Mindfulness, masculinity and liturgy: a conversation between Bill Paterson and Léon Van Ommen

ABSTRACT Bill Paterson and Léon Van Ommen were participants in an online conference in 2021 entitled, Responding to the Sacred: Liturgy and Gender in Conversation. These two papers encapsulate something of the dialogue that took place between Paterson and Van Ommen on that occasion. Whilst many people may now be more aware of how women and girls are implicated in liturgical language liturgy, reflecting patriarchal attitudes, Paterson and Van Ommen took on the task of discussing the implications of such gendered language for men. Paterson reflects on the ways in which the carefully structured practices of mindfulness reflect a purpose not unlike that of the Church’s liturgy in seeking to provide a ‘blue-print for change’. In response, as a teacher and author of work on Church liturgy – especially as this impacts on marginalised groups -Van Ommen highlights ways in which his approach to the liturgy both conforms with and differs from Paterson’s practices.