'ENGLISHMAN'S WORSHIP'

Anglican reply to Fr. Richards SIL-MayI, as one of your Anglican readers, be permitted to comment on the article "The Englishman's Worship" by Fr. Richards, sub-titled "A Thought for Church Unity Weeek".
The Octave of Christian Unity is above all a week of prayer, of waiting upon God, Who will accomplish His purpose of unity in the way He wills. Such thoughts as we may have at this time should be directed towards removing any of the unnecessary barriers between Christians based on misunderstandings of each other's point of view it is better to keep silent than to foster misconceptions by attempting to handle complex problems in a superficial and misleading way.
Fr. Richards' article, perhaps because it attempts too much, seems likely to create a false impression not simply of the worship of non-Roman Catholic Englishmen, but also of the aims of his own Liturgical Movement.
This is not the place for a discussion of the question of the nature of the Eucharistic Sacrifice about which Anglicans and Roman Catholics are at present bound to differ, though it would have helped if Fr. Richards had done something to dispel the impression of a single idea rejected outright by the reformers.
Where he is less than just to the reformers is when he blames them, by implication, for a type of worship centred on man instead of on God when their intention, as evidenced by their emphasis on Communion, was precisely the opposite. This is not to deny that the Englishman's worship has been and still often is too much preoccupied with man's efforts to reach God rather than God's giving of Himself to men, but this can be attributed to a recurring tendency in the English character, accentuated by the ethos of humanism and laicism which has affected the whole Western world.
It is no more just to blame the reformed Churches for this than it is for Protestants to blame the Roman Church for all the superstition, ignorance and corruption of the more backward Latin countries.
Fr. Richards follows up his remarks on the past with some extraordinary statements about the present and the future of the Church of England. I confess that I do not know what he means when he says "Within the Anglican Church, to offer mass or not to offer it is a matter for the choice of the individual" but I am afraid that many of his readers may get the impression that Anglicans regard attendance at the Eucharist and reception of the Sacrament
simply as an optional extra, which, of course, is simply not true.
If, on the other hand, hc means that, within certain bounds, no particular interpretation or set of interpretations of the mystery of the Eucharist is enforced upon Anglicans, then Fr. Richards should say so less ambiguously.
In his next sentence, Fr. Rich ards goes on to say not only that the Anglican Church does not teach a certain doctrine of the Eucharist (which he describes too loosely for profitable discussion as it stands); he goes so far as to claim that the Church of England never will teach it. By what right he claims to foresee the future of a Communion which does not claim infallibility for its doctrinal pronouncements he does not say.
It is distressing enough that Fr. Richards should write about the Church of England in such a misleading way: what is even more extraordinary is that he does not seem to have grasped the aims of the Liturgical Movement in his own Church. "Liturgical Movements" he says, "must have a reason". As I understand it, all worthwhile "liturgical movements" have the same "reason", that is, the putting into effect in our public worship of the whole of the first Commandment. They are, or should be, entirely Clod-centred, seeking to worship Him in the way He wishes. Fr. Richards, on the other hand, seems to think that worship should be governed, at least in part, by "the needs of the apostolate". Roman Catholics, he holds, should worship in a certain way in order to correct the mistakes of other Christians.
It seems to me that Fr. Richards has fallen into a worse form of the error of which he accuses others: that of shaping worship so as to impress men rather than to please God. We cannot worship God or improve our liturgy while looking over our shoulders at what we think or imagine others are doing.
The connection between the Liturgical Movement and the apostolate, including the conversion of unbelievers and re-union among Christians, is important but it is indirect: it is based on the sure belief that as we draw nearer to God, we cannot help but draw nearer to each other.
J. K. Hyde "Walbrook", Andrew Lane, Windlehurst, Near Stockport.