Bath Abbey sparks backlash as rector replaces 400-year-old morning prayers with ‘contemporary’ service

Apr 5, 2017 by Jill

by Olivia Rudgard, Telegraph:

Bath Abbey has sparked a backlash among churchgoers who are upset that it has replaced its 400-year-old Sunday service with a version said in “familiar” modern English.

The church was among a handful to retain the Matins service, which is based on the Tudor Book of Common Prayer.

After Easter it will be replaced by a modern choral Eucharist.

The Abbey said it decided to change the service to make it more accessible as more people are familiar with the modern service.

In a letter to the congregation sent in December, the Rector of the Abbey, The Reverend Prebendary Edward Mason, said: “Generations of Anglicans have now grown up with Eucharist not Matins.

“Few are now sustained in their faith by Matins these days. Casual attenders, visitors and those returning to faith are much more likely to be familiar with a Eucharist.”

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