A216 Calendar Reformation

Recent iterations of the Episcopal Church’s calendar have created competition between different commemorations. Proposed Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 furthers this competition by providing two different calendar lists, one for which biographies and lessons are provided and another list of Supplemental/Local observances for which no biographies or lessons are provided in that volume. This has created an overall confusion of priority of certain commemorations over others and of the location of their respective resources. Therefore, we propose to refine and focus the calendars of the Episcopal Church by better incorporating and purposing the Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer in its relationship with Lesser Feasts and Fasts. The amendment repurposes the Book of Common Prayer Calendar by limiting its Days of Optional observance (a category explained under section 5 on pages 17-18 of the Book of Common Prayer) to Biblical commemorations only. Other days of optional observance would be retained, however, in the Calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. This amendment would not change major Holy Days and Days of Special Devotion (the dark letter days on the Church Calendar). This approach would eliminate the situation that would be created by adoption of Proposed Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 in which non-Biblical days of optional observance are stratified in different categories (those that appear in the BCP Calendar, those in Lesser Feasts and Fasts, and those listed in Lesser Feasts and Fasts as Local/Optional Observances for which no proper collects and lesson are provided), thereby creating a level playing field for all non-Biblical Days of Optional Observance. This proposal is in keeping with Thomas Cranmer’s original simplification of the prayer book Calendar in 1549, and with the practice of the Episcopal Church prior to the 1963 publication of The Calendar and the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for the Lesser Feasts and Fasts and for Special Occasions, which began the current expansion of the Days of Optional Observance on the Calendar beyond Biblical figures. An accompanying resolution would recommit Proposed Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for re-editing and simplification.