Representatives from the bishops’ conferences of Australia, Ireland and New Zealand met in Ireland last week to discuss the progress of the Joint Lectionary Project. Source: Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The project commission includes Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan, NZCBC president and Auckland Bishop Stephen Lowe, and Irish Bishops’ Conference episcopal secretary and Tuam Archbishop Francis Duffy.
They met on July 24-25 at the Columba Centre of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth and were joined by the three national liturgy secretaries: Fr Anthony Doran (Australia), Msgr Trevor Murray (New Zealand), and Fr Neil Xavier O’Donoghue (Ireland), as well as Joint Lectionary Project director Martin Foster.
Representatives from the three conferences met in Adelaide in 2023, where the decision was made to work together to develop a new Lectionary based on the Revised New Jerusalem Bible.
In October 2024, Mr Foster began his role as director for the Joint Lectionary Project.
A key part of the process is the preparation of the text of the Lectionary, which is regularly sent out to the bishops of the three conferences for review and comment. A working group, of women and men, from the three conferences with expertise in both Scripture and Liturgy, meet online each month to consider the submitted comments and revise the text as necessary.
At its meeting in Maynooth, the commission reviewed the complete text of the first of four volumes, which contains the readings for Sundays and Solemnities. The commission also considered the publication of the Lectionary and the appointment of a publisher.
The next stage will be the preparation of texts for the two volumes for weekday Masses and the celebration of Saints, which will be completed by May 2026, and the final volume, which includes Masses for the celebration of the Sacraments and funerals, should be concluded by the end of 2026.
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Lectionary group from Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand meet in Maynooth (Irish Catholic Bishops Conference)
