THEOLOGICAL CLUE

The so-called "new" church year and lectionary make a significant contribution to liturgical and theological order in the last three Sundays of the year. Those churches, which employed lectionaries before the ORDO was developed, were not in agreement about the necessity for providing separate propers for these last three Sundays. The Roman Catholic Church had propers for 24 Sundays after Pentecost. In the years when there were 26, 27, or 28 Sundays after Pentecost, the propers for the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Sundays after the Epiphany were employed in the appropriate masses, as needed. The Episcopal Church did provide papers for the Fifth and Sixth Sundays after the Epiphany, when necessary. Lutheran Churches provided a full complement of propers for the 28 Sundays after…