The House of Deputies passed a resolution that authorizes the use of the lectionary for Sundays and Holy Days as published in the Book of Common Prayer (1979).
Proposed by the Bishop Daniel Martins of Springfield, Resolution B009, which was already approved by the House of Bishops, was drafted as a response to problems discovered since the official adoption of the Revised Common Lectionary.
According to the resolution, those problems include the length of readings and a change in the observance of All Saints’ Day. Use of the 1979 lectionary must be authorized by ecclesiastical authority.
Deputies disregarded the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music Committee’s recommendation against the resolution.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
