An Observer Looks at the Schema on the Liturgy

AN OBSERVER LOOKS AT THE SCHEMA ON THE LITURGY T HE invitation issued by Pope John XXIII to that part of Christendom not in communion with Rome to send observers to the Second Vatican Council was received by the world with great joy as an indication of the Holy Father's concern for Christian Unity. The Ecumenical Movement has, for many years, absorbed much of the time and interest of large numbers of Christians; and plans for bringing together some of the divided parts of Christendom have been discussed and even (as in South India) brought into being. But hitherto the Roman Catholic Church has felt obliged to stand aside from these discussions and negotiations. Her particular doctrine of the Church makes it impossible for her to enter the arena of ecumenical debate, with the result that the rest of the Christian world has had to go its own way, realising that the unity for which it was working could be only incomplete and partial since more than half of those baptised into the Name of the Lord Jesus would remain outside it. In the Upper Room Christ prayed for unity, not for duality; and no true unity can be achieved until all are one. The fact that the Church of Rome has now ventured a little into the field of ecumenical discussion is, therefore, of the greatest significance, and has aroused much hope in the minds of men, both believers and non-believers. The setting up of a Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, the sending o£ observers to the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi, and now the invitation to other Churches to send delegate-observers to the Vatican Council have taken the ecumenical movement into a new sphere, a new dimension. 440 THE SCHEMA ON THE LITURGY 441 Although the Pope has made it clear that the ultimate objective o£ the Council is unity, he realises as well as anyone else that this goal is a long way off. He has therefore set before the Council an immediate objective which will set the Church on the path which, it is hoped, will lead in the right direction. This immediate objective is renewal o£ the Church's life, out o£ which will come better understanding, and so a greater desire £or co-operation and unity. In the Schemata on which the debates in the Council are based, and in many o£ the speeches made there, these two objectives have been constantly referred to. Although the meetings o£ the Council are private and confidential, the observers are allowed to be present , and every one o£ the fathers who gets up to speak knows that his words will be noted by us and perhaps even quoted in the reports which we send in £rom time to time to the heads o£ our respective Churches. There is no doubt that the presence o£ thirty to forty observers has had a considerable influence on the way in which the Council has progressed, and will continue to do so in the months which lie ahead. The divisions o£ Christendom are nowhere more apparent than in the sphere o£ worship. In the English country town where I live, with a population o£ 10,000 souls, there are six places o£ worship. There is the cathedral (the old church founded by St. Wilfrid in the seventh century and containing part o£ the original structure) and a nineteenth century church, both o£ which belong to the Church o£ England. There are also a Roman Catholic church, two Methodist churches, and a building where the Assembly o£ God worships. This means that the Christians in Ripon are divided into at least£our different groups and are unable to worship together. The same pattern would apply to any other English town. In the United States there would probably be even more independent places o£ worship. To the outsider this seems ridiculous -a fantastic waste o£ opportunity and o£ resources. Why, then, cannot we all sink our differences and worship God together in one building? 442 JOHN MOORMAN We all know that there are many answers to these questions . Each " church " has its own form...