Alternative Good Friday service in an Anglican church

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Can a priest announce that on Good Friday there will be an alternative service in the neighbouring Anglican church in addition to the one held in our own Catholic church earlier that day? I have no problem with ecumenism, and have no problems with Catholics attending such a service, but surely that should be seen as additional, not as an alternative. Are there any rules or guidelines on this?
 
Brendan_64 said:
Can a priest announce that on Good Friday there will be an alternative service in the neighbouring Anglican church in addition to the one held in our own Catholic church earlier that day? I have no problem with ecumenism, and have no problems with Catholics attending such a service, but surely that should be seen as additional, not as an alternative. Are there any rules or guidelines on this?
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Perhaps he was referring to an Anglican-Use (part of the “The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham” there in the UK) parish which are in communion with the Pope and actually part of the Roman Rite?

ordinariate.org.uk
 
phil19034 said:
Perhaps he was referring to an Anglican-Use (part of the “The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham” there in the UK) parish which are in communion with the Pope and actually part of the Roman Rite?

ordinariate.org.uk
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No. The Anglican church is most definitely a Church of England, and it was specifically that church that he was referring to. The vicar there is a very nice man indeed, but it is Church of England.
 
I don’t think we need rules or regulations to tell us that attending a non-Catholic service in place of a Catholic one isn’t a good thing to do.

But I am allowing that possibly there is a misunderstanding going on with what father intended.
 
Brendan_64 said:
Can a priest announce that on Good Friday there will be an alternative service in the neighbouring Anglican church in addition to the one held in our own Catholic church earlier that day? I have no problem with ecumenism, and have no problems with Catholics attending such a service, but surely that should be seen as additional, not as an alternative. Are there any rules or guidelines on this?
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It all depends.

It seems from your post that the 2 services will be at different times.

Anglicans (non-Ordinariate) cannot be admitted to Holy Communion; whether that is at a Mass or at the pre-sanctified on Good Friday.

My U.S. version of the Book of Common Prayer says that “communion” is optional at the Anglican Good Friday service. I would presume that the same applies in the UK. Naturally, Catholics could not ever participate in that (be present, yes, but not participate).

This depends on exactly what’s happening.

Currently, on Good Friday, the Passion readings, veneration of the Cross and Communion form a single service that must be done as a whole. Catholics “should” be participating in this, although it’s not a Holy Day of Obligation. As far as that goes, the priest should certainly not be telling people “come here or go to the Anglicans, it doesn’t matter.” It matters a great deal.

It’s also traditional to pray the Stations on Good Friday. I would have no problem with telling people that they could go to one or the other, with the understanding that it could never be done in such a way as to imply indifferentism.

This sort of thing can get very tricky. The difference between true ecumenism and indifferentism can be very subtle when it comes to relations between Catholics and Anglicans.

Based only on what you posted, it’s not clear if what’s happening is acceptable or not.
 
Thank you very much Father David. From what you have said, and what our priest announced at Mass, I conclude that he was suggesting equivalence of services. I’m not sure if many in our parish will take him up on this as attendance at ecumenical services in the past have been very low, but if one person decided to go to the Anglican service instead of ours (perhaps because the time suited them better) then that in itself would be a great shame. It is a real shame how few priests ever mention that we are the one true Church.
 
It sounds like the message was clumsily worded but there is no obligation to attend a service on Good Friday - and of course there is no mass on Good Friday. Most of the CofE Churches near me run a beautiful sung stations of the Cross service and also a three hours service of readings music and meditations on the seven last words on the cross, in addition to the liturgy of the day, so I suspect it was one of these type of services that he was referring to. But perhaps ask or email him for clarification.
 
The priest once invited parishioners to attend vespers at a nearby Episcopal church. I did and it was entirely orthodox though I’m not sure if they use the same calendar. We may not be able to worship together at Mass but the LOTH seems like a good place to start if one is interested in ecumenicalism. I would find encouraging attendance at any service that distributes invalid communion to be troublesome. Not because it’s bad in itself but it could very easily cause confusion.
 
The problem is not that Catholics would attend the Anglican service, but that it would be seen as equivalent to the Catholic service. Yes, a Good Friday service is not Mass, and no, it is not a Holy-day of Obligation, but that is not the point. An Anglican Good Friday service cannot be equivalent to a Catholic Good Friday service because the Anglican church is not equivalent to the Catholic Church. Their priests are not even proper priests, in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Attending an Anglican service cannot be seen as an alternative to attending a Catholic service. We are not equals, there is only One True Church.

I’m not opposed to ecumenism, quite the reverse, but as Catholics ecumenism needs to be approached on the understanding that there is only one true Faith and we are not meeting as equals. Of course there is common ground which should be celebrated, and we all benefit from gaining a deeper understanding of each other, but our Church is not just one of many Christian Churches that are all equal.
 
I’d go just because I would be curious as to how it’s done in an Anglican church. Of course I’m still aware of the Sunday obligation to attend a Catholic Mass.

Also, I do seem to recall that in the U.K. there was no communion distributed on Good Friday, but maybe that’s changed since.
 
ProVobis said:
I’d go just because I would be curious as to how it’s done in an Anglican church. Of course I’m still aware of the Sunday obligation to attend a Catholic Mass.

Also, I do seem to recall that in the U.K. there was no communion distributed on Good Friday, but maybe that’s changed since.
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Hello, my friend. Yes it has changed and communion is now distributed in one kind only at both services.
 
When I belonged to a university parish we teamed up with the Episcopalians on Good Friday for Stations of the Cross around the campus. There aren’t a lot of opportunities to pray with those of other Christian communities so I thought this was a nice thing. It was also a chance to be visible on campus which was also a good thing. Perhaps what your parish has planned is something equally non-liturgical.
 
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer appears to permit a celebration of Holy Communion (Eucharist) on Good Friday but in practice this is unusual.

Common Worship 2000 has a liturgy that is similar to the Roman rite with the following outline:

Gathering and Collect
Liturgy of the Word (OT, Psalm, NT and Passion Readings)
Sermon
Proclamation of the Cross with Reproaches
Intercessions
Optional Liturgy of the Sacrament (i.e. Holy Communion from the pre-sanctified)
Optional Gospel of the Burial of Christ

As Liturgyluver pointed out, devotional type services with readings, meditations and hymns/music are quite common on Good Friday.
 
FrDavid96 said:
It all depends.

It seems from your post that the 2 services will be at different times.

…

It’s also traditional to pray the Stations on Good Friday.

Based only on what you posted, it’s not clear if what’s happening is acceptable or not.
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Fr. David, I have a concern about my parish and the Good Friday services. They have two times today for the stations of the cross, separate from the traditional Catholic Good Friday service. At noon, the 8th grade boys from our school re-enact a way of the cross in church. I am not certain if one of them reads the passion aloud during this ceremony or not. Then in the evening, they have a service called “Witness at the Cross.” It’s run entirely by lay people and is very popular. It is very much like a Protestant Good Friday service. It takes place in the church sanctuary, complete with lay people leading it and lots of music. I haven’t attended in years, so I am not certain if they read the stations or one of the passion narratives. It’s advertised in the bulletin weeks in advance, stating that many people appreciate it and even prefer it (implying that this “service” is preferred over the traditional Good Friday services). Our pastor quietly stays away and doesn’t participate, but he doesn’t forbid it either. Perhaps this is because many people would be furious with him. I strongly suspect that most people don’t even realize it may be inappropriate.

My question: What is the appropriate way to pray the stations of the cross in church on Good Friday?
 
Lifeletters said:
Fr. David, …

My question: What is the appropriate way to pray the stations of the cross in church on Good Friday?
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There is no one, single way to pray the Stations of the Cross (on Good Friday or any other day). While the Church considers it a very laudable and appropriate, there is no official liturgy, and there never has been one. While there are certain texts which have official approval (of one sort or another); the approval of some does not exclude others.

This link in the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety explains quite a lot about the Stations.

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html

Start at paragraph 131 for the Stations.

There is also some brief information on “Passion Plays” in 144.
 
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