Learning from one another

'SOUNDBITE' is Published by Church Music Ireland, an agency of the united dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough.

The writer of this blog has been invited to contribute a regular column for 'SOUNDBITE'. This, the second piece, is in the December issue.

Michael Commane
Máirt Hanley, Church of Ireland rector in Baltinglass, invited me to talk at the Harvest liturgy in the parish church in September. It was an honour, a privilege but above all a lovely experience.

It was great to see how the people in the country church took part in the service.

They all had their books open and they were all singing. A lovely sense of participation. People praying together.

I lived in Germany for a number of years and was always impressed with how German Catholics sing their hymns and pray out loud the prayers at Mass. Alas, it's not exactly the same story in Ireland.

Great strides have been made in Irish Catholic churches to get people singing and participating but there's still a lot to do.

Just last summer I went on holiday to Berlin with a family from Kerry: Mum, Dad and three children.

On Sunday we went to Mass in St Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin and they were gobsmacked with the singing and prayerful response to the prayers.

I'm not too often at non-Catholic services in Ireland and shame on me, but from the few times I have been, I've been impressed with how the congregation participates.

And it's not just in the area of singing but it has struck me on many occasions that even in the response to the prayers of the Mass, people are slow to pray them out loud. I wonder why is that? Has it something to do with the tradition of the Tridentine Mass where the priest was 'away up there' and the congregation was, in a way, simply 'lookers on'.

There was/is an expression in the Catholic tradition of people 'attending Mass'. Does that mean that they are simply onlookers? But it does tell a story. Spectators attend football matches. People at Mass surely are not spectators? But it can't be as simple as that - the Germans, French and Italian Catholics sing to the rafters in their churches.

Indeed, they always get such a shock when they come to Mass in Ireland.

I actually believe that people can be cajoled into fuller participation of the Mass. But it takes time, work, patience and intelligence.  Co-operation too. But never by edict or talking down to people. Are there traces of a 'patronising gene' in the DNA of Irish Catholic priests?

In the heady early days after the Second Vatican Council there was great emphasis on priests exchanging notes with one another. We in the Dominicans had far more open and interesting meetings about liturgy and preaching than we have these days. More's the pity that that enthusiasm and discussion is on the wane.

Has there ever been a forum where Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy could come together for a mix of chat and theological debate? I'm sure we'd have a lot to learn from one another.

The idea of turning up once in a blue moon to talk in one another's churches smells of tokenism.

We could all be doing so much more to get to know one another better. It might even help us make our prayer more uplifting, make it more meaningful.

How barriers can collapse when we talk to one another. How often we develop the silliest of ideas about people without ever having spoken to them. Shouldn't we, ministers of religion, be at the vanguard in breaking down barriers. And how much we could learn from one another.