Official Resources & Readings
for The Liturgy Committee

Thank you for agreeing to be a part of the parish liturgy committee. I hope that this will be a good opportunity for us

• to hone our liturgical skills within our various ministries,
• to build greater cooperation within the parish between the various ministries,
• to know better the mind of the Church in regards to the all important way in which we worship,
• to prepare the parishioners to receive the upcoming translation of the Missal with a spirit of openness and joy,
• to serve our parish in the effort to improve our liturgies,
• to be a source or pool of more informed people within the parish who can help to answer parishioner’s questions about things liturgical,
• and to build lasting friendships.

Thus, it is important that we are conversant on matters liturgical. The best place for us to start is to read together the G.I.R.M.:

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal is essential reading on the Mass, and it is the only part of the new missal which is currently published in English. Ideally, we should all try to read at least part (if not all) of this prior to our coming to our first meeting if at all possible, and we can discuss it at that first meeting: The new G.I.R.M. can be downloaded at this website: www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/GIRM.pdf

More Documents
on the Liturgy

Once we get through the GIRM document, it is my hope that we will eventually read other documents over the months and years to come.

• When looking for a good definition of liturgy, the best place to start is The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and paragraphs 1066-1075, which (if you don’t own a Catechism) can be found online at the Vatican website at www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2.htm
• In particular, we should certain read the 2004 document Redemptoris sacramentum which we can download at www.usccb.org/liturgy/documents/menu.shtml
• Another text that would make sense to read together is Ecclesiae de mysterio. On certain questions regarding the collaboration of the non-ordained faithful in the Sacred ministry of the priest which can be found online at www.adoremus.org/Instruction-lay-ministry.html
• Another text we might eventually want to read together is Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, which we can find online at www.usccb.org/laity/laymin/co-workers.pdf
• We could read through Ecclesia de Eucharistia, which we can download from the Vatican website at www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0821/_INDEX.HTM

More Pertinent Documents
on the New Missal & its Translation

If we want to better understand the reasoning behind the new missal and its translation, there are a number of references we might consider:

• If we want to understand better why the translation of the Missal is changing, we could then read together Liturgiam authenticam, which is available online at the Vatican: www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20010507_liturgiam-authenticam_en.html
• I would encourage you all to take some time to read through some of the letters or speeches of Cardinal Arinze, the prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship. He has been the Vatican point man for the new translation of the Missal, and his opinions are very revelatory of the direction the Vatican is leading us. Most of this writings are included at this website: www.adoremus.org/CardinalFrancisArinze.html
• Cardinal Arinze, for example, is often caught up in the discussion about Latin and Gregorian chant, and has many things to say about it, for example: http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/latinvernac.HTM

All of the above documents deal with the liturgy in general, but some documents will be helpful for the various ministries themselves. This is not to say that we discourage their reading by everyone, but some of these are more specific to particular ministries within the whole:

Extraordinary Ministers
of Holy Communion

With regards to the distribution of Holy Communion by non-ordained persons, a recent document of the Church is particularly helpful:

• Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America, which can be found at: www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/norms.shtml

Ministry of Music:

With regards to liturgical music, there are numerous online readings that would be helpful, but it seems to us that the first place to start is the most recent.

• First of all one should read the recent publication by the US Bishops, Sing to the Lord: http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/SingToTheLord.pdf

As we have said there are many other documents that one should read in order to be cognizant of the Church’s mind in matters of liturgical music. A really handy resource is to go online to Adoremus: the Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy (www.adoremus.org), because they have a long list of church and papal documents on liturgical music, from Tra le Sollecitudini in 1903 all the way up to the 1974 letter of Paul VI On the Minimum Repertoire of Plainchant.

What do the Pope
and The Archbishop Say?

Before Benedict XVI was elected pope, he had written extensively on the liturgy. Our Archbishop, who has his doctorate in liturgy, maintains an Office for Divine Worship here in the Archdiocese of Atlanta:

• A List of books by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) on the liturgy: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ratzinger+Liturgy&x=14&y=17
• The Archdiocese of Atlanta has an Office for Divine Worship, which often has helpful information, and is certainly worth visiting from time to time. That website is: www.archatl.com/offices/odw/

Some Unofficial Resources:
Websites, Blogs & Books of Interest

With regards to liturgy, there are numerous texts that can help the individual captains of their particular ministry, and while these are unofficial, that does not mean that they may not be helpful (especially when balanced and taken together with official documents on the liturgy). What follows are a list of texts which can be purchased, and which may help in the training of the individuals who work in the various ministries of the Church.

Books and Booklets:

These may be helpful resources for some or for all.

• Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite by Msgr. Peter J. Elliot
• Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year by Msgr. Peter J. Elliot
• Guide for Users & Greeters by Lawrence E. Mick
• Guide for Sacristans by Christina Neff
• In Sacristy and Sanctuary by Rev. William A. O’Brien, M.A.
• Called to Serve: A Guidebook for Altar Servers by Father Albert J. Nevins, M.M.
• The Ministry of Servers by Michael Kwatera
• The Acolyte Today published by Franklin X. McCormick
• A Manuel For Acolytes by Dennis G. Michno
• Parish Acolyte Guide by Donna H. Barthle

Getting into the Conversation:

The following are websites and blogs which may help to put us into the ongoing conversation regarding the present liturgical reform. While these are not necessarily resources with particular authority, they may help us to understand the debates that are going on within the Church on the liturgy, which can be quite lively. Many of these websites have links to others as well.

• Musica Sacra is the website of the Church Music Association of America, and it can be found at http://www.musicasacra.com/
• The Catholic Liturgical Library could be a source for information as well: http://www.catholicliturgy.com/
• EWTN can be helpful in getting liturgical news from Rome, and their website is: http://www.ewtn.com/new_library/index.asp
• An online library of Catholic Culture can be helpful as well: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/
• The New Liturgical Movement is a website promoting a more traditional perspective, but it can be worth looking at: www.newliturgicalmovement.org
• The Catholic Liturgical Musician maybe a website that gets one into the conversation: it can be found at: www.theliturgicalmusician.wordpress.com
• The Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians (CRCCM) maybe worth looking into as well: www.crccm.net/