Almost as surprising is how little credit it gives to Vatican II for the change:
The Revised Common Lectionary is a lectionary of readings or pericopes from the Bible for use in Protestant Christian worship, making provision for the liturgical year with its pattern of observances of festivals and seasons. It was preceded by the Common Lectionary, assembled in 1983, itself preceded by the COCU Lectionary, published in 1974 by the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). This lectionary was derived from various Protestant lectionaries in current use, which in turn were based on the 1969 Ordo Lectionum Missae, a three-year lectionary produced by the Roman Catholic Church following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.The Catholic part is just an oh-by-the-way. A fellow ex Episcopalian convert I know from St Thomas Hollywood days responded to yesterday's post:
In confirmation classes and other settings I was outspoken in acknowledging the Catholic origins of the Lectionary and the Vatican II influence on the contemporary BCP -- to the consternation of some. I would say that was part of what pointed me towards conversion. Naively, I thought there were many like me in the Episcopal Church who for those reasons, along with the various reasons there had always been a steady stream of converts, would welcome Anglicanorum coetibus.But it goes beyond this. Via hobby connections, I'm getting to know an ELCA pastor who'll be retiring this year. When he appears on Facebook posts, he's fully vested in an alb and chasuble. I'd looked this up earlier, and vestment suppliers clearly see a Lutheran market for that style of vestments, which struck me as an innovation. I asked him about this in a different context, and he replied,
When I was growing up, most Lutheran pastors wore surplice, cassock, and stole for Sunday liturgies. "Cassock albs" (with built in amice) became almost universal in the late 1970s, and with the introduction of weekly communion in many parishes with the publication of the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1979, lots of us began wearing chasubles.He followed up to say that Lutheranism had been Protestantized in the 18th century beyond Luther's intent and stressed with me Luther's belief in the Real Presence. (This is probably consonant with remarks by Bp Barron and Pope Francis that can be construed as Lutheran friendly.)
But what I'm seeing in exchanges like this is that Vatican II appears to have had an enormous, but largely unacknowledged, impact on Protestant thought, to the extent that not only did at least the ELCA revise its liturgy at the same time as TEC revised the BCP, but Lutheran pastors began to vest in alb and chasuble.
How did this occur? Why is so little said of it? If I were William James trying to update The Varieties of Religious Experience, I think I would argue from the effects of Vatican II, which Catholic critics seem to denigrate, but whose full impact may not be seen for many more generations.
