Book of Uncommon Prayer
by Michael Coren, The Oldie:
I recently led a morning Eucharistic service in Burlington, Ontario, using the Book of Common Prayer (BCP).
At the end of it, a student from the local university approached me and said, ‘Hey, Rev, cool language. Never heard that before in church. I may even come again.’ I was about to explain the origins of the text and its evolution when, entirely wisely, the young man stuck his earbuds in, turned on his music and waved goodbye.
‘I’ll be back,’ he shouted as he left. I doubt he was listening to William Byrd or Thomas Tallis, but he has indeed been back.
It often happens. Contrary to what we’ve been told for decades about new generations wanting the contemporary and the modern, my experience – as a father and as a priest – is that kids are too savvy and cynical for that.
They can distinguish between language directly influenced by Shakespeare and language directly influenced by a committee based on diversity, sensitivity and inclusion.
It’s the same in the Roman Catholic Church – arguably even more so. The Latin Mass, or even the Mass in the vernacular in an older form, is popular not only among older people longing for the past, but among younger people longing for the permanent.
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