New Life Downtown now concludes its Sunday service with a beautiful a capella rendition of an Anglican Doxology, a hymn of praise to the Trinity. Doxologies are found in eucharistic prayers and Catholic devotions like novenas and the rosary, time out of mind, but when was the last time you heard a doxology sung in a Roman Catholic church? In practice, many Roman Catholic churches have become increasingly low church. . . . So what is happening at New Life is noteworthy. More intriguing yet, it is happening at evangelical megachurches and formerly iconoclastic mainline churches all across the country. Whether it is a move of the Holy Spirit toward greater unity or cultural appropriation on a massive scale, old school Catholic practices are in. Yes, that celebrity Protestant pastor is wearing a stole with Our Lady of Guadalupe on it.

“Why Evangelical megachurches are embracing (some) Catholic traditions”. I have been skeptical in the past about arguments that young evangelicals are getting more high church, suspecting that the trend was located more in a few vocal intellectual types. This article suggests that I may have been wrong, and happily so. I retain my doubts about the sustainability or appropriateness of this move, but I’m cautiously optimistic.