PRAXIS PACK – A RESPONSE  

Mark Earey – Praxis National Education Officer  

The editor has kindly allowed me (as a member and the author of the Praxis training pack which was reviewed in the last issue) the chance to respond.  An otherwise fair review seemed to me at two points to risk misrepresenting both the pack and the Common Worship services.

The review refers to one of the OHP slides in the pack, which gives some of the reasons why the ASB initiation services have been changed: ‘For instance in slide 11 the ASB is ... “unwelcoming” for families who don’t attend - so it needs watering down (by hiding the costs until later)?’  I simply want to make clear that the pack does not suggest that the ASB needed ‘watering down’ (John’s phrase).  Some people perceive the ASB baptism services as unwelcoming simply because of how it starts, not what it says.  The ASB starts with, effectively, ‘you’d better bring these children to church or this isn’t going to work’ and without a welcome.  The Common Worship service starts with the grace of God and the welcome of God and church.  But there is plenty of emphasis on the role of parents and godparents, as the pack makes clear (‘The new service attempts to add a note of welcome, whilst being realistic about the important role of parents and godparents.  This is expressed both at the presentation of the candidates before the baptism and in the commission ... after the baptism.’).  I’m not sure it is fair to suggest that simply because something is not first in the service it is being ‘hidden’ - no-one would suggest that the Eucharistic Prayer is ‘hidden’ in the Communion service just because it is not the first item!  I think BI members should rejoice that the needs of adults are influencing the way baptism is viewed for infants.  For instance, the Liturgical Commission resisted considerable pressure from some quarters to provide a more ‘toned-down’ baptism service for infants.  

Slide 11 also lists ‘new thinking about the place of Confirmation’ among reasons for revision of the ASB services.  The accompanying notes explain that this refers to recent thinking which stresses that baptism (without confirmation) is ‘full sacramental initiation’.  The review comments: ‘And confirmation is not initiation after all.  Maybe this slide is a joke?’  The point of saying that confirmation is not initiation is to stress that baptism is the heart of initiation, to which confirmation points.  Confirmation is therefore basically a pastoral rite.  In the Church of England, it has historically carried all sorts of significance, but it is not in the same league as baptism, which is the only pattern of initiation given to us in Scripture.  This paves the way for the inevitable conclusion (even if the Church of England has not yet caught up with it in practice) that confirmation is not essential for those baptised as adults.