Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Kenyan Breviary Addendum



Since I mentioned the Pauline Media  African breviary in my last post, I thought I'd give a little more info to anyone who is interested. Here is the web link to Pauline/Africa describing their breviaries. You will also notice that they have a one-volume breviary which also has the Revised Grail Psalms. This one-volume breviary is superior to our American Christian Prayer, since it includes the complete text for daytime prayer (all 4 weeks of the psalter) instead of the two-week sampler that our one-volume has. So the African one-volume has everything you need except for the Office of Readings.

There have been questions about whether these texts are approved for use in our country. My opinion is yes because the antiphons and gospel canticles are the ICEL translations, which are what we have in the US; the biblical readings are New American Bible, which is at present our official liturgical bible; and the Revised Grail Psalms, which, although they do not appear in our breviary yet,have already been approved for liturgical use in the USA and may be substituted by anyone who want to juggle two different books. Buying an African breviary simply eliminates the juggling.

So if you are a fan of printed breviaries, and need a new one, and don't want to wait five+ years for the revised American breviary, and have bucks to blow, then here's what you do. Send an email to: distribution@paulinesafrica.org. explaining what you want to buy and where you live. They will tell you how to proceed. Last year, I was directed to send a check to the Pauline sisters' USA motherhouse in Boston, and the transaction was arranged through them.  The cost last year, with shipping, was $145 for the 4-volume set.(this was my combined birthday/Mother's Day present.) I don't know whether than has changed. It took a month or so from my initial inquiry until I received my breviaries, so be patient.

If any of you go through with the above, let me know how it turns out and how you like the African breviary.