Dear Friends in Christ,
Grace and peace to you in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As our joyful Eastertide progresses toward the Feast of the Holy Spirit, I am reminded that Trinity Sunday and the activation of the new customary regarding Sunday liturgies will soon be upon us. I am also mindful that some of you were absent from clergy conference where I covered this new guidance in greater depth than at the Chrism Mass, and that those who were present would nevertheless appreciate a written version of the guidance so that all things might be done decently and in good order. Please consider what follows as a partial update of the diocesan customary which nevertheless carries its full force.
On Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026, and all Sundays forward I require all parishes in the Diocese of Dallas to use the liturgies contained in the memorialized 1979 Book of Common Prayer in all Sunday worship. Here is a list of liturgical sources that will no longer be authorized on
Sunday:
1. Prayers and other texts from the Prayer Books of other Provinces in our Communion (for example, New Zealand or the Church of England’s Alternative Services Book).
2. Enriching Our Worship.
3. “Expansive language” versions of the 1979 BCP liturgies.
4. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer and Anglican Missal (except traditional language versions of the Rite II prayers of the 1979 BCP, which are specifically allowed on page 14 of the BCP), and other various sources within the Anglo-Catholic ethos.
Sung settings of service music (such as the Gloria and the Sanctus) which are congruent but not identical to the text of the 1979 BCP and sung psalms and canticles are excepted from this rule. Choral evensongs are also excepted, as are prayers of private devotion (particularly eucharistic) which are clearly demarcated as such in the leaflet. Additionally, the “old” 1979 BCP lectionary is permitted for use in all parishes: I especially commend the propers of the Great Three Days.
“One-off” services conducted on Sundays such as historical anniversaries or special liturgical observances such as All Souls’ Requiems or patronal feasts require permission and may expect to receive it. Weekday services will receive wide latitude and are not included in this restriction. Please do ask for permission, however, if a weekday service will be habitually using non-1979 BCP materials.
Thank you for your faithfulness as we begin a season of praying together from the Prayer Book as a sign of our deeper union in Christ and collegiality with one another.
With every blessing of the New Creation,
+Robert Price
VIII Bishop of Dallas
Feast of the Ascension, 2026