Hybrid Mass

In five Roman Catholic churches around the U.S., the priests and the congregations recite this prayer at Mass before the consecrated bread and wine are distributed: "We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table . . ." The words, unfamiliar to Roman Catholics, come from the Book of Common Prayer, cherished by Anglicans since the first edition of 1549. The passage now forms part of a Vatican-approved hybrid Mass text that is based largely upon the Prayer Book. Only the central Eucharistic Prayer and a few other sections are from the standard Roman rite.

This ecumenically significant ritual arose for distinctly unecumenical reasons. In the late 1970s some conservative members of the Episcopal Church (the U.S. branch of Anglicanism) broke from their church over its ordination of women and tolerance for remarriage after divorce. In 1980 the Vatican agreed to the dissidents' requests to join the Roman Catholic Church. Parishes for converts were established in Las Vegas, Columbia, S.C., and the Texas cities of Austin, Houston and San Antonio. The traditional Roman Catholic Mass was said at these churches during the original phase, but for the first time in the U.S., the Vatican waived the celibacy rule and to date 23 married ex-Episcopal priests have been ordained in the Catholic Church. And now, for this liturgical year, the five parishes have introduced the blended Anglican-Roman Catholic Mass, a unique arrangement for Rome.

Father James Parker, one of the traditionalist converts, administers the ; program for ex-Episcopalians under the supervision of Boston Archbishop Bernard Law. Parker explains that the new Mass does not significantly alter the Prayer Book: "The changes are minor and few and have been done to reflect current Catholic liturgical scholarship." Among them: the addition of prayers for the Pope and to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the most important alteration is the omission of the Prayer Book's proclamation of collective absolution of sins. Rome insists that confession be made individually, and a few strategic word changes make it clear that the group prayer of confession does not substitute for sacramental penance.

Parker insists that his fellow converts are making no effort to lure other Episcopalians toward Rome. "I love the Episcopal Church," he says. "I have no animosity toward it. It is where I first learned the Catholic religion."