While channel surfing on a Sunday morning several years ago, I came across what I thought was a Catholic Mass. Living close to Notre Dame, Mass was televised regularly on Sunday mornings, but this did not look like the chapel where the televised Masses usually took place. The officiant was giving the homily, so I decided to watch and listen. It wasn’t until much later in the broadcast that I realized this was not a Catholic Mass, but rather a Lutheran service, even though the differences were barely distinguishable.
Martin Luther never intended to start a new church. The idea of his reformation was to eliminate what he saw as problematic and retain what was good. As far as the liturgy goes, he found little fault. Hence the Lutheran service looks much like the Catholic Mass. The problem is that Luther had no power to change anything. He was simply a Catholic priest with no magisterial authority.
Last week, I came across a blog on Patheos.com by Gene Veith titled “5 Tips to keep in mind when visiting a Lutheran church”. One could substitute the word Catholic for Lutheran, and these 5 tips will still mostly hold true, except for some definitive differences in understanding.
1. The Liturgy consists mostly of words from Scripture. The author points out a few differences that Lutherans eliminate from the Catholic liturgy, such as invoking the saints or praying for the dead. Luther rejected those beliefs even though they can be biblically supported. The last paragraph in this section says the Lutheran sanctuary will demonstrate the Reformation principle of retaining elements that point to Christ. He goes on to describe things you see in Lutheran sanctuaries, all of which are also present in Catholic sanctuaries. He also defends the use of crucifixes and representational art. We Catholics agree.
2. Chanting lets us sing prose, such as texts from Scripture. Chanting is certainly not foreign to us Catholics. Perhaps we do not hear it as much as we once did. He says, “This may be the aspect that seems the most “Catholic” or “Medieval” or just unusual to visitors. But chanting, with its flexible meter and flowing melodic line, is simply the way that a person can sing prose.” Sounds Catholic to me.
3. The Pastor will forgive your sins. The author explains how the pastor can forgive sins because he is an “ordained servant of the Word.” We Catholics would ask what constitutes a valid ordination? Martin Luther was a Catholic priest. A priest cannot ordain another priest. Only a bishop can conduct a valid ordination. Christ gave the authority to forgive AND RETAIN sins to His apostles, the first bishops of His Church. That authority has been handed down through a succession of validly ordained bishops to validly ordained priests. Not so in the Lutheran church. Lutherans (and all Protestants) must ask themselves, who truly retains the authority today to forgive and retain sins as Our Lord decreed in John 20:22? If your pastor rejects the magisterial authority to which that power was granted, are your sins truly forgiven? We Catholics can rest assured the priest can absolve our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
4. You will hear a law and Gospel Sermon. Many Lutheran churches use a lectionary based on the Catholic lectionary three-year cycle. You may hear the same Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel readings in both Catholic and Lutheran churches on any given Sunday. We Catholics typically refer to the sermon as a homily, but they are really the same thing.
5. You must be catechized before you go up for Communion. Also true in the Catholic Church except you must be more than catechized. You must be a Catholic in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion in a Catholic Church. A Catholic who is not in a state of grace must confess his sins to a priest and receive absolution before receiving Communion. A Catholic would never approach the communion rail in a Lutheran church since we do not believe they have a valid Eucharist. Confecting a valid Eucharist requires a valid priesthood that the Lutherans do not possess.
So while these 5 tips to keep in mind when visiting a Lutheran church are mostly applicable to Catholic Churches as well, there are significant differences we as Catholics understand. Those differences may seem somewhat superficial to the casual observer, but appreciating the significance requires some serious theological study and knowledge of Church history. That is why it is so important for us to be properly catechized in our faith.
