An earlier essay
A Catholic Boy at Presbyterian Vespers
By Chris Rooney
I went to my friend Barrett's church tonight for a Celtic vespers service which he and his wife Sarah hold every thursday. Their church is presently doing something that I don't believe is common practice in many protestant congregations, because of their vespers service they are probably the only Presbyterian church in Vancouver which offers a weekly eucharist. Participating in this intimate and unique celebration of the sacrament was remarkable. The group who meets for vespers each week is very small, including myself and the pastor there were only seven people present. Also the communion was shared in a circle, with each person communicating to the one beside them. Also I was pleasantly surprised at the level of social concience expressed by my Protestant brothers and sisters. Durring the prayers and intercessions, there was a definite sence of social concern and empathy expressed which I have found sadly lacking in the liturgy at my parish. Perhaps this was due to the small size of the prayer service. With most everyone there sharing a belief in the social teachings of our shared faith it must be easier to pray for the poor and for an end to war and millitarism than it is in a large congregation of people with possibly convergent views on such things.
Thinking of it in those terms though fills me with a sadness. In the intercessions a prayer was made for the CPT members held hostage in Iraq, among them a founder of the Toronto Catholic Worker community, Zaccaeus House, yet since their abduction in November not once have they been mentioned in the liturgy or intentions at my church.
At the end of the service and after communion we all stayed arround the wooden altar and talked and ate the rest of the loaf of bread, and there was a wonderfull feeling of community, of something shared. One of the themes of a recent Mass at my church was Christian unity, this is something that I deeply hope and pray for, that one day the table will be open to any and everyone who wishes to sit and eat.
Barrett often comes to mass with me and, when he can get away with it, he will communicate on the sly, sharing the body and blood of our saviour with me and my parish, though the roman eucharist is barred to protestants. And at his church this Vespers service is the only time he can regularly take communion in his denomination.
One day I know we will both be able to approach the same altar without hiding, and on that day we really will be one holy, universal, and apostolic church.
By Chris Rooney
I went to my friend Barrett's church tonight for a Celtic vespers service which he and his wife Sarah hold every thursday. Their church is presently doing something that I don't believe is common practice in many protestant congregations, because of their vespers service they are probably the only Presbyterian church in Vancouver which offers a weekly eucharist. Participating in this intimate and unique celebration of the sacrament was remarkable. The group who meets for vespers each week is very small, including myself and the pastor there were only seven people present. Also the communion was shared in a circle, with each person communicating to the one beside them. Also I was pleasantly surprised at the level of social concience expressed by my Protestant brothers and sisters. Durring the prayers and intercessions, there was a definite sence of social concern and empathy expressed which I have found sadly lacking in the liturgy at my parish. Perhaps this was due to the small size of the prayer service. With most everyone there sharing a belief in the social teachings of our shared faith it must be easier to pray for the poor and for an end to war and millitarism than it is in a large congregation of people with possibly convergent views on such things.
Thinking of it in those terms though fills me with a sadness. In the intercessions a prayer was made for the CPT members held hostage in Iraq, among them a founder of the Toronto Catholic Worker community, Zaccaeus House, yet since their abduction in November not once have they been mentioned in the liturgy or intentions at my church.
At the end of the service and after communion we all stayed arround the wooden altar and talked and ate the rest of the loaf of bread, and there was a wonderfull feeling of community, of something shared. One of the themes of a recent Mass at my church was Christian unity, this is something that I deeply hope and pray for, that one day the table will be open to any and everyone who wishes to sit and eat.
Barrett often comes to mass with me and, when he can get away with it, he will communicate on the sly, sharing the body and blood of our saviour with me and my parish, though the roman eucharist is barred to protestants. And at his church this Vespers service is the only time he can regularly take communion in his denomination.
One day I know we will both be able to approach the same altar without hiding, and on that day we really will be one holy, universal, and apostolic church.
posted by Chris Rooney | 10:22 PM
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