All dioceses in the Episcopal Church regularly rely on the 1979 Book of Common Prayer to structure their worship services. The bishop of the Diocese of Dallas wants his diocese’s congregations to refrain from using any other liturgical text, at least on Sundays.
Last month, Bishop Robert Price issued new guidance for Sunday liturgies in Texas’s third largest city, effective May 31. Price’s guidance specifically advised congregations not to incorporate several other commonly used supplemental liturgical resources, including the church’s “expansive language” versions of the liturgy and the collection of liturgies known as Enriching Our Worship.
Out of “pastoral concern,” Price said he is asking clergy to refrain from using expansive language, “as an act of gracious restraint, sacrificial love, and fellowship with their sisters and brothers in Christ.”
