I’ve started any number of times to write a post on this topic and they keep self-destructing after having gone on for far too long about far too little. So—I’ll get right to the point, then.
In the UK, the Society of Catholic Priests is twinned with a lay group—the Company of Servers.
The point of this group is that it teaches the laity who serve at altars and in chancels the practicalities, theology, and spirituality of service in the sanctuary.
In brief, I’m very much for it in the same way and for the same reasons that I’m for the Society of Catholic Priests. In brief:
- Anglo-Catholicism has always had an issue with idiosyncrasy. Area-wide groups where people come together to learn can help smooth out parish level idiosyncrasies by means of a common practice.
- Too many times, rectors jerk parishes around especially on the liturgical level. Just because the rector is having a particular spiritual journey doesn’t necessarily mean that the congregation wants to go along. I keep insisting that liturgy in any given place is the theology of the gathered community made kinetic. That doesn’t mean it’s something a rector gets to impose. Instead, a wise priest will determine the operative theologies in a parish and respond to those. A group like this helps laity articulate together what their theology is and, as a result, what sort of worship should result.
- Sometimes, for a wide variety of reasons, Anglo-Catholics or other forms of “high” Anglicans get stuck in broad to low parishes. Wouldn’t it be nice if a local chapter of the Company of Servers could meet for the BCP-appointed Holy Days and offer a full-on reverent Mass (with the assistance of a like-minded priest) in order to retain the practice and spirituality even if stuck in a parish without it?
- It’s rooted primarily in practice—what we do together—which seems to me a far more productive ground and purpose than meeting around theology which can get quite fraught especially when we start up the games of “More Catholic Than Thou.”
What do you think—can/could this model get transplanted here? What kind of organizational tweaks might be necessary to deal with the North American situation?
Sometimes, for a wide variety of reasons, Anglo-Catholics or other forms of “high” Anglicans get stuck in broad to low parishes. Wouldn’t it be nice if a local chapter of the Company of Servers could meet for the BCP-appointed Holy Days and offer a full-on reverent Mass (with the assistance of a like-minded priest) in order to retain the practice and spirituality even if stuck in a parish without it?
Very nice indeed. I volunteer to be the like-minded priest in my part of the world.
I think this sounds like a cracking good idea.
Local groups could also meet for theological education as well as learning how to assist at Mass.
I’m all for this, especially since I’m also “stuck” in a parish with underwhelming liturgy.
Sign me up! I’m in a great parish, liturgically, but I’m a joiner…
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How is this different from the Order of St. Vincent (reaching back to 1882)?
However different it is from the OSV, I hope its web presence is more informative and user friendly than theirs.
Interesting.
I was asked if I might like to join the U.S. SCP. Not being ordained, that seemed inappropriate. I understand very much the need for the ordained to support one another–were that there existed a related group for spouses/partners and children of Anglo-Catholics/Anglican Catholics!?. And I still don’t know if I fit in the Anglo-Catholic/Anglican Catholic umbrella, though informed by many such, so it seemed unfair to join in my uncertainty of identity. But I appreciated that others thought I was fit as well as a good fit.
On the other hand, I don’t serve at the altar-table much as a layman anymore even if I form people to serve in this way. But I can see the need from my days as sacristan and assisting minister for the 7am Holy Communion as a seminary student. I learned more about service not only in sanctuary and chancel, but in daily life by that than anything–what a joy to show at 6am to get all things set. The reverence of things of the altar-table is fitting to the reverence of the things of the family dinner–in my case, partner, dog, and myself.
One of the most valuable things I learned from our recent Lenten series is how much theological experience and thinking resides in my fellow pewsitters and no one had yet taken the time to get their thoughts and experiences of say, Christ’s Presence as Holy Communion. It was really rich and defied singular reductions.
I do think it interesting that as Massey Shepherd long ago observed, the idiosyncretic and individualistic tendencies of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church could be understood as ironic given the claims made. I used to think this a problem until I realized that uniformity and consistency are Modern obsessions rather than something required for catholic practice. Some localization at the parish level is okay.
What happens if the parish is largely unitarian and even skeptical? I know such parishes. As rector, I could not take that poll as setting the standard for setting the liturgical frame. As a theologian, I would find myself having to insist on the minimal creedal commitments. But then, I’m guessing that our Derek wouldn’t find himself remaining in such a parish for very long or even join at the start. But it raises the question of operative theologies and the responsibility of the priest to the wider Church and catholic confession broadly conceived.
I can see the need for something for servers.
I also see the need for something for those of us who do not participate in these roles, but also see ourselves as active Anglo-Catholic laity.
I wonder what would be involved in setting something like this up?
Though, I will say that a different name might be nice. “Company of Servers” sounds almost like a guild for waiters and waitresses.
John Iliff just hit the nail on the head.
I don’t see myself as a “Mass server” all that much. I pinch in at the Low Mass on thursday nights at my parish, but that is about it. It would be nice if someone had thought of active lay people who aren’t active in the liturgy.
This is different from the Order of St Vincent in two ways. First, there’s new energy around the SCP that could help catalyze a lay movement. Second, I–and I suspect others–think of the OSV in the same breath with the SSC and associate it with an opposition to women clergy.
Also true is that the Company of Servers wouldn’t address the non-serving lay population. Another option may be needed for those of you in that category.