believing in hope, daring to act

On Easter Sunday a Roman Catholic priest, Iggy O’Donovan, and his neighbour an Anglican priest, Michael Graham, concelebrated the Eucharist together in an Augustinian Priory in County Lough, Eire. They broke bread and drank wine together in memory of Jesus. A number of Catholics and Anglicans were present. The Augustinian priests also joined in.

This celebration made the front page of the Irish Times, as did the negative responses of their respective archbishops. It was also the basis of the lead opinion piece the next day and numerous letters to the editor. They unanimously applauded the actions of those at the Priory.

“There were once two men, both servants of God, who lived at a time of strife in their country. Once was a chief priest of his denomination and a man of conscience.

He stuck close to God and did not mix with Samaritans or any who expressed their belief in God in a different way.

He held to his position even while around him members of his denomination and others went to war, sometimes through words, sometimes through violence. He stood apart, an icon of his integrity.

The other was a teacher and a high priest in his own denomination.

One day he happened, by accident, to be in the city during an outbreak of violence between followers of his own denomination and Samaritans. He was appalled that the Samaritans in particular, and religion in general, should be treated in this way.

He organised a special service and arranged for a local Samaritan priest and his followers being embraced in warm welcome by the former adversaries.

Which of these men did the will of God?”

Mr McGarry, who penned the parable, was not concerned about the different theological understandings of the Mass held by Catholics and Anglicans. Rather he was concerned that, in the context of Ireland, Catholics and Anglicans should come together and proclaim their faith by their actions.

Fr. Iggy who instigated the concelebration said that he had returned to Dublin the day before the riots last February and was shocked by the ‘sheer visceral sectarian hatred of those young people’. He decided to do something about it.

As for the differences in theology, Fr Iggy said he celebrated ‘the Eucharist every day with Roman Catholics whose theology I do not share.’

Following the concelebration archbishops Brady and Eames, both highly respected men, expressed concern that such initiatives could cause widespread confusion, raising false hopes and producing misunderstandings. Ecumenical sensitivity is important.

Yet there is widespread impatience with sensitivity, as evidenced by the letters to the paper. Amongst ordinary laity and clergy in many countries, not just Ireland, there is a feeling that Catholics and Anglicans have far more in common than not in common. We both believe in Jesus. We both are committed to justice and peace. We both worship God. We both pray. Why then is it not possible from time to time for us to celebrate the Eucharist together?

Some of the more boring pieces of church literature to land on a cleric’s desk are the occasional reports of Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission. This group of leaders and academics try to find common ground in the numerous issues that divide us. They have been meeting and producing reports for years. They seem to make little headway.

I don’t think there are many Anglicans or Catholics who want to join together into one denomination. We value our own traditions and don’t want to lose them. From my perspective things like papal infallibility and the exclusion of women from ordained ministry are insurmountable obstacles to a merging of the churches.

Yet from time to time ordinary Christians want to get together, if simply to celebrate the fact of our common allegiance to God in Jesus, and to break bread and share wine when we do so. At those times it is the sensitivities of our leaders that can be a barrier to our witness.

It was the witness, the message of Christians to society, which was all-important to those who gathered at the Augustinian Priory. Can Christians share with one another in a land renowned for Christians being suspicious of one another? A group of priests and laity answered with a resounding ‘Yes!’

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if next week all over Ireland Catholics and Anglicans did likewise? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the week after that in every country where Christians gather it spread like spring flowers, bursting forth here and there, in high places and low, surprising us with hope and joy?