The only public record of the existence of a joint Roman Catholic – Church of England Liturgy Institute in Engalnd and Wales is archived here. The following account was written by Mark Earey, who served as co-director of the Institute, and we cite it with gratitude from the web-site of Sarum College, accessed on 29 June 2012.

 

Michael Vasey’s Liturgical Archive

Michael Vasey was a member of the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission for many years, and an influential figure behind many of the ‘Common Worship’ services.
He died in 1998, having recently begun to bring some order to the papers relating to his liturgical interests and involvement. He had expressed in writing the wish that these papers should be available to the Institute for Liturgy and Mission at Sarum College, in the care of Mark Earey (who was a staff member at the time).

The files contain papers relating to the broad areas of Michael’s involvement in the field of liturgy:

• the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission
• the ecumenical Joint Liturgical Group (JLG)
• the international ecumenical English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC)
• the Roman Catholic Pastoral Liturgy Committee, on which he was the Church of England observer for many years
• GROW (the Group for Renewal of Worship) and Grove booklets in the fields of worship, liturgy and spirituality
• Praxis
• the Durham diocesan liturgical committee
• general liturgical correspondence
• material relating to the Church of England report ‘On the Way’ about patterns of nurture in the faith and the catechumenate – all of which was background to the Common Worship Initiation Services
• material relating to the liturgy of reconciliation, which was the subject of a projected volume of essays connected to possible future liturgical provision in the Church of England.

Note: In general the material archived here relates directly to Michael’s involvement and thinking in these areas: it does not include general archive material (except in some cases where the general context is required for understanding). For instance, for full copies of minutes, papers, etc. for the Liturgical Commission, the Church of England’s central archive for the period would need to be consulted. The selection retained here relate to Michael’s active contribution, or reveal his thinking, or contain his annotations.

On Mark Earey’s departure (and the effective ending of the Institute for Liturgy and Mission), the archive was retained at Sarum College with the agreement of the Principal, Canon Bruce Duncan, on the understanding that, should the teaching of liturgy cease altogether at the college, the files would be released back into the care of Mark Earey for further consideration as to the most appropriate place for them to be kept.

(Mark Earey, February 2002)