Reason 20

20. Because enough Catholic theology has been removed that Protestants can, while keeping their antipathy for the true Roman Catholic Church, use the text of the New Mass without difficulty. Protestant Minister Thurian said that a fruit of the New Mass “will perhaps be that the non-Catholic communities will be able to celebrate the Lord’s Supper using the same prayers as the Catholic Church” (La Croix 4/30/69).


This is true insofar as the prayers referred to here are the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the Pater Noster (which have been, generally speaking, in Protestant services as long as there have been Protestant services).

The first grand flaw of this objection comes from the second word of the quotation. “Perhaps.” Mr. Thurian was not certain at that point what effect the revision of the Mass would have on Catholic-Protestant relations. No, forty years later, it is clear that no aspect of the revised liturgy (beyond the revised lectionary) has been incorporated into Protestant worship services. Nor does it seem that many Protestants share the view of Mr. Thurian, as there is still an almost universal objection to the Mass as a form of worship.

This reason suffers the grand flaw of using a single quote as the entire support for its position. It is all the more problematic when one discovers that Max Thurian later became Fr. Max Thurian, leaving the Protestant churches which perhaps did not use the Catholic Liturgy to become a Catholic himself (and for the faith, not for the liturgy, which he considers to have suffered greatly under the revisions not advocated by the council). There is essentially no validity to this argument.