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Normally speaking, since we do not all form one united Church yet, each Christian attends worship in the Church to which he at present belongs. To do otherwise could be interpreted as a denial of the beliefs he at present holds, or acceptance of a position he at present rejects. I say normally, for even among Catholics whose Church has strict disciplinary laws in this matter, exceptions occur where, for social reasons of one kind or another which no one is likely to misunderstand, attendance at functions in some Church other than one's own is permissible. But joint services publicly announced as being in order to promote unity are by the very fact proclamations that those attending them have not yet reached agreement on differing doctrines. The Vatican Council, therefore, in its Decree on Ecumenism, n.8, while rejecting indiscriminate common worship, added that "in certain special circumstances, such as prayer service 'for unity' and during ecumenical gatherings, it is allowable, indeed desirable, that Catholics should join in prayer with their separated brethren." Such prayer services would, of course, include scripture readings, hymns, and discourses adapted to the occasion, all directed towards asking of God the grace of eventual Christian Unity.
All participants are aware of that, and that is why, at such services, there is no liturgical celebration of the Eucharist or Mass. In December, 1960, the Anglican Archbishop Fisher, of Canterbury, journeyed to Rome to meet Pope John XXIII. It was stressed that this was but a courtesy visit, but the Archbishop was right when, on greeting the Pope, his first words were: "Your Holiness, we are making history." Yet Archbishop Fisher knew quite well that he did not belong to the same Church as the Pope. On a visit to Portugal at about the same time, he requested to be shown over Lisbon's Catholic Seminary and the Rector asked him, during the inspection, whether he was a Catholic Archbishop. Dr. Fisher replied: "Yes; but not what you mean by Catholic." Five years later, when Archbishop Ramsey, Dr. Fisher's successor at Canterbury, visited Pope John's successor, Pope Paul VI, he told the Pope that "formidable difficulties" separated the Anglican Church from that of Rome. Notwithstanding this, Archbishop Ramsey was present at a joint service of thanksgiving on December 4, 1965, to which Pope Paul VI had invited all the non-Catholic observers who had been present at the Vatican Council. The service consisted of scripture readings by an American Methodist in English and by a Greek Orthodox priest in his own Greek language; a sermon by Pope Paul himself in French; the chanting of a psalm in Latin; and all joining in the recitation of prayers and the singing of hymns in English. But there was no liturgical celebration of the Eucharist, that is, no Mass or Holy Communion, precisely because those present belonged to different, not to one and the same Church.
Catholics are content with such occasional services according to their scope, which is to help towards a unity not yet possessed by all participants. This does not mean that Catholics agree that the Mass no longer matters. As regards the Catholic position in regard to the Mass, the Vatican Council's Decrees on the Liturgy, on the Constitution of the Church, and on Ecumenism, leave no room for ambiguity. The last mentioned document, n . l l , describes "the Eucharistic Sacrifice" as "the source and apex of the whole Christian life" in which the faithful offer "the Divine Victim to God and themselves with it." Also, on September 3, 1965, Pope Paul VI issued his impressive Encyclical "The Mystery of Faith," in which he stressed that in offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice "the Church offers for the salvation of the entire world the single, boundless, redemptive power of the Sacrifice of the Cross." It would be difficult to find words reaffirming more clearly and strongly that it is still "the Mass that matters" as the very heart and soul of the liturgical worship of the Church.
The omission of the Mass is in no way even an implicit concession that it is unimportant. Non-Catholics themselves realise that Catholics regard the Mass as too important and too essentially at the very heart of their religion for it to be suitable for such combined unity services. One Protestant observer who was present during the Vatican Council's discussion on Ecumenism remarked afterwards: "The glaciers are melting, but the Alps stand firm." He meant that as a tribute to the disarming charity with which the Council Fathers spoke of their separated brethren belonging to other Churches, but also as an admission that there was no trace of compromising any essential Catholic teachings or principles. On January 20, 1965, two months after the Council's Decree on Ecumenism had been promulgated, Pope Paul VI gave a Unity Octave address during his public audience, making Catholic principles on this subject very clear. He said that in all discussions of religion with others, Catholics should sincerely acknowledge all that is true and good in their religions; sincerely admit to be non-essential in the Catholic religion whatever is non-essential; and then clarify what is essential, trying to present it in an acceptable way. He warned, however, that Catholics would be guilty of betrayal and insincerity if, in well-meant efforts to make things easier, they yielded to the temptation of treating essential things as unimportant or of watering them down. That, he said, would only result in raising false hopes, and would be to forget that divinelyrevealed truth is not given to us to change, but to ascertain and accept. He concluded by saying: "What is to be aimed at is simply a total homage to the total truth given by Christ, not for ourselves only, but for everyone; and we want everyone to share it." Combined prayer services are intended as a means towards a total unity in which alone the participation of all in Holy Communion becomes possible.
The reception of Holy Communion supposes a community, all the members of which are fully in communion with one another. It is not a road to unity, but the expression of a unity already attained. There are some Protestants who no doubt feel free to receive Communion by participating in the celebration of the Lord's Supper in any Protestant Church they choose to attend. Very few Anglicans, however, would feel free to receive Communion at non-Anglican services. Where the Ecumenical Movement is concerned, we have also to remember that several of the Eastern Orthodox Churches are already members of the World Council of Churches, at whose assemblies prayer-meetings are arranged. Representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Churches have made it clear to the World Council, however, that while they may co-operate in working for eventual unity, their consciences will not permit them to participate in any common Eucharistic celebrations. An Orthodox theologian, Professor Florovsky, explained to the World Council that there is a complete divergence between the Orthodox and Protestant Churches concerning the very nature of the Eucharist. The Orthodox Churches, just as does the Catholic Church, believe the consecrated Eucharist to be the very Body of Christ and not still bread, whereas Protestants say it still remains bread, having a symbolical value only. Also, a valid Sacrament of the Eucharist is impossible without a valid priesthood for its consecration; but that means a sacerdotalism which Protestants reject. He further explained that the unity of brotherly feelings is not yet the unity of faith; and he asked why go on at all with the ecumenical movement to bring about the reunion of their Churches if people can visibly manifest unity in Holy Communion without their different and separated Churches being actually in union with one another. A second Orthodox theologian, Professor Zander, adopted another approach by saying that for him to receive Communion in a Church to which he did not belong would be entering into the very heart of that Church and symbolically repudiating his own faith. Since a basic principle of the World Council is that no member Churches are expected to forfeit their own identity as distinct Churches, it was agreed by all that during ecumenical conferences and meetings, whenever it was a question of celebrating the Lord's Supper or Eucharist, the Eastern Orthodox delegates should attend separately purely Orthodox rites among themselves according to their own Liturgy.
The Catholic Church is not yet a member of the World Council of Churches; but if it does eventually become a member, its delegates would have to take the same stand where the Eucharist is concerned as those of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. There is no more ardent a Catholic ecumenist than Father Yves Congar, O.P.; yet he insists that the Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament of a "unity achieved." Were it, he says, a means apart from the Church, then perhaps one could think that if all received Communion together they will be led to unity. But he firmly rejects this, saying that the Sacraments are constituent elements of the Church as a community; that they presuppose and express faith in them; and that reception of them cannot anticipate membership of the one Church. Intercommunion, as it is called, expressing a unity which does not yet exist, would be in practice, however sincere people may be, a pretence at agreement and unity where in fact these are absent. Finally, both the Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church believe it to be a desecration to give what they hold to be the very Body of Christ in the Eucharist to a person who holds it to be only a wafer of bread. Whatever religious significance that person might attach to his action, he would not be "discerning the body of the Lord," as St. Paul puts it in I Cor., 11:29. The World Council of Churches itself sees the force of these reasons and does not ask for more than non-liturgical religious services in which prayers are offered, asking God to help us see our way towards the unity He wills us all to have and which the divided Churches do not yet possess.
When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well of Sichar, she was surprised because, she said: "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Jn., 4:9. The Samaritans, of Jewish descent and believing in the Old Testament Law of Moses, had for centuries been divided from the Jews of Jerusalem and had in fact built a rival temple of their own on Mt. Gerizim, in Samaria. When Jesus entered into conversation with the Samaritan woman, during the course of it she put to Him the direct question: "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Called upon to decide that problem, Jesus said to her: "You worship what you do not know, We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." The Mosaic Law was then still in force, but it was prophetic of a Messiah or Saviour to come, who was to be born in Bethlehem, of Judea. Jesus Himself was that Messiah and told the woman so. But the principle in this whole incident is clear. Granted the later founding of His own "New Israel" or "People of God", to be gathered into the unity of the Catholic Church, He would declare that to be the true Church in which men should worship rather than in others, were he asked to decide the issue. Of course, it may be said that that is how Roman Catholics see things, but that others do not see them in the same way; and it is precisely here that the necessity of ecumenical dialogue is brought home to us in our efforts to achieve unity among all professing Christians.
The mere omission of reference to dividing factors, of which all are well aware, is not mental restriction as if these factors were being deliberately concealed from others. True, everyone present prays that all professing Christians, themselves and others, will earnestly strive to be sincerely religious people and practising Christians in the way God wants them to be. This is not a prayer by Catholics that Protestants will remain staunch Protestants; nor by Protestants that Catholics will remain staunch Catholics. Letting that aspect go and leaving it to God for the time being, the prayers are for dispositions in conformity with the Will of God. Surely all professing Christians can pray together for that, as a useful and necessary preparation for the attaining of the unity which all agree Christ must want to prevail among all who claim to be His disciples.
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