our worship today. There is also a wonderful body of liturgical
music which enriches our worship. as you will note if you are
present at Solemn Mass, and it is such a helpful vehicle of
worship that we are determined to foster it.
There has been a great debate raging in the Catholic Church
in our country regarding liturgical language. The "inclusive
language" debate has been just one part of this argument:
many people have been critical of the English language texts we
have used in the Mass since 1974, finding that the language,
which has been written to be fresh and comtemporary, quickly
became dated.
The language of the Prayer Book is graceful and elegant, rich
and evocative. Some people find "thee" and
"thou" a distraction, but many others find it helpful:
where the debate has raged among Catholics in our country about
an understandable, accessible sacred language for worship, we
find that the Prayer Book already provides it for us.
A word about music is also in order.
You will see that in the Anglican Use we take music very
seriously. The hymns, as we said earlier, are very carefully
chosen, and sung completely, for the are acts of worship, and we
pray them as we sing. Roman Catholics might find Anglican hymns a
bit odd at first: they are nothing like contemporary Catholic
worship music, and yet very different form traditional Catholic
hymns. But what Catholics recall as "traditional"
Catholic hymns were devotionally oriented -- hymns to the Sacred
Heart, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, etc. The real
"traditional" Catholic hymnody was found in the
liturgy, in the Latin hymns of the Office, and her we see a body
of hymns which do just what Anglican hymns try to do -- they are
deeply Scriptural, they are liturgical in that they change with
the feasts, and as one sings them one is meditating on the text
which explains the feast being celebrated. That is why you can
find yourself in a pew at the Anglican Use liturgy on the Feast
of the Purification singing two or three hymns written just for
that feast! But, if you persevere in praying our Liturgy you come
to see how all of its parts join together as a very helpful
vehicle for worship.
We can point out a couple of aspects of our liturgy and
explain them to you, but ultimately you'll just have to join us
and see how it all comes together! Come, join us for Mass! If the
Anglican Use seems strange at first -- well, we suspect that
before long you'll be praying "to continue in [this] holy
fellowship, and do all such other works as Thou hast prepared for
us to walk in ...."
Why not join us for Mass?