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Show THE MASS. . The Lamp, the organ of the High Church partv m the Anglican church, commenting on the late I an-Anglican congress, whilst commending the liberality lib-erality and widespread interest of the assembled dicnitaries, complains of a noted want of -devotion to divine worship especially that of the Holy Sacrifice Sac-rifice of the mass. Here is how the wrietr vividly draws the contrast: 'Ihe crowning feature of the service was the presentation on the high altar of the cathedral by. the 205 bishops present of the united offering of the Anglican faithful, which amounted to 335,000 pounds sterling. But where was the devotion of this vast assemblage to the Keal Presence of Jesus Christ, Body, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Sacrifice Sac-rifice the Mass? "Where did they give public expression ex-pression to his desire before the eyes of the world in unmistakable fashion? There were indeed numerous nu-merous celebrations of the Holy Eucharist in London Lon-don churches during the session of the congress, but w ith the exception of certain high masses in a few well known ritualistic churches on Sundav they were confined to low celebrations and were attended at-tended by scant congregations. The reporter of the Emrlish Church Times attended the 8 o'clock mass at Westminster Abbey on the morning when the congress opened and he found no more than a hundred hun-dred persons present. THE RESULT OF THE BREACH WITH ROME. The first notable act of her reformers after the Church of England ceased to be Roman Catholic was to dethrone the Mass from its position as the supreme Sacrifice of the Christian altar, the all-prevailing all-prevailing Act of Divine Worship; and Cranmer's substitute for it was principally an expurgated Litany, Lit-any, the psalmody of David and the Te Deum. Never Nev-er perhaps since the Reformation were these sung more charmingly and ''tear compellingly" than at the opening and, 'close of the Pan-Anglican congress, con-gress, but a Miserere, however witchingly sung, or St. Ambrose's great hymn, or the grandest alleluia chorus ever composed, is but a mess of pottage when offered in exchange for our Catholic birthright, birth-right, the Eucharistic Sacrifice. It was no doubt a majestic sight to see 200 Anglican prelates, preceded pre-ceded bv mace bearers, bringing their gold like the Magi from afar and solemnly depositing it upon the high altar of St. Paul's until the accumulating flood swelled into a grand total of nearly seventeen hundred thousand dollar?, but the truth remains that one consecrated host uplifted in the hands of the poorest and humblest priest in the Catholic church is in God's sifiht an infinitely more sublime spectacle. "We feel constrained thus to put on record our disappointment that as far as the-membcrs of the congress addressed themselves to the all important matter of Divine Worship they should have chosen to approach the throne of the Most High after the manner of Protestant Episcopalians rather than as inheritors of the ancient Catholic traditions of the Church of England. "The Catholic remnant in the Anglican church for seventy-five years has battled hard for the restoration res-toration of the Mass to its rightful place in public worship, and withal wonderful has been our success, but can we reasonably entertain tVp hope that with one voice the Anglican Episcopate will again proclaim pro-claim the true doctrine of the Mass. or with unity of faith celebrate the Eucharistic mysteries in a truly Catholic manner until we recover that union witli Rome, the loss of which was the initial step to the throwing down of our altars and the casting as into a corner of the Sacrifice of the Mass?" |