Parish Communion movement

rdf:langString Parish Communion movement

rdf:langString The Parish Communion movement is a movement in the Church of England which aims to make Parish Communion on a Sunday the main act of worship in a parish. The movement's aims are often summarized as "the Lord's people around the Lord's table on the Lord's day" This movement has been significant in that one currently finds parish communion as the usual act of Sunday worship in Church of England parishes. Prior to this movement, the main act of parish collective worship had been morning prayer on a Sunday or a Sunday evening prayer or evensong. As the Book of Common Prayer states only that it is "binding on everybody to communicate three times a year", it was not the norm prior to this movement for the average Churchman to receive holy communion every week. That said, the Prayer Book does envisage communion being celebrated every Sunday and on the feast days. Prior to the movement, the sacrament of Holy Communion was seen as an individual "making his communion" as a private act of devotion. Communion usually occurred on Sunday either in a separate service in the early morning (often around eight o'clock) or after the non-communicants had left the church or chapel following the late-morning (normally at eleven o'clock) morning prayer. The movement is regarded as having changed the current Anglican practice such that a more collective service of communion in the mid-morning is often central to a parish's Sunday worship. The practice of non-communicants leaving the church while communion is offered has also retreated.