The Rev. Eddy Rix, rector of All Saints', Wynnewood, PA, and Vice President of the U.S. Prayer Book Society, and the Rev. Jason Patterson, a PBS Board member who leads St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Asheboro, North Carolina, write in the latest edition of the Society publication, Mandate, of visits over the summer to Uganda and Tanzania.

In the former nation, Fr. Rix presented, on behalf of both the English and U.S. Prayer Book Societies, hundreds of copies of the 1662 BCP requested for the Diocese of Ruwenzori's cathedral congregation by its former dean, Bishop Patrick Kyaligonza. In Tanzania, the two clerics spoke by request in the Dioceses of Lweru and Tabora on the BCP's history and theology. The latter invitation was the result of a conversation that Fr. Patterson and Lweru Bishop Jackton Lugumira had during the 2008 Lambeth Conference in Canterbury.

Patterson wrote that the bishop "voiced his shock and disappointment at the degree to which it had become clear to him that many western Anglicans no longer accept much of the theology set forth in our Anglican formularies, namely the Book of Common Prayer 1662 (with its American and Canadian descendants being the BCPs published in 1928 and 1962, respectively), the Ordinal and the 39 Articles of Religion.

"He was particularly distressed at the degree to which the biblical doctrines of marriage and human sexuality have been supplanted by a modern secular dogma which is antithetical to Christian teaching and morality," wrote the North Carolina cleric, who serves within the Anglican Mission in the Americas.

Lugumira contended that the Anglican Church therefore needs to begin using again the classic versions of the BCP "and by so doing to reclaim an important weapon in our fight for Christian orthodoxy within the Anglican Way," Patterson said. "Seeing that this is precisely in line with the mission of the PBS, the bishop invited a delegation from the Society to continue this conversation in the presence of his clergy."

Thanks to two bequests received during 2009, the Society was able to send Patterson and Rix to take up the invitation this past summer. In his report - which also gave an engaging account of each Tanzanian venue that the two clerics visited - Patterson said the first set of lectures was given at Muleba for gathered Anglican clergy, evangelists and catechists.

During the morning session for clergy, Fr. Rix taught "on the history of the BCP, with special attention to the societal and cultural causes of revisionist liturgical theology." Then Fr. Patterson discussed the theology of the prayer book system, "examining some of the major biblical doctrines which the BCP both assumes and teaches," he noted.

"In attendance was a venerable old canon who had been serving the church in Tanzania long enough to remember when the BCP 1662 (in Swahili) had been in use. He reported that this was still the version that he uses to prepare couples for marriage, for unlike the modern revisions, the 1662 sets forth a vision of marriage that is grounded in the Bible."

Patterson said the canon "spoke forcefully to the gathered clergy of their need to apply themselves to learning the doctrine of the classic prayer book, and like his bishop, he argued that to do so would greatly enhance the clergy's ability to teach sound doctrine, particularly in the areas of marriage and sexuality. "In the afternoon we had a session with the laymen of the diocese - the evangelists and catechists.

These are individuals who are truly on the front line of the church's mission," Patterson noted. "When commissioned by the bishop, they are given a Bible and a bicycle before being sent to their assignment, which is often a very small village, sometimes in the bush, with few amenities; there, they live, build relationships and teach others about the Christian Faith." Patterson wrote: "In all honesty, neither Fr. Rix nor I really knew, at the beginning of the day, how our lectures were going to be received. But after we heard the quality and insightfulness of the questions and comments, he and I both realized that these men 'got it.'"

Not only did they understand what we were saying, "they enthusiastically embraced the idea that the classic BCP is a more trustworthy guide to godly worship and living than are the modern liturgies which have exacted such a great influence not simply on the liturgy but upon the theology of those churches which use them." The two North American clerics went on to conduct similar lectures in Tanzania's largest (and still-growing) diocese, Tabora, which is led by the Rt. Rev. Sadock Makaya.

IN A SEPARATE TRIP, Fr. Rix traveled (as earlier noted) to Uganda's Diocese of Ruwenzori to visit a mission to orphans founded by his assistant at Wynnewood, Fr. Samuel Murangi, and to formally present the congregation of St. John's Cathedral, Fort Portal, with 700 copies of the 1662 BCP on behalf of the U.S. PBS and its sister organization in England, which raised the funds to purchase and ship the books.

This was in response to a request made about a year ago by the aforementioned Bishop Kyaligonza to Fr. Murangi. Then dean of the cathedral, Kyaligonza asked for copies of the historic liturgy for the edification of the cathedral's English-speaking congregation. "The principle liturgy of the diocese is the 1662 in the local Batoro language, but the cathedral congregation has a well-attended English service among the four (jam-packed.) it holds every Lord's Day," Rix noted.

"For each member of our congregation to hold in his hand and worship with that liturgy which is foundational to our faith as Anglican Christians would be of tremendous benefit to us," Kyaligonza wrote in his original appeal for the prayer books. Though other rites are allowed in the "Mother" Church of England, the 1662 BCP remains the C of E's official liturgy. As well, the 1662 liturgy is the one most used, in English or translation, around the Anglican Communion, and has been adopted by the international Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) as its standard.

In addition to presenting the prayer books in Fort Portal, Rix preached at the cathedral and - drawing on talks that he and Patterson gave in Tanzania - had an engaging discussion about liturgy and worship with a number of the local clergymen.

Bishop Kyaligonza highlighted Rix's visit and summarized his sermon at the cathedral in his weekly radio broadcast, heard by over a quarter-million people in Western Uganda and Eastern Congo. Both Fathers Rix and Patterson think this African mission has opened the door to new opportunities for ministry in Africa, if resources allow. The interest shown by Tanzanian clergy and laity has already spurred thoughts of another larger seminar on the Book of Common Prayer in Lweru or Tabora, Patterson noted.

Fr. Rix wrote that it "became increasingly apparent during [the] visit that the input of the Prayer Book Societies is needed in dioceses such as Ruwenzori," both in making available sufficient copies of local, faithful translations of the BCP, and in assisting local liturgical revision commissions in Ruwenzori and elsewhere in avoiding errors that have crept into liturgies adopted by "most of the Western and not a few of the African Churches."

BCP A Means Of Easing U.S. Divisions?

Meanwhile, Mandate Editor Dr. Roberta Bayer argues in the November-December edition of the magazine that the classic BCP could be of great help in easing divisions and improving doctrinal cohesion among and within various conservative Anglican groups.

Salient among such groups (though not specifically named by Dr. Bayer) is the new Anglican Church in America; its constituent conservative and orthodox jurisdictions have joined the FCA in accepting the 1662 BCP as their standard, though use of the 1979 Prayer Book, rather than the 1662 or 1928 BCP, seems to dominate in the ACNA, and there are disagreements therein as well over women's ordination, which is not supported by the historic Ordinal.

Writing on "The Limits of Pluralism: Freedom Tempered by Ordered Worship," Dr. Bayer maintains that vitality in the Anglican Way - diminished by the multiplication of conservative groups that differ in some respects - might be recovered or improved by "a common reading of the Bible, united in the practice of the faith as instructed by the Book of Common Prayer." An Anglican Prayer Book

However, while urging faithful Anglicans to use one of the classic BCP editions, primarily for doctrinal reasons, the PBS is (perhaps surprisingly) not insisting that they accept the Elizabethan language of those versions. One of the Society's most popular offerings, in fact, is An Anglican Prayer Book, which provides contemporary English language services based on those in the BCP and The Ordinal in their 1662, 1928 and 1962 editions.

Originally commissioned by the Anglican Mission in the Americas and now in its second printing, this volume - in which former Society President, the late Dr. Peter Toon, had a major hand - is not intended to replace the standard BCP editions, but to provide a bridge to them for today's faithful Anglicans accustomed to the language of more recent liturgical revisions.

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