Standing Liturgical Commission Hears Committee Reports
Diocesan Press Service. January 22, 1975 [75027]
DALLAS, Tex. -- The Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church, working toward a July deadline for completion of the manuscript of a Draft Proposed Book of Common Prayer, met at the Bishop Mason Retreat and Conference Center here January 7-10.
The Commission, under the chairmanship of the Rt. Rev. Chilton Powell, Bishop of Oklahoma, heard reports from several of its working committees and created a new Education and Communications Committee to promote better understanding of the revision process and of the Draft Book. The new committee will include representatives of several media and education groups within the Church as well as members of the education and communication offices of the Executive Council staff.
The Rev. Leo Malania, Co-ordinator for Prayer Book Revision, presented some preliminary page designs for the new rites of Baptism and Confirmation revised by the Standing Liturgical Commission after the recent House of Bishops meeting in Oaxtepec, Mexico. The rites have been authorized for trial use during the remainder of the current triennium by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies. The newly revised text is being published by the Church Hymnal Corporation and will be available in mid-February.
The complete Draft Proposed Prayer Book must be ready for printing by September 1975 in order to be available by Easter 1976 for Bishops and Deputies to the 1976 General Convention. The Convention, which meets at Minneapolis/St. Paul in September 1976, will consider the Draft in detail and may make any changes it desires before taking the first constitutional action on its adoption or rejection.
If Bishops and Deputies make extensive changes in the Draft, and if it is passed by Convention, it will be re-issued and will then become the "Proposed Book of Common Prayer. " The Proposed Book may be authorized for trial use in congregations during the 1976-79 triennium. If the Proposed Book receives a second positive vote from the 1979 General Convention (Denver, Colo.), it will then become the Episcopal Church's official Book of Common Prayer. The Church's current official Prayer Book was last revised :in 1928.
The Commission, which includes four bishops, twelve priests, and six lay persons, will meet again at the Bishop Mason Center March 11-14.
Following are highlights of committee reports:
The Psalter Committee, the Rev. Canon Charles M. Guilbert, chairman, reported on a number of revisions of the draft text in response to critical comments and suggestions received from clergy, laity, and the working committees of the Commission. Revisions in the Psalter should be completed by April.
The Commission also considered and approved a revised draft of The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage.
The Rev. Robert Estill, chairman of the Committee on the Use of Scripture, reported progress in the committee's complete re-examination of the Eucharistic and Daily Office lectionaries. The committee recommended adoption of a single Sunday lectionary to be used at the principal service of the day, whether Holy Eucharist or Morning Prayer; retention of the schedule of Gospel readings, to conform as far as possible to the lectionaries used by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others; some lengthening of Epistles and Old Testament readings; a thorough review of current Old Testament lections, with an eye toward greater use of Old Testament readings at the Eucharist; a change in the Daily Office Psalter readings from an 8- to a 7-week cycle, allotting psalms with creation/redemption themes for Sunday use; and a revised scheme of gradual psalms for the Eucharist.
The Committee on the Holy Eucharist, through its chairman, the Rt. Rev. James Montgomery, Bishop of Chicago, reported progress in reviewing the proposed rites, taking into consideration the many comments and suggestions received from many areas of the Church. The committee also presented the first draft of a new alternate canon for rite I and reported that a special opening acclamation for penitential seasons is in preparation.
Mr. H. Harrison Tillman, chairman of the Committee on Rubrics, presented a preliminary report outlining the need for clear definition of the several roles of bishop, priest, deacon, licensed lay reader, and other appointed lay persons in various services.
The Committee on the Church Year, the Rev. H. Boone Porter, chairman, recommended amending the Ash Wednesday rite, especially with regard to an optional provision for the imposition of ashes, together with a number of other changes designed to highlight the specific themes of each of the seasons of the Church Year. The committee also recommended the provision of alternative Old Testament readings in the Eucharistic proper for Sundays in the Easter season, the strengthening of creation themes in the proper for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, and some amplification of the Good Friday and Easter rites.
The Committee on "Singability " of Texts, chaired by the Rt. Rev. Morgan Porteus, Suffragan Bishop of Connecticut, reported on their continuing study of various texts which are normally sung during a service.
Mr. James Dunning, chairman of the Committee on Burial Rites, presented a redraft of the rite I service. The rite II version is to be given further study.
The Rev. H. Boone Porter, chairman of the Committee on the Ordinal, presented a summary of replies to a questionnaire on Pontifical Rites which had been sent to all bishops and diocesan liturgical commissions. Dr. Porter said that the Ordinal Committee is reviewing the ordination rites, to take into account many of the changes suggested in the questionnaire responses.