THE P RTAL
June 2018 Page 21
Catholic Edition ), and to produce two liturgical books .
The first , which was published in April 2014 , was Divine Worship : Occasional Services containing the approved rites for Baptism , Holy Matrimony , and Funerals for the Personal Ordinariates . The second , Divine Worship : The Missal , was published in 2015 . In providing a structure for groups of Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church , the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus affirmed the following principle about the liturgical heritage of these groups :
“ Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite , the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments , the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition , which have been approved by the Holy See , so as to maintain the liturgical , spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church , as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared .”
( Art . III )
With the inclusion of such a liturgical provision in Anglicanorum coetibus , the Holy See acknowledged the legitimate patrimony of Anglican ecclesial communities coming into full communion . The presumption here is that an essential part of that patrimony must be liturgical since worship expresses in a most tangible way not only the ethos of a community , but also the faith that prompted it to seek full communion in the first place .
Just as it would be unthinkable to describe the Catholic Church without reference to its liturgical and sacramental life , so it would in some sense be for every ecclesial body . The manner in which an ecclesial community worships uniquely expresses its inner life .
The publication of Divine Worship was of historic significance in that this is the first time the Catholic Church acknowledged the value of liturgical forms in use in communities that emerged in the sixteenth century reformations and , moreover , undertook to incorporate them .
To be sure , the Church over the years has drawn elements of the musical traditions of these communities - such as hymns , motets , and chorales-but never official liturgical texts or usage . In order to understand the context and orientation for these liturgical provisions as they bear on our topic in this conference , several
elements merit attention here . First among these is the pastoral motivation for undertaking the project in the first place . Then , by examining the notion of English Catholic or Anglican patrimony , we can better grasp the significance of its incorporation into Catholic worship for both the Church herself and for the Anglican patrimony as such .
II Naturally , practical concerns in part prompted the establishment of the joint commission . As we have seen , because the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus granted the ordinariates the faculty of celebrating the sacred liturgy according to “ the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition ,” it became necessary to detail concretely how those celebrations would be structured and the necessary texts composed .
But this practical motivation should not distract from the broader pastoral motivation : the salvation of souls though access to sacramental grace . This pastoral concern informed the English liturgical patrimony from its earliest beginnings . Many of you are acquainted with the famous exchange between Pope St Gregory the Great and St Augustine of Canterbury ( as recorded by St Bede ) regarding the structure and content of liturgical worship in newlyevangelised England . It is an exchange which loses none of its relevance in the present day and can be said to have provided the theological structure , if not the very charter , of the joint commission ’ s work . According to Venerable Bede , Augustine ’ s question was : “ Since we hold the same Faith , why do customs vary in different Churches ? Why , for instance , does the method of saying Mass differ in the holy Roman Church and in the Churches of Gaul ?” Pope Gregory ’ s response went as follows :
“ My brother , you are familiar with the usage of the Roman Church , in which you were brought up . But if you have found customs , whether in the Roman , Gallican , or any other Churches that may be more acceptable to God , I wish you to make a careful selection of them , and teach the Church of the English , which is still young in the Faith , whatever you can profitably learn from the various Churches . For things should not be loved for the sake of places , but places for the sake of good things . [ Non enim pro locis res , sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt .] Therefore select from each of the Churches whatever things are devout , religious , and right [ quae pia , quae religiosa , quae recta ]; and when you have arranged them into a unified rite , let the minds of the English grow accustomed to it ”
( Bede , Ecclesiastical History of the English People , I , 27 ).