If you want to learn something, the best way of doing it is to make sure the material is tailored to your needs, and then to actively engage with it - ask questions, and do activities to consolidate the material in your mind.
Survey
So with that in mind, a big thank you to those who have filled out survey I posted yesterday.
The responses are looking very helpful indeed in shaping how I approach this blog. If you haven't done it yet, please do consider filling it out.
I'll give readers a few more days before we really get going next week. I will then provide a bit of a summary of the results so you know where I'm coming from in my assumptions about what people are looking for.
I have to admit that one thing I perhaps should have included in the survey was a question on whether or not you did my previous 'how to say the Office' course - so feel free to add a comment on the blog, by email or on facebook (see below) if you did!
Facebook group
I've also set up a facebook group called Traditional Benedictine Office 1963 rubrics for those who prefer to use facebook rather than comment on the blog directly.
It is a closed group, so you will need to ask to join (but don't be alarmed if it takes me a while to respond; keep in mind that I am on Australian time, not US or European!). I'm also a bit of a novice when it comes to facebook - I've had an account for quite a while, but barely used it for the last couple of years, so bear with me.
You don't have to use the facebook group though - you can also either comment on the blog, or just email me offline if you prefer.
1963 Rubrics?
I should note that I've called the group '1963' because I'll largely be working from the rubrics set out in the official two volume breviary set put out then.
As I've suggested earlier, most people probably won't be aiming to say Matins liturgically, at least initially, but if you are saying the rest of the office according to the 1963 rubrics, it makes sense to use the same calendar and approach for Matins as well.
One or two people have already suggested that they want to know how to adapt an earlier breviary to 1963, and I will certainly cover that (though keep in mind that my older breviaries are all pre-twentieth century, so you may need to jump in and tell me what you see on your page or are doing).
I'm also more than happy for anyone to chip in on any differences in rubrics in use in any of the traditional monasteries currently. Oblates of a particular monastery will usually follow the rubrics of that monastery where practicable, and if it's in use, its reasonably safe to assume that it is, de facto or otherwise, a legitimate, approved rubric (depending on what's in their constitutions and other approved documents, monasteries generally control their own Offices these days, and in any case, custom can override the written rules in certain circumstances when it comes to liturgical law).
So far as is sensible though, in the interests of avoiding confusion (and falling into the dangers of archeologism) I would like to avoid discussion of older sets of rubrics at least initially. You can certainly ask questions relating to things like adapting older breviaries, for example, or provide information of interest about the history of feasts, but I want to keep the discussion on this blog and in the group to the point as far as possible.
Please help!
I'm also hoping that others will be willing to help out and jump in where I don't know the answer or have something wrong - I'm largely going on just reading the books when it comes to Matins, and there are some things I'm not entirely sure I have right myself, so please do feel free to help me out. I would certainly welcome any experts (especially any religious!) out there to join the party.
