Liturgical Studies

The worshipful life and liturgy take a central position in Catholic tradition.The church is only indeed constituted and substantiated for the purpose of worship in the assembly of the faithful. Accordingly, liturgy studies play a prominent role in Old Catholic theology. Liturgy is located within the triangle of historical theology (the history of various liturgical traditions) and systematic theology (sacramental and practical theology in particular). Liturgy as a practical theological subject is not only an applied science but also critically analyses and reflects on traditional liturgical texts and actions, and more recent ritual practices. Liturgical studies occupy a prominent place in the Old Catholic theology program.

Students actively engage in the most significant stages of liturgical history, dealing in detail with the times and seasons of the liturgical church year, with the theology and the design of the Eucharistic celebration, and – if applicable – in dialogue with systematic theology – the theology of the sacraments. During the practical semester and clerical training program, students are also introduced to specific liturgical practices (practising and reflecting on the most significant procedures, theory and practice for special occasions, music in a liturgy and liturgical singing). Old Catholic liturgy provides students of Reformed theology the opportunity to get to know the liturgy of a Catholic tradition at an ecumenical faculty and to reflect on their Reformed liturgy against this background.

The Centre of Competence in Liturgy, co-directed by Prof Dr Angela Berlis, was founded in 2010. Old Catholic theologians are highly involved in the work of this ecumenical centre.

In recent decades, Old Catholic liturgical research in Bern has focussed on different aspects. Prof. Dr Herwig Aldenhoven (1933-2002) carried out research into the theology and form of the Eucharistic Prayer with a systematic theological orientation. His ideas on the consecratory character of the Eucharistic prayer as a whole are not only significant in terms of sacramental ethology, but have also influenced the formulation of modern Old Catholic Eucharistic prayers in the recent past.

The works of Dr Koenraad Ouwens (especially on the liturgy of Gallicanism) and Prof. Dr Urs von Arx (especially on the history of prayer and hymn books in the Old Catholic Church in Switzerland) focus more on the history of liturgy.

The results of research in liturgy have always had an impact on the liturgical practice of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and, in particular, of the Old Catholic Church in Switzerland. Recently, the liturgical studies of Herwig Aldenhoven and Urs von Arx have been directly incorporated into the revision process of the liturgical books of the Old Catholic Church in Switzerland, which culminated in the publication of a new prayer and hymn book in 2004 and was officially completed in 2016. The results of Old Catholic liturgical research have also been taken up in liturgical ecumenism, for example at the congresses of the Societas Liturgica.

Various Old Catholic liturgical scholars have contributed as authors and composers of hymns that have also found their way into the hymnals of other churches as songs and hymns.