Answers to
some questions we would all like to ask!
What is
Confession by Appointment?
Why do we
process for the gospel?
Why is the Peace in the middle of
the mass?
What is the Book of Common Order?
Why do we process for
the gospel?
Father Kevin responds: Processions are a dramatic means of
highlighting the important points in our worship. In some churches within the catholic tradition, there is a simple
liturgical movement to the book containing the gospels. In other catholic
churches, the gospel book itself is held aloft in processions with lights and
incense – a wonderful symbol of Jesus, the Word of God, coming among His
people. These are liturgical ways by
which we give honour to our Lord Jesus Christ and his teaching, honour which we
then need to express in obedience in our daily lives.
What is
Concelebration?
Concelebration
is the joint celebration fo the Mass or Eucharist by a number of priests reciting
the central part of the Eucharistic prayer together. This was probably usual in the early church when the Bishop was
the chief celebrant. As priests derive their authority to celebrate from and on
behalf of the bishop, concelebration is most usual and appropriate when the
bishop is present, especially at ordinations. However on certain occasions priests may and do
concelebrate – an expression of their collegiality in the order of
priesthood. As well as uttering the
Eucharistic prayer together, concelebrants join in the manual actions at the
Eucharistic and where possible, wear matching stoles and even matching
chasubles.
Why is the Peace in
the middle of the mass?
Father Kevin responds: The exchange of a sign of
peace is not a trendy innovation, but a most ancient practice deriving from the
New Testament injunctions in Rom 16.16, 1 Cors 16.20, 2 Cor 13.12, 1 Thess
5.26, and 1 Pet 5.14. Matthew 5.23
urges reconciliation before offering
gifts at the altar. The early fathers Justin Martyr, Origen, and Tertullian
record the assimilation of the Peace into the Mass after the intercessions and
before the bread and wine are presented to the President . The Roman church
later placed the peace after the Eucharistic prayer and before communion.
Removed from the English Prayer Book in 1552, the Peace was reinstated to its
ancient position before the eucharistic prayer in 1928 where it has remained in
successive rites ever since. Although Common Worship permits variations, the
present position has been retained as normative – it is, after all, the most
primitive, catholic, and therefore Anglican, tradition.
What is
A.S.H.O.A?
Please click here ASHOA
What is the
Walsingham Cell?
Please
click here Walsingham Cell
Gift Aid
How to make your donations to the Church 28% bigger!
Why?
All Saints costs about £70,000 a year to run. This includes
the costs of
maintenance and servicing (heating, lighting etc.) of the beautiful
building, plus our share of Fr. Kevin's stipend and the central costs
needed for maintaining and improving Vicarages, training new priests,
supporting poorer parishes etc.
How?
Most of this money needs to come from voluntary donations from all of
us, either by regular giving or one-offs. If you are a UK taxpayer the
Church can claim from the Inland Revenue an extra 28% of whatever you
give. All you need to do is to put you name and address on a very simple
Gift-Aid declaration form, which we will provide. Then any gifts from
you via the numbered envelopes or any other traceable method will have
the extra benefit of Gift Aid.
If you would like more information about this, please
contact David Walters, or Jill Beardwood.
Parish
Electoral Roll
What is it?
The ‘Electoral Roll’ is a
list of everybody who can attend the Annual Parochial Church Meeting.
What happens at the
Annual Parochial Church meeting?
Everyone who ‘belongs’ to
All Saints and is on the Parish Electoral Roll is offered the chance to take a
further part in the life of the parish.
There will be discussions about what the Parochial Church Council (PCC)
has done during the year and what plans, ideas and issues need to be considered
for the future. The accounts are
presented and elections for places on the PCC take place. It is a good opportunity to see how the
church administration works and to contribute your views, and opinions.
Who can be on the Parish
Electoral Roll?
Anyone is eligible who
is baptised and aged 16 or over and who either
is a member of
the Church of England (or of a Church in communion with the Church of England)
and lives within the parish boundaries
or
is a member of
the Church of England (or of a Church in communion with the Church of England)
and is not resident in the parish but has habitually attended public worship in
the parish during the last six months
or
is a member in
good standing of a Church (not in communion with the Church of England) which
subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and declares him or herself to
be a member of the Church of England and has habitually attended public worship
in the parish during the last six months.
If you are interested do
take a form (back of church or churchwardens or Fr Kevin) or click here either for yourself or for someone else.
Why do we process in
church?
Father
Kevin responds: Processions are not only tidy ways of moving groups of people from one
place to another. They are also visual
pictures either of triumph or (as in Lent) of pilgrimage. They are often headed by the Cross, the
symbol and means of our salvation and also the symbol of our discipleship – a
reminder that we are also a people who are called to take up our own crosses
daily.
This
will be seen at most Sunday Sung Masses and especially at the All Saints' High
Mass. This service begins with a
triumphant and longer procession than usual, headed by the cross. The deacon brings in the Book of the Gospels
at the rear but in front of the celebrant – a visual picture of the words of
Jesus coming among the faithful people.
Again, during the gradual hymn, the Book of the Gospels is carried aloft
from the altar to the nave – a sign of Jesus coming among His people. Following the reading of the Gospel, as the
words have been lifted from the written page and spoken into the hearts of
those present, the gospel book is simply carried by the subdeacon at chest
height back to a convenient place, the book having done its work. The sharp-eyed among us will have noticed
that nowadays the cross is not carried in the gospel procession, for it is both
incorrect and unhelpfully confusing to carry two gospel symbols or signs so
close together.
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Praying the Rosary:
by Mick
Robinson
The Rosary is a form of vocal and mental prayer on
the Mysteries of our Redemption, divided into fifteen decades. The recitation of
each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of the fifteen events or
"mysteries". The Mysteries consist of three groups to be used at
different times in the church's year: the Joyful Mysteries (The Annunciation,
The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation, The Finding in the Temple), the
Sorrowful Mysteries (The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging, The Crowning with
Thorns, The Carrying of the Cross, The Crucifixion), and the Glorious Mysteries
(The Resurrection, The Ascension, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, The
Assumption, The Coronation).
The prayers begin by making the sign of the Cross
and the recitation of the "Our Father", three repetitions of
"Hail Mary"*, and the "Glory be". There follow the first
meditation on the first mystery and then ten repetitions of "Hail
Mary" and the "Glory be". Each of the four subsequent
meditations on a Mystery is also followed by a similar decade, and the prayers
end with the "Hail, Holy Queen"** and the concluding prayer***.
* Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
** Hail,
Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do
we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious
Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile show unto us
the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
*** O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life,
death, and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life,
grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries in the most Holy
Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and obtain
what they promise: through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
What is
Confession by Appointment?
Father Kevin replies:
It
is possible, of course, to make confession of the things we know to be amiss in
our lives in the context of a normal Sunday or weekday service and at the same
time to receive the assurance of God’s forgiveness. However, many people have found the practice of ‘making my
confession’ most helpful. Far from
being considered a Roman practice, Sacramental Confession is actually commended
in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer which is one of the benchmarks of our
Anglican liturgy, doctrine, and practice. The Anglican view on the practice may
be summed up as: ‘None must, some should, all may.’
Sacramental
Confession is simply the acknowledgement of one’s sins to God in the presence
of a priest. It is not confession to a
priest. It generally takes place in
church, not now usually in a confessional box but in a discreet corner,
visible, yet out of earshot. At All
Saints', the confessional is set between the altar of Our Lady of Walsingham
and the children’s corner. The priest
warmly welcomes the penitent; he may read a short passage of scripture, before
encouraging him or her to make his or her confession. He then simply hears the confession made to God; he may, if the
penitent welcomes it, offer advice and guidance and also encourage an act of
penance – not a punishment, but either an act of devotion (a reading of a
psalm, hymn, or a prayer) or a practical action (perhaps one of restitution or
apology as appropriate, if the sin has affected others). The priest then, by the authority committed
to him by God and the church, pronounces absolution; he declares the penitent
forgiven – which may be pictured as an untying of the cords of the past which
have bound him or her, a setting free to live in the glorious liberty enjoyed
by the children of God..
One
often hears the phrase, ‘The Seal of the Confessional’. Whilst everyday priestly confidentiality is
of course taken extremely seriously by clergy, the Seal of the Confessional is
absolute. What is said within the confessional remains there. Indeed for the priest to deliberately break
that seal would be to invite draconian ecclesiastical discipline upon
himself. Once sins have been confessed
and forgiven, the priest cannot even speak of them to the penitent without the
latter’s permission. In practice, I,
like many clergy, deliberately forget what is said.
It
is a curious quirk of human nature that we invariably find it easier to confess
our sins to a Holy God than to an unholy brother! Somehow our pride gets in the way – but there is really no need.
Most of what is said in a confession the priest will probably have heard many
times before. He is also aware of his
own vulnerability and sinfulness – in short, priests are not easily shockable,
and do not in any way sit in judgment upon another penitent sinner but welcome him or her after the loving manner
of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ Himself. A confessor (a priest who hears
confessions) is – and certainly ought to be – a regular penitent himself. So be assured: he knows from personal
experience what it feels like.
It
is important to prepare well, especially if you are making your first
confession and the priest will willingly give help and advice.
If
I may speak personally, I have, like many, found the experience of sacramental
confession a liberating and joyful one – enabling us to enjoy the overflowing
love, forgiveness, and freedom of God, mediated directly by His Spirit and
through the warmth and kindness of the priest. I would genuinely encourage us all to think seriously and to
consider doing something about it.
Most
churches in the catholic tradition publish times when confessions may be
heard. A Confession by appointment is
simply that – a meeting of priest and penitent at a mutually convenient time. If there are further questions about
Confession, or if you would like to discuss what is involved, then please do
ask.
Compline
The word Compline comes from the Latin ‘completion’
and is a prayer to end the day, so is often called the nighttime prayer.
In it we ask God to forgive us our sins, to look
after us through the night, and to be there with us as we wake and start a new
day.
It is quite beautiful in its simplicity.
It forms
part of a daily cycle of prayer, sometimes called the ‘offices’. The monastic
cycle comprises, Matins, Lauds, Prime,
Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and finally Compline. In Anglican parishes usually only Morning and Evening Prayer are
said with the occasional saying of Compline.
At All Saints, compline is usually said in Lent.
The Church of England website provides a very
useful explanation
of the prayer and the elements that are included within it. In addition there are
daily prayers for you to read in either traditional
or contemporary language.
What is the Book
of Common Order?
Gordon
Smith writes:
I was asked this after I quoted from it during the intercessions last month. It
is the title used historically by the Church of Scotland and associated
Presbyterian churches for their liturgical handbook. First compiled in the
1550s and 1560s by John Knox and others and containing the Psalms as well as
instructions to ministers about how to carry out basic duties, it was adapted
to modern needs by the Church of Scotland in 1928 and 1940 and, most recently,
in 1979. It now contains the divine service (including three full and one
shortened order for Holy Communion together with an outline order for public
worship when the Lord's Supper is not celebrated), various other special orders
of service, and devotional material.
What is a deacon? Father Michael replies:
Shortly
after starting work in the parish I was chatting with some young ‘chavs’ (their
description of themselves, not mine) outside the Snowley Parade shops. One of
the lads asked me if I was a priest or a vicar. My answer, that I was neither
but was a curate and deacon, led to an interesting discussion, which I will not
go into here. It did make me realise however that there is a great deal of
misunderstanding about what a deacon actually is. Hopefully the following will
help to clarify what being a deacon is all about.
The word "deacon" comes from the Greek word diakonos (diakonos)which
means "minister" or "servant". In the Acts of the Apostles
(chapter 6 verses 1-6 ) the early Christians responded to the criticism that
they were neglecting their widows by instituting the office of deacon. The
first Christian martyr, Stephen, was one of these deacons. The criteria for
being a deacon are clearly set out in 1 Timothy 3. 8 and this seems to indicate
that the duties included not only the overseeing of distribution of food
particularly to widows, but also administrative work.
The
role of the deacon developed in the early Church to include certain liturgical
duties, specifically during the celebration of the Eucharist. It became a
special duty of the deacon to read the Gospel, particularly in the Western
Church. In both Eastern and Western traditions the deacon has also had a very
special relation to the sacred vessels both before and after consecration.
Deacons were also called upon in the administration of the sacrament of
baptism. Although not generally allowed to baptise, their role was vital in
making inquiries about the candidates, instructing and preparing them, and
taking care of the oils used in baptism. There is evidence too, in the writings
of St. Cyprian that, in cases of necessity, deacons sometimes absolved sins. By
the Middle Ages this became quite common. The attire of a deacon has not
changed much since the early period of the Church. The wearing of the stole
over the left shoulder rather than around the neck like a priest is said to
have originated to allow the deacon to have the right arm free to perform
his/her sacred duties. This is still practised today. Occasionally today a
deacon will wear a vestment called a dalmatic, which is usually of the same
material as the chasuble worn by the priest. Originally only deacons of the
city of Rome wore dalmatics, but this practice spread throughout the Church.
The stole was originally worn over the top of the dalmatic but is now
worn underneath except in the Ambrosian rite, which is practised in
Milan.
Nowadays deacons exist in many denominations, but it is only in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches where the New Testament tradition is continued. Deacons like priests in both these churches are ordained by the laying on of hands by a bishop. In other churches such as the Lutheran Church the term is simply used for an assistant or an elder. This is why deacons in the Roman Catholic and male deacons in Anglican churches of the Catholic tradition are given the title Father (some female deacons also take the title Father, but that does seem a little strange to me). The Prayer Book, which bases its ideas of deacons on New Testament understanding of the 17th century, sees the deacon as an inferior role to that of a priest. Recent biblical study points to the role being a more collaborative one. This has led to a change in attitude reflected in both the ASB and Common Worship services of ordination of a deacon. It is also seen in some cases as a rejection of the idea that being a deacon is only a ‘stepping stone’ to being a priest. As a result many people now feel called to be deacons permanently and what is termed the Permanent Diaconate is a growing ministry in both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.
Today
the pastoral role of the deacon is still extremely important. The Common
Worship Ordinal Report By The Liturgical Commission 2004 states 'Deacons are to proclaim the Gospel in word
and deed, as agents of God's purposes of love. They are to serve the community
in which they are set, bringing to the church the needs and hopes of all the
people. They are to work with their fellow members in searching out the poor
and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless,
reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be
made visible.'
The
role of the deacon within worship reflects very much his/her role within the
early Church. The deacon still is responsible for the proclamation of the
Gospel during the Eucharist and it is the deacon's job at Mass to prepare the
vessels on the altar and perform the ablutions after the sacrament has been
distributed to the congregation. The deacon also invites the congregation to
confess their sins and share the Peace. Another task performed by the deacon
(which may seem insignificant, but is far from that,) is to send the people out
in the peace of Christ when the Mass has finished. Deacons are permitted to
preach, officiate at funerals and baptisms and in emergencies and special
circumstances weddings, but of course cannot celebrate Mass. Interestingly in
the Roman Catholic Church a deacon can give a blessing; deacons ordained into
the Anglican Church can not.
Rosalind
Brown in her book ‘Being a Deacon Today’
says that ‘Deacons are lovers –
lovers of God, lovers of God's Church, the body of Christ, and lovers of God's world. Diaconal ministry has
three particular strands
– enabling people to worship, providing pastoral care and proclaiming the Gospel. Deacons are also role models and catalysts for the baptismal ministry of all Christians.’ Clearly being a deacon is a great privilege, but also a huge task. Please pray that God will help me to be a good
deacon for the people of All Saints'
Last
updated 18.8.05
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