Ordinariate ‘Commonwealth’ Daily Office to Inspire Prayer & Evangelization in 2021 (Updated)

(Updated June 16, 2021)

UNITED KINGDOM – The Catholic Truth Society has announced a September 2021 release for Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth edition), the long-anticipated Daily Office book for the Ordinariates of Our Lady of Walsingham and Our Lady of the Southern Cross. CTS has now made the book available for pre-order. 

The “Commonwealth edition” Office for these two Ordinariates of the Catholic Church, is based principally on the 1662 Book of Common Prayer Morning and Evening Prayer – their shared Anglican patrimony -- with the additional hours of Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline. And it includes a full lectionary and selection of hymns. In May, CTS announced it would be soon be taking pre-orders in the summer from those who register their interest in purchasing Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth edition).

Fr. Christopher Lindlar, convener of the working group behind Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth edition) discusses the latest updates with the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society: the roll-out plans, key features to spur prayerful discipleship, and how Catholics can positively support this project and the Ordinariates’ evangelization.


The Catholic Truth Society is listing Divine Worship: Daily Office in its forthcoming titles for Summer 2021. Do you know when precisely the Office will be available, and will there be a pre-order option for parishes and people? 
Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth Edition) will be available later in 2021. Given the current situation, this is as precise as it gets at present, but we’ll certainly make a more definite date known as soon as possible. Fortunately, it is already possible to register interest with the publishers, The Catholic Truth Society, and I strongly encourage anyone interested in purchasing a copy to make sure they do that here. The Ordinariates in the UK and Australia are both working on the practical arrangements so that our Parishes, Missions, and Groups will be able to place their orders in advance of the publication date. [Editor's update: Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth edition) is now available to pre-order at CTS's website.]

The most recent edition of The Portal discussed how well Divine Worship: Daily Office works with the Anglican music tradition -- and even includes hymns that Archbishop Cranmer had unsuccessfully sought to include in the original Book of Common Prayer. Can you expound on how Divine Worship: Daily Office accomplishes this?
The new Office book contains a generous provision of Office Hymns, both for seasons and for saints and holy days, for optional use; as well as for private recitation, these hymns can form a valuable part of the sung Office in common. Many of these hymns are very ancient and they play a part in receiving and handing on the faith once delivered to the saints. In a very real way, the Anglican translations of the Latin Office Hymns and other texts are a manifestation of the liturgical project of Anglicanorum coetibus.

 
Divine Worship: Daily Office's inclusion of the whole lectionary is a remarkable feat. How have you been able to do it organizationally within the book?
The Lessons for Morning and Evening Prayer through the liturgical year, and for saints and holy days, from the RSV 2CE Bible will be printed out in full in the Commonwealth Edition of the Office book; generous provision of marker ribbons will make it simple for the reader to keep their place during recitation of the Office. There are plenty of examples of the Book of Common Prayer bound with a Bible, or the Lessons arranged in this way, and we hope this will be useful to busy clergy and laity.


How do you see the features of this book nourishing the life of Christian discipleship and evangelization for the Ordinariate faithful? What features in particular would you draw attention to?
It is fervently hoped that this new volume in the Divine Worship series will nourish the personal and corporate life of prayer in the Ordinariates. Both discipleship and evangelisation flow from prayer. The beauty of the register of language, the traditionally-ordered provision of sacred Scripture, the supplementary contents will draw the praying disciple deeper into the life in Christ. In March, the clergy of the Ordinariate in the UK will be undertaking the first of a series of workshops to prepare them, and in turn their people, to make the most of everything this new Office has to offer.

 
Thank you so much, Fr. Lindlar. Are there ways that members and friends of the Ordinariate can show their support for this wonderful project and the Ordinariates’ program of evangelization?
Yes! First of all, you join yourself to our mission and work in prayer, but also by purchasing a copy of the Office for yourself and using it. These are not books to be left on the shelf. You might also purchase a copy for a friend, whether Catholic or Anglican; particularly someone who may be patiently discerning becoming a Catholic in the Ordinariates.

Pray too for God’s blessing on this project, that it may be to His glory and for the sanctification of times and seasons. If people would like to assist our work more than that, I warmly encourage them to be in contact by e-mail.


Editor’s note (updated 6-16-21): Click here to pre-order Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth edition) from the Catholic Truth Society. 

Click here to register your interest with The Catholic Truth Society in purchasing other Ordinariate related books.

Click here to contact the U.K. Ordinariate about assisting the Daily Office project.