Stand Up 4 Vatican 2

Prior to the sixties the Catholic Church was very different to the Church we know today. Attendance at worship especially the Mass would be unrecognisable to the majority of people today.

The altar was set against the back wall of the sanctuary; the priest celebrating Mass would do so with his back to the people for most of the time; he would speak in a whisper impossible to hear, a language most people could not understood, the only time English was used was for the sermon. There was an altar rail separating the people from the sanctuary and the people would kneel to receive Holy Communion which would have been placed on the tongue of the Communicant by the priest. Active participation in the Mass was limited to reading the missal which many people carried, or joining in the occasional hymn, although any singing was often felt to be best left to the choir. Attending Mass was a distant and dismal experience; the joy which we now experience from participating in the Eucharistic Celebration was not encouraged then.

The Second Vatican Council

All of this was changed when a genial old man was elected as Pope. Pope John XXIII was elected in 1958 and his new style quickly took hold, he became the world’s Granddad (unfortunately his successors have presented themselves as the world’s Head Masters). He believed that the time had come to open the windows of the Church to the world, to blow away the fustiness that had lingered for many years. He called a Council of the whole Church, the Second Vatican Council. This ushered in many changes in the life of the Church, not least was recognition of the role of lay people, whose participation in the life of the Church was to be actively encouraged. It also approved the use of the vernacular (the local language) in the liturgy.

Unfortunately shortly after the Council ended it became apparent that there were many people who worked actively to overturn decisions of the Council. Currently we seem to be experiencing a significant growth in the activities of people who would like to take us back to the fifties. They claim that they are seeking to build on the work of Vatican 11. My experience however, suggests that they want to take us back.

Moving Back

In a parish it starts quietly, ministers of the Eucharist are deemed not sufficiently reverent at main services so are relegated to weekday services. Altar rails are introduced and people are encouraged to kneel for Communion. The occasional Mass in Latin is introduced, before long it is included as part of the main services once a month and then more frequently. Before you know it the priest is saying Mass with his back to the people. And so it grows.

All of this without any consultation with the people of the parish who are told when they object “I will not discuss the liturgy”. Is this coming to your parish? It might be and it might be nearer than you think.

The role of the laity

Recently published research suggests that attendance at Sunday Mass has been falling at a considerably higher rate than previously acknowledged. I would not suggest that this is due to the issues outlined above but indirectly I do perceive a connection. In the last forty years we have experienced unprecedented change in all aspects of our lives and most notably in the social norms by which we live our lives. The Church meanwhile has resisted change and accepted that which has been imposed through legislation only reluctantly.

Inevitably the average person who has, perhaps without enthusiasm, learned to accept change in their personal family life and that of their friends will have found it increasingly difficult to accept a Church requiring lay people to be dependent upon the power and authority of an exclusively male priesthood and many will have voted with their feet. Many find it increasingly difficult to accept the unforgiving intolerance of a Church which seems at times only too ready to cast the first stone.

In a Church controlled by clerics it has been difficult to define any clear role for lay people yet it is evident that there is a desire for more involvement. But while the reluctance on the part of the clergy to cede any real responsibility continues it is difficult to see what more involvement might look like.

The Sign we Give

In 1995 the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales endorsed a Report entitled The Sign We Give. This was about the growth and potential of collaborative ministry and how it might contribute to carrying forward the mission of the Church. In introducing the report Bishop Crispin Hollis says “the report addresses the urgent need that we have to establish patterns of working and collaborating in the Church - patterns which respect and cherish the essential dignity and consequent responsibility for the life and mission of the Church which belongs to every baptised Christian.” Discussing the role of the Vatican Council the report states “Two of the most striking new emphases in all that the Council said about the Church are those which laid foundations for collaborative ministry; the emphasis on mission, and the recovery of laypeople's full share in the life, holiness and mission of the Church.”

I find the report inspiring, a blueprint for achieving lay involvement, but 13 years on I observe little change, maybe even a rejection of the spirit of this report.  Research indicates a desire within the Catholic population for more consultation and involvement, yet it is not available to many.

What would Our Lord think of the Church?

In a recent article in the Tablet Sir Stephen Wall wondered how Jesus would respond to a visit to the Vatican, in a wider sense I wonder what Jesus might think of the Church in 2008. I fear that he might feel that it has little relevance to the lives that people live either in the affluent societies of the rich or in the poverty ridden societies of the poor. The time has surely come for the Church to throw off the trappings of power and wealth and align itself directly with the poor and disadvantaged; for the windows to be fully opened at last.

All is not lost

Attending Mass recently in a neighbouring parish the priest suggested that the main anniversary in 2008 was that of the election of Pope John XX111. He reminded us that the day after his election Pope John paid a visit to Regina Coeli prison in Rome. The Pope making the point that his Papacy would be paying less attention to the trappings of power and more to the needs of the most-needy. That such a story could be related in a Church in 2008 should give us hope that all is not lost. It also leads me to feel that those of us who believe that the decisions of the Second Vatican Council are even more relevant now than earlier, have to pray for and fight for the windows to be opened and to resist the current drive by those in the Church who seek to overturn them and take us back to the past.

Bernard Wynne

Published in Renew, the newsletter of Catholics for a Changing Church March 2008