A Prayer Book for Australia (1995): A Report from the Diocese of Sydney's Diocesan Doctrinal Commission

Following the publication of A Prayer Book for Australia (1995) the Diocese of Sydney’s Diocesan Doctrinal Commission at the request of the Archbishop and the General Synod examined the book and submitted a report of its findings to the General Synod the following year. The report may be found here.

The report contains a very clear articulation of the eucharistic doctrines of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

The report is instructive in that it shows how the Commission evaluated the Holy Communion Services of A Prayer Book for Australia (1995)—what they considered in their assessment of the book.

The report also provides valuable insights into how eucharistic doctrine in a number of Anglican provinces has moved away from that of the 1662 Prayer Book.

A number of observations that the Diocese of Sydney’s Diocesan Doctrinal Commission make about the Second Order for Holy Communion in A Prayer Book for Australia (1995) also apply to the two forms of Holy Communion in Texts for Common Prayer.

The report and Samuel Leuenberger’s article, “Archbishop Cranmer’s Immortal Bequest: The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England:An Evangelistic Liturgy,” are definitely worthwhile reading. Together they show the extent that the Anglican Church in North America's Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force and College of Bishops have diverged from the doctrinal and worship principles of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles with Texts for Common Prayer.