Eucharistic Prayer and Theology
2003 Indianapolis, Indiana
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Convener 2003
Robert J. Daly, S.J. (professor of theology at Boston College)
Seminar Participants 2003
Members: Robert J. Congdon; Timothy J. Crouch, O.S.L.; Barbara Thorington Green; Jerome M. Hall, S.J.; Hoyt L. Hickman; Cheryl Magrini; Leo Ryska, O.S.B.; Amy C. Schifrin; Geoffrey Wainwright; Stephen B. Wilson; Nancy L. Woodworth-Hill
Visitors: Daniel Benedict, Edward Phillips, Karen Westerfield Tucker
Seminar Report 2003
The seminar discussed its material in this order: (1) general discussion of the question (as planned from last year’s meeting): “What are we doing when we say grace?”; (2) discussion with our three seminar visitors of a draft document of the Holy Communion Study Committee of the United Methodist Church; (3) Benedict’s draft of a brief EP: “Toward a Brief Prayer of Great Thanksgiving; (4) Magrini’s “Intergenerational Eucharistic Prayer” and related paper “Let the Children Speak: Children as Prophets Leading the Church in Radical Table Hospitality, Overview of a Dissertation in Process”; (5) Crouch’s “Two Musical Settings for the Assembly at the Eucharist”; (6) Daly’s “Marriage, Eucharist, and Christian Sacrifice” and his attempt at a more eucharistically faithful translation of Nicolai’s hymn Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. Two examples (from Daly) of “eucharistic praying” were also used as prayers to open the sessions.
We began our work by first honoring the memory of our recently deceased member, Patrick Byrne, then moved to congratulations to the five seminar members being proposed for full membership in the Academy: Timothy Crouch, O.S.L.; Barbara Thorington Green; Cheryl Magrini; Amy Schifrin; and Nancy Woodworth-Hill.
The discussion of (1) began with general agrreement on Daly’s suggestion that saying grace is—or should be—an act of praying eucharistically, i.e., praying in an anamnetic–epicletic structure. There followed a wide-ranging discussion of how this is experienced in different public and private confessional, religious, and cultural settings.
The discussion of (2) with our three guests from the United Methodist Study Committee was a felicitous example of academic ecumenical cooperation. Persons from a variety of different confessions were able to be trustingly open about the particular strengths and weaknesses of their own traditions, and eager to learn how to strengthen their own theology and practice by learning from other Christians. Members of the seminar and its visitors were happy with this brief consultation and hope it will continue in the future.
The discussion of our guest Dan Benedict’s draft of a brief EP (3) was both challenging (e.g., questioning the wisdom of moving in a kind of “fast-food” direction) and supportive (e.g., an improvement over a “verba only” praxis, and suggestions for making the language less prosaic). Magrini’s project (4) occasioned a particularly rich discussion, perhaps because of the wide range of theological, catechetical, ecclesiological, sacramental, and pastoral issues involved in the actual task of the formation of eucharistic communities in intergenerational settings in two contrastingly different (but both United Methodist) ecclesial settings.
Our discussion of (5) involved the delightful interlude of singing Crouch’s two new musical settings (Holy, Holy ... , Acclamation, and Amen), discussing how they “worked,” and making suggestions, both musical and textual, about how to make them more effective. The discussion of (6), while supporting the inclusion of “marriage” as integral to an understanding of Eucharist and sacrifice, also suggested that, ecumenically, it would be better to speak of it as the “most revelatory sacramental event” rather than, as a Roman Catholics would, “most revelatory sacrament.” Finally, there was praise for but also important constructive criticism for improving Daly’s attempt to provide a eucharistically faithful English rendering of the famous German hymn Wachet auf.
Some of the suggestions for future work that came out of our final discussion were possibly inviting in some colleagues from the Liturgical Theology Seminar, a report on the “Towards 2005 Canterbury and Rome” discussions (Ryska), a new baptismal EP (Woodworth-Hill), research results (Green), significant attention to the “Eucharist and Justice” theme (whole seminar), a new EP by Gail Ramshaw (visitor), continued consultation with the United Methodist Holy Communion Study Committee, further work on Dan Benedict’s (visitor) draft of a brief EP, continued work by various seminar members on EPs or models of “eucharistic praying” that draw on the resources of particular confessional, hymnic, literary, mystical, etc., traditions.