Tuesday, May 25, 2004

THE BOOK OF DIVINE WORSHIP: The R C adaptation of the ECUSA 1979 Prayer Book

Since the Episcopal Church [ECUSA] began to ordain women in the 1970s there has been a continual migration of persons and occasionally parts of , or whole congregations, from the ECUSA to the Roman Catholic Church. Most converts have been happy to enter into the normal life and liturgy of the local or the chosen R C parish. However, a minority has made use of the provision by the Vatican of an Anglican-use liturgy, especially where a former Episcopal priest (now re-ordained) is involved.

The public liturgy for these former Episcopalians has now been published as The Book of Divine Worship (2003) by the Newman House Press of Mt Pocono, Pa. It is a massive volume of 974 pages, on regular not India paper.

Its basic sources are threefold : The 1979 Prayer Book of the ECUSA, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer of PECUSA and the English translation of the Missale Romanum of 1973. The full title declares the nature of the book: The Book of Divine Worship being elements of The Book of Common Prayer revised and adapted according to the Roman Rite for use by Roman Catholics coming from the Anglican Tradition. Approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America and confirmed by the Apostolic See.

Following the layout of the 1979 Prayer Book (which is assumed to be the latest edition of “The Book of Common Prayer”!) there is a provision of Rite One and Rite Two liturgies for most but not all services and prayers. Daily Morning Prayer, Daily Evening Prayer, The Holy Eucharist, Holy Baptism, Holy Matrimony, The Burial of the Dead and the Collects/Prefaces for the Christian Year come in a traditional and a modern form of language. Here The Book of Divine Worship is more generous to traditional language than is the ECUSA 1979 Book where there is no Rite One provision for Baptism or Matrimony. Further, the R C Book provides the whole Psalter in traditional language, using the text from the 1928 BCP. In respect of Eucharistic Prayers, there is one in Rite One and four in Rite Two.

Strangely in this R C Book there is only one form of the Litany (traditional language) one form of Noonday Prayer & Compline (contemporary language) and one form of the Easter Vigil (contemporary language). Also the form of the Creed in the Rite Two modern language Eucharist begins “I believe” and is the traditional English translation. And, surprisingly, the innovative formula “Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit” from an experimental 1967 ECUSA liturgy (and retained in the 1979 Book) is also retained at the beginning of the Eucharist instead of the Roman Catholic norm of “In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

What appears to have happened in the making of this Book is that the editors began with the 1979 ECUSA liturgy, added to it alternatives in traditional language from the 1928 PECUSA Book of Common Prayer, and then attempted to make all the texts conform doctrinally to the Missale Romanum and Roman Catholic dogma.

We need to remember that not a few of the converts who crossed the Tiber had been users not of the 1979 Book but of the 1928 BCP and thus generous provision was made for them in terms of provision of traditional language, which they can use virtually for all services and all the time, if they use the KJV or the RSV Bible for the Lectionary readings. Yet, recalling what the older Anglo-Catholics used when in the ECUSA, the provisions in traditional language do not include either the use of the Consecration Prayer of the Tridentine Rite in English or of the ancient Eucharistic Lectionary associated with that Rite and with the historic BCP. In the Rite One the Eucharistic Prayer is the modern Roman Canon rendered into traditional English and set into the Rite One structure of the 1979 Book.

Apparently this provision of an Anglican-type liturgy is of limited duration for it is expected that only some converts will need such a provision to assist their full entry into the R C Communion.

The Rev’d Dr. Peter Toon Ascensiontide 2004

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