Standing Liturgical Commission Meets
Diocesan Press Service. April 9, 1973 [73094]
DALLAS, Tex. -- At its second meeting of the year, the Standing Liturgical Commission completed most of its work for the current triennium, in connection with the program of Prayer Book Revision assigned to it by the General Conventions of 1964, 1967, and 1970.
The Commission completed the revision of all 150 Psalms. These are now to be published by the Church Hymnal Corporation in time for consideration by the General Convention of 1973, under the title "Prayer Book Psalter Revised." The Chairman of the Drafting Committee responsible for the revision is the Rev. Canon Charles M. Guilbert, Custodian of the Book of Common Prayer and Secretary of the Standing Liturgical Commission.
The Commission reviewed and approved the text of a new Catechism prepared by a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of the Rt. Rev. Stanley H. Atkins, Bishop of Eau Claire. This is also to be published by the Church Hymnal Corporation before the General Convention meets in the fall of 1973.
Among its other actions, the Commission:
* Reviewed and approved the Introductory Studies and Consecration of a Church, and The Beginning of a New Ministry. Both services with the introductions will be published in Prayer Book Studies 28. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee is the Rev. H. Boone Porter, Jr., Director of the Roanridge Rural Church Institute, Kansas City, Mo.
* Approved for publication the scheme for a Lectionary for Holy Days. At its previous meetings the Commission had approved a Daily Lectionary for Morning and Evening Prayer and a rearrangement of the Daily Office. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee is the Rev. Dr. Charles W. F. Smith of the Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va.
* Requested its Drafting Committee on the Ministration to the Sick to continue work on the draft of a Healing Service. Mr. James D. Dunning of New York is Chairman of the Drafting Committee.
* Reviewed again the texts of the revised rite of "Holy Baptism" and "A Form for the Affirmation of Baptismal Vows with the Laying-on of Hands by the Bishop also called Confirmation. " The texts are to be distributed in the first instance to the members of the Theological and Prayer Book Committees of the House of Bishops, and later to all the members of the House of Bishops pursuant to their request. The rites are to be published in Prayer Book Studies 26.
* Approved the publication of a Supplement to Prayer Book Studies 26 containing a rationale of the new rites of Christian Initiation. This has been reviewed both by the Commission and its Editorial Committee and is now in process of further revision by Dr. Daniel B. Stevick, Professor of Liturgics and Homiletics at the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, in consultation with other members of the Drafting Committee on Christian Initiation. The Drafting Committee's Chairman is the Rev. Bonnell Spencer, O.H.C.
* Completed work on "Lesser Feasts and Fasts ", and approved its publication, together with an Appendix containing brief biographies of the Saints and other notable members of the Church commemorated in the Lesser Feasts. The biographies were prepared by the Drafting Committee on the Eucharistic Lectionary, under the Chairmanship of the Rev. Dr. Massey H. Shepherd, Jr.
* Reviewed other rites authorized for trial use in 1971-73: the Holy Eucharist; Pastoral Offices; Ordination of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; and the Proper for Sundays and other Holy Days. The Commission agreed on a schedule of textual and rubrical changes for submission to the General Convention.
The timetable for completing the work of Prayer Book Revision recommended by the Commission, and concurred in by the House of Bishops in October 1972, calls for continued use of services authorized by the General Convention as alternatives to the services in the present Book of Common Prayer, and the submission of a Proposed Revised Book of Common Prayer to the General Convention of 1976 (or 1977, if a system of biennial conventions is adopted).
That Convention may take the first constitutional step in the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. It would then be followed by a second reading of the proposed Book at the following Convention, probably in 1979. Under the terms of Article X of the Constitution, revision of the Book of Common Prayer requires the affirmative action of two successive General Conventions.
In the meantime, the Standing Liturgical Commission will continue to receive and to study the comments and suggestions transmitted to it either through Diocesan Liturgical Committees or directly by interested members of the Church.