In August, liturgical scholars from many parts of the world converged on Dublin, Ireland, for two conferences. There was the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation, followed by the 15th Congress of Societas Liturgica, a large ecumenical association which meets in a different country every other year. The Anglican consultation includes Anglican members of the Societas and representatives of all provinces of the Anglican Communion which are able to send them.

Meeting under the chairmanship of the Rev. David R. Holeton, professor of liturgy at Trinity College, Toronto, approximately 75 Anglicans assembled for the consultation. Encouraged by the Anglican Consultative Council to do so, the consultation took as its task this year to produce guidelines for current and future revisions of the eucharistic liturgy in different churches of the Anglican Communion. Important principles were formulated and accompanied by many pages of exposition.

Among the principles was the declaration that no one should be excluded from the Lord's table because of age - hence the communion of small children, even of babies, was approved. The eucharistic prayer in which the sacrament is consecrated was defined as essentially a thanksgiving in form. The entire prayer, rather than any one paragraph within it, should be seen as consecratory.

Scholars also said the doctrine of the Holy Trinity should be clearly expressed, with greater attention to the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church than is seen in many current Anglican liturgies. The true celebrant of the liturgy is no less than the church itself, acting through, with, and in Christ.

The consultation was honored as an important event in the Church of Ireland - the native Anglican church of that nation. The Most Rev. Donald Caird, Archbishop of Dublin, was host for consultation members one evening.

The Most Rev. Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, preached and spent another evening with the group.

Eighteen provinces of the Anglican Communion were represented, with delegates mostly from the British Isles, North America, Africa and Australia. Comment was made on the financial problem small provinces may encounter in sending persons long distances to international meetings. The Rev. Ronald L. Dowling of Australia was elected as new chairman of the consultation, which expects to meet again in 1999.

The following week more than 250 persons assembled for the biennial congress of Societas Liturgica under the presidency of the Rev. Paul F. Bradshaw, an Episcopal priest who is professor of liturgy at Notre Dame University. Membership consists largely of teachers of liturgy in various theological institutions, members of relevant commissions and committees, and published authors in the field.

Major lectures were delivered in English, French or German, with simultaneous translation into the other two tongues. Participants each day could choose between shorter talks on a wide variety of other topics, such as the structure of the Easter Vigil, the current Roman Catholic effort to compose a new series of Sunday collects, and the new experimental daily office book in the Church of England entitled Celebrating Common Prayer.

(The Rev. Canon) H. Boone Porter