Replying to Peter Stanford's article, "Liturgical correctness becomes an obstacle to sharing our faith" (The Tablet, 24 January), Fr Geoffrey Steele suggested: “Don’t demand the funeral liturgy do everything”. Perhaps because people once-connected or never-connected with the Church so often attend baptisms, First Communions, weddings and funerals, we sense this is a moment for possible evangelisation of the unchurched. However, first and foremost what is going on at that time is that those now-connected with the Church, united with Christ as their head, are doing their great task, celebrating the liturgy.
Might that have an evangelising dimension? Yes, of course. Are the “connected” automatically better people, closer to God, than the others present? No, of course not, but it is who they are, “the connected”, and what is going on is an action of the “connected”. Those for whom the liturgy is an unfamiliar environment are made to feel welcome and encouraged to participate as much as possible. That doesn’t mean the liturgy should be altered to such an extent that its usual participants find it unfamiliar.
The liturgy is the “summit of the Church’s activity and the fount of its power” (Vatican II, SC 10); a topographical image. The summit and the fount don’t constitute the whole geography. We members of the Church need to be active across the whole scene in which our lives are lived. The liturgy, while indispensable, is not the totality of the Christian life; it is illogical to act as if it can “do everything”. Let’s let it be itself, join in it but find other avenues for doing other kinds of good.
Gerard Hore, Mount Lofty, Queensland, Australia
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