The Irish standard., 1907-09-07
SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.
British Opinion as Expressed BY Chief
Secretary BirreII.

VI.
chief secretary for Ireland, wrote in
the Nineteenth Century the following
article. which is doubly interesting in
view of recent happenings:
The English church, before the Ref
ormation, celebrated the Mass after the
same fashion, though not in identical
language. as it has today been celebrat-
ed in Notre Dame of Paris. Has the En-
glish church, as a church. after the
Reformation. continued to celebrate the
Mass after the same fashion, and with
the same intention, as she did before?
II yes. to the ordinary British layman
the quarrel with the Pope, even the ban
of the Pope and his foreign cardinals,
will seem but one of those matters to
which it is so easy to give the slip
Our quarrel with the Pope is of re-
spectacle antiquity-France, too, had
hers. But if not, the same ordinary
layman will be puzzled. and, if he has
leaning to sacraments and the sacra-
mental theory of religion and nature,
will grow distraught and, it may be,
distracted. Nobody nowadays, save
handful of vulgar fanatics, speaks ir-
reverently of the Mass If the Incarna
ton be. indeed. the one divine event
to which the whole creation moves, the
miracle of the altar may well seem its
restful shadow cast over a dry and
thirsty land for the help of man, who is
apt to be discouraged if perpetually
told that every thing really important
and interesting happened once for all,
long ago. in a chill historic past. How
ever much there may be that is repul-
sive to many minds in ecclesiastical mil
linery and matters-and it is only the
merriment of parsons that is often
found mighty offensive-it is doubtful
whether any poor sinful child Of Adam
(not being paid agent of the Protest.
ant Alliance) ever witnessed, however
ignorantly, and it may be with only the
languid curiosity of a traveller, the COM
munion service, according to the Cath
Ole ritual, without emotion.
1T is the Mass that matters: it is the
Mass that makes the difference, so hard
to define. so subtle is it. yet 80 percept-
lble. between Catholic country and a
Protestant one, between Dublin and
Edinburgh. between Havre and Cromer
Here. believe. is one of the battleflelds
of the future. How long can any church
allow its fathers and it's faithful laity
to be at large on such a subject? AL
ready the rift is so great as to present
to the observer some of the ordinary
indications of sectarianism. Some
church folk of one way of thinking
cannot bring themselves to attend the
churches devoted to the other way. In
the selection of summer quarters it has
long become important to ascertain be-
forehand the doctrines espoused and. as
a consequence Of such doctrines, the
ritual maintained by the local clergy,
This is not matter Of mere preference,
as Catholic may prefer the Oratorians
to the Jesuits-it is, if traced to it's
traceabe to the altar. In some
churches of the English obedience there
purports to be the visible sacrifice: in
other churches of the same ostensible
communion no such profession of mys-
terry or miracle is made 1t is impos-
slble to believe that mystery so ire
mendous, so profoundly attractive so
intimately associated with the keystone
of the Christian faith. so vouched for
by the testimony of saints. can be al
lowed to remain for another hundred
years an open question In a church
which still asserts herself to be the
guardian of the faith. If the inquiry,
what happened at the Reformation?
We're to establish the belief that the
English church did then. in mind and
will cut herself off from further partic-
ipation in the Mass as sacrifice. it will
be difficult for most people to resist the
conclusion that change so great broke
the continuity of English church his
tory, effected transfer of church prop
erty from one body to another and that
from thenceforth the new Church of
England has been exposed to the nf1u-
ences and has been required to submit
compatible with any working definition
of either church authority or church
discipline"