The Prayer Book Society of Canada or PBS is an organization within the Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada

The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...

 which "promotes the understanding and use of the Book of Common Prayer

Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...

 as a spiritual system of nurture for life in Christ". Founded in 1985, the PBS seeks to "ensure the retention of the doctrine and worship of the Book of Common Prayer as required by the Solemn Declaration of 1893, the founding document of the autonomous Anglican Church of Canada."

Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) used in Canada was originally composed in 1962, and is a national expression of a tradition of Christian worship stemming from the original BCP published by the Church of England in 1549. The original 1549 BCP was itself a revision of the medieval forms of worship in use within the English Church prior to the Reformation. The BCP simplified older forms, and made the Bible itself the standard of all Christian worship.

The BCP contains in one volume what previously had been contained in many separate tomes: The Daily Offices (which are the Church's daily Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer

Evening Prayer (Anglican)

Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening...

), the Liturgy of the Holy Communion, the Ordinal (services for the ordinations of bishops, priests, and deacons), as well as many other services of the Church, such as the Penitential Rite (used on Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...

), and the Baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 services.

History

In the face of new liturgical developments, including the discoveries of ancient texts, documents and practices in the 1970s, which brought about the use of the Book of Alternative Services

Book of Alternative Services

The Book of Alternative Services is the contemporary, inclusive-language liturgical book used alongside the Book of Common Prayer in most parishes of the Anglican Church of Canada...

(BAS) in Canada, thousands of Canadian Anglicans banded together to form a Society to preserve the traditions of Common Prayer in parishes across Canada. The Society is made up of clergy and laity within the Anglican Church of Canada, and is governed by a National Council made up of representatives from many dioceses in the Anglican Church of Canada. There are also local "Branches" and "Institutes" of the Society in many Canadian Dioceses.

The Prayer Book Society of Canada has sister organizations in Great Britain (under the patronage of Charles, Prince of Wales

Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

), The United States, and Australia, which share a common mandate and purpose. Prayer Book Societies around the world represent a broad spectrum of theological perspectives within Anglicanism. Members share a common desire to preserve the theological, liturgical and devotional tradition of Common Prayer within world-wide Anglicanism.

The Prayer Book Society of Canada is still one of the largest independent organizations within the Anglican Church of Canada.

External links

• Prayer Book Society of Canada Official website. Includes online edition of the Book of Common Prayer (Canada 1962 Edition).
• The Book of Common Prayer in Canadian French
  Canadian French
  Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
  
  .
• Lectionary Central A website for the study and use of the traditional Western Eucharistic lectionary preserved in the Book of Common Prayer.