[Magdalen] Beautiful morning at church

[Scott Knitter]

Gorgeous day today.

I served as an acolyte at Solemn Mass. When I arrived, there were two young
priests in cassocks in the sacristy. I introduced myself; they were Roman
Catholic new priests finishing up their studies at Mundelein Seminary (five
years) and will soon go to their dioceses in Tennessee and Minnesota to
work in their assigned parishes. They had decided they wanted to come and
see how we do traditional ceremonial with modern rites. And yes, they knew
we're Episcopalians. Our rector invited them to don surplices (a couple of
the pleated ones for clergy in choir) and sit in the sanctuary. They let
him know they wouldn't be receiving Communion but would participate in the
responses and singing hymns, etc.

I just think it's cool they went ahead and crossed whatever river (Tiber?)
to see how we do things. Nice conversations in the sacristy and at coffee
hour. They've been trained in the RC current rite and traditional Latin
Mass. I made sure they knew the Daily Office is prayed in our church
morning and evening, every day and that they could do this, too, in their
new parishes.

This goes with the other recent RC-Episcopal event here, a Sunday choral
Evensong in honor of 97-year-old Bp. James Montgomery. An RC auxiliary
bishop chanted the officiant's bits, an ecumenical massed choir sang, an
irritating but highly proficient organist played, and it missed the English
ethos of Choral Evensong in many ways but was a significant collaboration
just the same. (You really need the appointed psalms sung antiphonally
whether to Anglican or Gregorian tones, not the responsorial psalm from the
morning's Mass. And the Scheidt Magnificat alternated between organ and a
soprano apparently singing "Hoodle-oo, doodle-blue." Um, choral means
choral, sorry.)

-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA