The Bishops’ Conference establishes that, at all Sunday Masses on 11–12 June 2016, each parish prays for Her Majesty the Queen to mark her 90th birthday by including such an intention in the Bidding Prayers and by reciting at the end of Mass (after the Prayer after Communion and before the Final Blessing) the Prayer for the Queen.
Parishes may also wish to sing the chant Domine, salvum fac and/or the National Anthem.
The Prayer for the Queen and additional resources are available here.
The following resources are now available on the Liturgy Office website:
The annual Calendar Notes for 2017 are now available as well as the draft Notes for 2018:
With the publication of the Order of Confirmation which comes into use at Easter 2016 this may affects the celebration of the Easter Vigil where Confirmation takes place. As a guide for celebrants the text of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: Appendix I has been updated with texts from the Roman Missal and the Order of Confirmation.
At the plenary meeting of the Bishops’ Conference in November 2015 the following decisions were made relating to the liturgy of the Church:
The Bishops’ Conference supports the work of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) in preparing a revision of the Liturgy of the Hours. This will include the use of the Revised Grail Psalter (2010) in future editions of the Liturgy of the Hours in England and Wales.
The Bishops’ Conference asks that further work be done on the Proper Texts in the Liturgy of the Hours for the National Calendar of England.
The Bishops’ Conference agrees to seek the approval of the Holy See for the use of the Revised Standard Version (2nd Catholic edition 2010) and the Revised Grail Psalter (2010) in the preparation of a Lectionary for use in England and Wales.
For a complete list of resolutions.
In a letter published on 6 August Pope Francis has announced a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation:
Sharing the concern of my beloved brother, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, for the future of creation (cf. Laudato Si’, 7-9), and at the suggestion of his representative, Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum, who took part in the presentation of the Encyclical Laudato Si’ on care for our common home, I wish to inform you that I have decided to institute in the Catholic Church the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” which, beginning this year, is to be celebrated on 1 September, as has been the custom in the Orthodox Church for some time.
The purpose of the day will be to
offer individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live. The celebration of this Day, on the same date as the Orthodox Church, will be a valuable opportunity to bear witness to our growing communion with our Orthodox brothers and sisters. We live at a time when all Christians are faced with the same decisive challenges, to which we must respond together, in order to be more credible and effective. It is my hope that this Day will in some way also involve other Churches and ecclesial Communities, and be celebrated in union with similar initiatives of the World Council of Churches.
The day has been incorporated into the Cycle of Prayer under the Autumn Intention: The Harvest, the Fruits of Human Work, and the Reverent Use of Creation.
The monthly Liturgical Calendar for 2016 has now been posted to the website.
For those wishing to look ahead the draft Calendar Notes for 2017 are available here.
The following celebrations have been added to the Universal Calendar: 11 October – St John XXIII, 22 October – St John Paul II. Both are Optional Memorials.
The Cycle of Prayer is how the Days of Special Prayer are organised with an encouragement that appropriate prayer and activity takes place within the season.
The Bishops’ Conference has made a number of changes to the Cycle of Prayer which are effective from 2016:
Sundays: Year C
Weekdays: Year II
| 1st Sunday of Advent | Sunday 29 November 2015 |
| Christmas | Friday 25 December 2015 |
| Epiphany of the Lord | Sunday 3 January 2015 |
| Ash Wednesday | Wednesday 10 February |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday 27 March |
| Ascension of the Lord | Sunday 8 May |
| Pentecost | Sunday 15 May |
| Body and Blood of the Lord | Sunday 29 May |
| St Peter & St Paul | Wednesday 29 June |
| The Assumption | Sunday 14 August |
| All Saints | Tuesday 1 November |
| All Souls | Wednesday 2 November |
Some of the most visited pages on the Liturgy Office website are the monthly Calendar pages. They provide information for each day about what is celebrated. The monthly pages for the forthcoming year are usually added in August and 2015 are now available. As well as the web pages there is a downloadable calendar which can printed to A6 size and be inserted in breviaries or missals.
Earlier in the year, usually about February, the Office issues annual Calendar Notes. The notes highlight the main moveable dates for each year and what is changed. It does not give details of every day but should mean that it is possible to work out the necessary information. (To assist this the list of Dates for Sundays is useful.) Draft Notes are also given for the following year (e.g. 2016) — as a rule there is generally not much change between the draft notes and the final version. On the Calendar Notes are also given any substantial changes — such as changes to the Cycle of Prayer or additions to the Calendar — such as the inclusion os St John Paul II in the National Calendars for England and Wales.
Sundays: Year B
Weekdays: Year I
| 1st Sunday of Advent | Sunday 30 November 2014 |
| Christmas | Thursday 25 December 2014 |
| Epiphany of the Lord | Sunday 4 January 2015 |
| Ash Wednesday | Wednesday 18 February |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday 5 April |
| Ascension of the Lord | Sunday 17 May |
| Pentecost | Sunday 24 May |
| Body and Blood of the Lord | Sunday 7 June |
| St Peter & St Paul | Sunday 28 June |
| The Assumption | Sunday 16 August |
| All Saints | Sunday 1 November |
| All Souls | Monday 2 November |
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