The expression ‘synoptic orthodoxy’ will be used in what follows to designate the view, first, that the authors of the first and third gospels oth used the second gospel in a form very similar to that in which we have it; second, that they neither of them had access to the other's work, but both used a document consisting mainly of sayings of Christ (Q) as well as the second gospel; and third, that all the gospels were originally written in Greek, however much their language may have been coloured by the Semitic background of the authors or of the good news which they proclaimed. For the moment the first three gospels will be referred to respectively simply as ‘Matthew’, ‘Mark’ and ‘Luke’, without prejudice to the identity of their authors; a more complex terminology will have to be coined when the need arises.

The liturgy, or work, of the Church has two aspects under which, in the proper sense, we may regard it, and this because whilst Christ in physical body was incarnate as a single man, in his ecclesial body he some indwelling sense incarnate in many men, and these men, ‘the community of Christ's faithful’, perforce act sometimes individually and sometimes corporately. But whether acting corporately or individually, they must, as members of the Church, manifest the work of the Church. The solemnization of the liturgy, enacted corporately through the hallowed traditions and forms of public worship, is obverse of what is commonly called the private life of the individual Catholic.

We all know that the essential element for a good confession is sorrow for sin, and it is a striking thought that ‘sorrow, in the Sacrament of Penance is as indispensible for the Sacrament as water is for Baptism, or as bread is for the Holy Eucharist'. We all connect baptism with water, but does the word ‘sorrow’ spring to our minds as easily when we speak of the sacrament of penance? It would seem not, for we speak of going to confession and of stressing the telling of the tale of our sins, yet without this interior attitude of sorrow and repentance there is no sacrament; the words of absolution are pronounced, but without sorrow they are not efficacious; no venial sin can be forgiven without repentance, no bishop, no pope can help. Even Christ himself cannot help us if we reject his offer. In this sacrament, therefore, it is the right attitude of repentance that is so important.

There is a characteristic attitude towards women in the Church which expresses itself in certain customs and regulations. I have tried to find out something about the assumptions behind this attitude and have thought it worth reporting and commenting on what I found, because I suspect that much of it will be as surprising to others as it was to me.

The customs which set apart the sexes in the Church begin to impinge very early in life. The little girl sees her brothers having fun serving on the altar, initiated and ‘in the know’, while she has to stay inner pew, bored, an outsider. The boys usually have precedence at first communion and confirmation, and even on her wedding day, the only day in her life when a woman is allowed in the sanctuary, she comes second throughout the ceremony.

We all know that the mass is the centre of our lives, that it is the most important thing in the life of the Church; but often we have to make a real effort to see this. It is not the obvious proposition it ought to be. We even have to make an effort to show that the Church really thinks this, rather than simply saying it for effect. What began as a common meal, feeding the people of God both with physical food and with the food of scripture, has become a largely silent ritual performed by one man with his back to the people in a dead foreign language. The bread which we eat has been carefully manufactured to look as little like bread as possible, and there has grown up a tradition that one should, out of reverance, avoid chewing it. Clearly there are reasons why all this should be so, some of them better than others, but looking at our modern liturgy from a distance shows why it is so hard to believe the truth about it.