Episcopal Press and News
Bishop Powell Saluted For Liturgical Work
Episcopal News Service. December 6, 1979 [79375]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The "father of the Book of Common Prayer 1979" is the title given retired Oklahoma Bishop Chilton Powell by the assembled chairmen of the diocesan committees on liturgy and music commissions as they saluted his 13 years as chairman of the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Powell, attending the meeting on liturgy and music in Albuquerque, N. M., in November, was presented the first new Prayer Book by the Church Hymnal Corp. that doesn't include the word "proposed" ahead of the title.
He was a member of the national liturgical commission for five years before he became chairman in 1966 and supervised the often controversial work of Prayer Book revision.
Bishop Powell retired as diocesan of Oklahoma in 1977 but didn't leave the liturgical commission post until the General Convention in Denver last September, when the new book gained its final approval as the new standard of the Church.
The citation was presented by the Rev. Leo Malania of Cambria, N. Y., who was coordinator of Prayer Book revision for the past eight years. Also present were Capt. Howard Galley of the Church Army, assistant coordinator, and Mrs. Donald Kingsley of Holland, Mich., a member of the Standing Liturgical Commission and president of Associated Parishes.
The new Prayer Book was presented in behalf of Church Hymnal Corp. by the Rev. Peter C. Moore of Albuquerque, chairman of the Liturgical Commission of the Diocese of the Rio Grande.
A similar salute was given Father Malania and Capt. Galley in the House of Deputies during the General Convention by Bishop Otis Charles of Utah on behalf of the Standing Liturgical Commission.
The citation read to the 120 liturgy and music experts at the session says: "For 18 years he (Bishop Powell) served the Lord in his Church as a member, and then as chairman of the commission with consummate skill, boundless patience, unwavering love, and constant prayer, justly earning the title of father of the Book of Common Prayer 1979."