The Irish standard., 1893-10-14
AGGRESSIVE CATHoL1CITY.

9Al OJhlJA1 OOlSJD1
! AGGRESSIVE CATHoL1CITY.
The New York Sun Describes the Rituals
] tic Services in the Episcopal Church.
A .snuptial mass" as it is described
was celebrated at the Episcopal Church
Of the Redeemer in Park avenue last
Wednesday after the solemnization OF q
marriage, says the New York Sun. and
it is spoken of as the first ceremony OF
the kind which has ever been conducted
in an Episcopal church in this country.
The administration of the communion
at q wedding is not, however, an extra
ordinary occurrence in the Episcopal
Church, and the service at the Church of
the Redeemer seems to have been novel
only, If it was novel at all, in it's thor
ough ritualistic elaboration. TIE dis
play of candles, the free use of incense,
the rich vestments, the procession led by
thurifer and cross bearer, and the rest
of the ceremonies were in accordance
with ritualistic principles accepted by a
considerable and apparently increasing
body of The Episcopal clergy and laity
in both this country and England.
The wedding at the Church of the Re.
deemer, accordingly introduced no es-
sential innovation. It followed proceed
ents already established in the Episcopal
Church by the teachings and practice of
the Catholic party, as they call them
selves. This party, according to MI.
Locke, formerly an assistant minister of
Trinity parish, but now a COMMUNICATE
of the Church Of Rome, accepts every
Catholic doctrine except the supremacy
of the Pope" and the Holy Cross Maya
zine, which is it's more special represen-
tative, seems to Justify him in SO saying.
UA loubtteedly, too, there was YER y close
| resemblance between the >nuptial mass
celebrated at the Church of the Re-
deemer on Wednesday, and the mass as
celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church.
It's underlying principles were substan-
tally, il not exactly, the same. More
over, the inferential treatment of MARI
age as a sacrament is in strict accordance
with ritualietic doctrine, which conse-
quently and logically, we believe, makes
marriage indissoluble otherwise than by
death, though under the law of the
Episcopal church divorce is allowed for
adultery, and practically many Episco-
paliane have obtained divorces for other
causes, and have married again.
In its bold obedience to the firm con-
yictions of the Ritualists, the Church of
the Redeemer seems to have followed
course of conduct which the more pro-
nounced of the party have definitely de-
termined upon. The last number of the
Holy Gross Magazine devotes much
space to advocating such plan and to
pointing out that the time is ripe for it.
"In the earlier days of the Catholic re-
WAL says this uncompromising writer,
lit seemed best to go slowly, and wisely
So" ''The Bishops were often sharers
with the people in vague and nameless
fear that something dreadful would
happen calculated to bring ruin On the
Church" and it was necessary TO educate
them to federation, if not sympathy. But
now the situation has changed. The
need of caution lest the movement
should be backed by such opposition, no
longer exists. 1.-The conservatives" it
says, fare out of the count now," and the
merely progressive Churchmen who are
not yet prepared themselves to go to the
extreme of 'the Catholic revival" will be
neutral.
Hence this ritualistic organ calls upon
the "Catholic' party to cast aside all
compromises and go ahead untlinchingly.
The ,itualistic movement must be sent
along at full speed regardless of the
timorous. Incense, that most scrip
tural and significant sy mbo]. is used in
comparatively few of our parishes;;"
proper vestments for the Holy Sacri~
fee" are not worn ''as com monty as one
might expect in ths SO late days." "the
Crucitix, in professions Or above the pull
pit, is not always seen in our churches"
"lhe use of the sign of the Cross, that
potent sacramental in it's influence upon
the physical nature of man, and against
the attacks Of Satan, is far less urged
upon the faithful than it should be-
These and other defects in ritual it
would have remedied forthwith by tag
greesive Catholioity.' 1t would cease
from consideration for conservatism"
and would pay no regard to criticism.
The Holy Cross Magazine is even more
strenuous in demanding that the full
doctrine of the "Catholic revival shall
be taught aquarely and openly. Iturges
that the fasting communion or alb
stinence from food and drink before re-
ceiving the communion, shall be made