CHURCH OF IRELAND PRESS OFFICE
Church of Ireland House, 61 - 67 Donegall Street, Belfast BT 2QH
Tel Belfast: (028) 90 232 909
 Press Officer Brian Parker (M): 07775 927 807

PRESS RELEASE

11 May 2004

NEW BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 2004 IS ‘BEST SELLER’

The new Book of Common Prayer is proving to be a best seller with 110,000 copies now printed and “queues” waiting for the books to arrive in parishes all over Ireland.

Speaking today at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Armagh, Bishop Harold Miller, Down and Dromore, and chairman of the church’s Liturgical Advisory Committee responsible for processing the new publication, said: “There is a real sense of achievement in seeing this beautiful new book in our hands. This is only the sixth Book of Common Prayer in the 450 years or so since the Reformation.”

However Bishop Miller said the new book in itself will never ‘do the trick’ in bringing worship to life.

“The work of the Liturgical Advisory Committee will continue in areas such as liturgical resources, liturgical formation and education in congregations, the use of the internet in worship and music and architecture.

“The worship in our churches must be literally four-dimensional. People must see in it a spirituality, which cannot be found in the world outside. Where that happens, we will be truly blessed, and my hope and prayer is that the work of the Liturgical Advisory Committee can be part of what it is to set the agenda for such a renewal of our worshipping lives,” said Bishop Miller.

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