Edited, designed and published by David Lovell
This diary, first published for the 2004 year, is a most important innovation and of great use to
religious professionals or anyone with an interest in their own and/or other faiths. The 2006
edition is now available.
The dairy is hard-covered, 127x242mm, attractively presented and section-sewn for easy opening.
There's a double page spread for each week and the space for each day contains: a space for personal
appointments and notes; a Hebrew Bible quotation; a reference to a Psalm response; one or two
references to daily readings from the New Testament; Anglican, Uniting Church, Catholic, Lutheran,
Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Jewish and Muslim feasts, holy days and commemorations; a list of public
holidays, UN days and school dates for all Australian states.
The events and commemorations listed for each day is very comprehensive. For example, we learn
that Friday, 25 November 2005 will be: the birthday of Isaac Watts, G.F. Handel and J.S. Bach (all
listed under a 'U' for Uniting Church); James Noble (listed under 'A' for Anglican); St. Catherine's
Day (Orthodox); International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women (UN); and Devonport
(Tas.) Show Day.
Each weekly spread contains: a small monthly calendar for the current and upcoming months; full
Catholic lectionary details for Sunday; common lectionary readings for Sunday. Every four weeks or
so, there's a beautiful religious illustration; approximately half of these are in full colour.
Interestingly, the diary covers both the full Catholic liturgical year and the full calendar
year; the 2005 edition therefore commences on the First Sunday in Advent, 27 November 2004, and
concludes on 31 December 2005. There's also a yearly planner and a list of future Easter dates from
2006 to 2015. Unfortunately, there's no such list of Jewish or Muslim holy days. I hope future
editions will be expanded to include feasts, holy days and commemorations of other religions
represented in Australia!
Review by Albert Isaacs
