The appendices provide some welcome additional material, and those together with full lectionary make this book eminently suitable for laity and clergy alike.
The book is arranged in a manner very conducive to praying the offices in typical BCP fashion the optional texts (hymns, antiphons) are in separate sections from the mandatory parts (such as the collects) so that no one feels like they’re forced to employ every option at all times.I’m sure no one else will mind the update, though.) (I find this a bit odd, since DW:DO:CE is based on the 1662 and proposed 1928 BCPs, which retain the traditional wording. The familiar version of the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father who art”) is used throughout, instead of the older version (“Our Father which art”) found in Church of England BCPs to this day.The Athanasian Creed (here the memorable 1662 version) is prescribed at Mattins on several days throughout the year, and the Litany is recommended on certain days (Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays) as well.(If you’re a hardcore Anglo-Catholic, whether Catholic or Anglican, I recommend instead the Anglican Breviary or, especially, the Oxford/LAP Monastic Diurnal.) That being said, the book still provides a good number of optional antiphons and hymns (from the wonderful English Hymnal) for those so inclined frankly more than I’ll ever use. This is a real Prayer Book office through and through! The dearth of proper antiphons and other Roman excesses is most welcome if you want all that, this is probably not the book for you. Morning and Evening Prayer are essentially the 1662 offices (including the penitential opening sentences) with some slight modifications.(There’s not much bad to say about it, so I expect the review will end up being a single, albeit lengthy, post.) Until then, here are my initial impressions of what is easily the finest family-friendly, Catholic prayer book on the market today. I’ll write a comprehensive review of DW:DO:CE after I’ve consistently used the book for prayer for a month or two. It may not be a Book of Common Prayer (BCP), but it’s a great prayer book! DW:DO:CE seems to be a fantastic office book that borrows some of the best of classical Anglican liturgies, and does so without crudely shoehorning traditional Anglican prayers onto contemporary forms. I have to say, I am extremely impressed with what the UK and Australian ordinariates have produced together with Catholic Truth Society. At long last, my Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth Edition) (DW:DO:CE) preorders have arrived! By a quite happy coincidence they showed up on the patronal feast of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.