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Out of the question: Not so easily led?
Your answers The Radio Times (22 December 2007) stated that the Christmas Eve eucharist broadcast from Worcester Cathedral was to be “led by” the Dean. Are the terms “celebrant” and “president” now obsolete? If not, what authority is there for the term “leader”? I don’t think the cathedral will be found to have invented a new term: it is far more likely to be an incorrect statement by either the television authorities or the Radio Times. I was told that a few years ago, when a midnight mass was to be televised from another cathedral, the producers refused to refer to it as a midnight mass, the term always used there. They wanted to call it a “Midnight Communion Service”, but eventually accepted “Midnight Eucharist”. After my ordination, one newspaper referred to me as a “lay priest”, and I have been referred to as a “Protestant Priest”. But all these are merely errors of the secular media. I suggest that when they creep in, people write to the editor of the programme or publication.(The Revd) Geoffrey F. Squire SSC Goodleigh, Barnstaple, Devon To the best of my knowledge, the term “celebrant” does not occur in Church of England formularies, and is used by contemporary Roman Catholics. “President”, which goes back to Justin Martyr, writing c.155, is used in Common Worship. “Leader” has never been used authoritatively in the C of E. Nevertheless, the word “leader” has scriptural precedent (Hebrews 13.17). But “Nor are you to be called leaders, for you have one leader, the Messiah” (Matthew 23.10). I do not believe, however, that Jesus meant that we were not to use the term, but that we should recognise the imperfection of human leadership. To use a word of general meaning when a specific word is given in the liturgy is sloppy and detrimental. Christopher Haffner (Reader) East Molesey, Surrey [Old chestnuts here. “Celebrant” is currently taboo for those who see it as implying that the celebration is not the people’s (cf. “priest” and “minister”, open to similar objections). In the second exhortion of the 1662 communion service, the minister says: “I intend, by God’s grace, to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.” At some very grand celebrations, a bishop “presides” while someone else “celebrates”. Editor] |
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