Is anybody using The Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham?

[Russ_of_Tokyo]

As a former Anglican I’m intrigued by the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham which is the Catholic version of the Anglican Daily Prayers in traditional English and goes through the entire Psalter from beginning to end every month. The Psalms are the Coverdale Psalter and the Scripture portions are apparently the RSV-CE. I drool at the thought of using it. But I don’t understand why it is so big when the entire Book of Common Prayer was compact and could fit in the pocket.

If non-ordinariate Catholic laity use the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham instead of the Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office, would it still be considered the Prayer of the Church, or a private devotion?

By the way, as far as I know, the bishops conference in Japan has not approved or rejected any English version of the Liturgy of the Hours, so the restrictions concerning English versions might be different here if they exist at all.

 

[andrewstx]

Do you have a source for this customary available to the US? I have a statue of O L of Walsingham imported at Great cost from the UK, but that is all.

I am sure you are aware of the Catholic shrine at Walsingham, but it seems that no one in the US knows about it. The only place I have seen the statues has been in Episcopal churches, a shame.

 

[porthos11]

As a former Anglican I’m intrigued by the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham which is the Catholic version of the Anglican Daily Prayers in traditional English and goes through the entire Psalter from beginning to end every month. The Psalms are the Coverdale Psalter and the Scripture portions are apparently the RSV-CE. I drool at the thought of using it. But I don’t understand why it is so big when the entire Book of Common Prayer was compact and could fit in the pocket.

If non-ordinariate Catholic laity use the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham instead of the Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office, would it still be considered the Prayer of the Church, or a private devotion?

By the way, as far as I know, the bishops conference in Japan has not approved or rejected any English version of the Liturgy of the Hours, so the restrictions concerning English versions might be different here if they exist at all.

This is purely my opinion and I have no authority or sources to back this up. My thoughts are no, you would not. The Customary is not a work of the Church but a compilation of Msgr. Burnham for the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. The Ordinariate has stated that this work is interim while the Divine Office is finalized, and its use is only “tolerated” until that time.

Given its status within the Ordinariate, I have difficulty seeing how it could be considered the prayer of the Church for regular diocesan laity. But again, only my thoughts; offered with a large grain of salt.

 

[Russ_of_Tokyo]

As I recall, I think I read that the Ordinariate Order of Mass is interim and won’t be finalized for a few years, because it needs to be more widely approved, while the Customary (daily prayer book) is complete. Of course most publications get revised second editions etc. as typos surface…

The Customary has the “nihil obstat” and the “imprimatur” which is to be expected, but that does not have any bearing on the “Praying the Prayer of the Church with the Church” issue.

I found that I can order it from Amazon sellers, but haven’t taken the plunge and am not sure if I will… Maybe I need a show of hands.

I love the idea of praying with the Universal Church, but it would be a wonderful dream-come-true to be able to do that AND at the same time pray the entire Psalms from beginning to end every month and use the RSV-CE for Scripture – all with Church approval.