Sacred Liturgy Research Articles

Magnificat: an exploration of sacred music in the United States

The landscape of sacred music in the United States is broad and wide and cannot be neatly defined into a collective approach or style. The boundaries of Roman Catholic sacred music in America have been expanding further and further since the establishment of the liturgical reforms outlined by the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), and it was through this new sense of “freedom” that alternative styles of liturgical music emerged during the past 60 years. Interestingly, the state of Minnesota was at the center of this liturgical music revolution as composers associated with the University of St. Thomas, St. John’s University, and St. Catherine’s University composed a large portion of ‘new’ liturgical music. This article explores the musical trends of the past 60 years in the United States, and offers suggestions regarding the practice and education of sacred music in America and beyond.

Music in Sacred Liturgy: Some Factors to be Considered for the Catholic Dioceses in Kenya.

Music is an integral part of worship. Liturgical music has been a topic of interest for centuries. Good liturgical music elevates the hearts of worshippers, uniting them to the heavenly liturgy. There is an ancient saying which proclaims: Bis orat qui bene cantat (who sings well prays twice). St. Augustine also remarks rightly, ‘Singing is for one who loves’ (PL 38:1472). With this in mind when we look at the Catholic liturgical music today in Kenya, we find several issues to be addressed. In this paper we shall look at some general principles in liturgical music, suggested criteria for assessing music and texts, and some emerging issues regarding music in liturgy today, proposing some possible solutions.

Formacja osób świeckich do pełniejszego udziału w liturgii Kościoła

The year 2023 marks sixty years since the promulgation of the Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium. One of its main demands of this document was the renewal of the liturgy in such a way that the lay faithful could more consciously and fully participate in it. The text seeks answers to the questions: what does it mean for the laity to participate more fully in the Church’s liturgy, and how and with what tools should the formation of the laity to participate more fully in the Church’s liturgy take place?

From the Editor

From the Editor Uwe Michael Lang Lord, I love you"—these were reported to be the last words of Pope Benedict XVI before he died on December 31, 2022.1 The words echo the threefold profession of faith the Apostle Peter made to the Risen Christ in John 21. Both Joseph Ratzinger's warm personal faith, which he had treasured since his childhood in Catholic Bavaria, and his profound theological work were animated by his friendship with Christ. It is no easy task to render justice to the immense legacy of Benedict XVI, whose lifework stands out in so many ways. In the first place, we must be truly grateful for his loving service to God and the Church, as a theologian and pastor. Having had the grace of knowing Joseph Ratzinger personally, I have always found it painful to see how a man of such gentleness, humility, and openness in listening to others was often met with anticipated hostility from the wider public, and with thinly veiled obstruction from some even inside the Catholic Church. So many assaults on him were personal, manifestly unjust, full of verbal abuse and intended to distract from the real reasons why the opinion makers of our time intensely disliked him. Joseph Ratzinger was a Catholic thinker who explained the faith in a luminous and attractive way and intelligently questioned the assumptions of the relativism that has dominated the public square in the Western world for some time and is now showing increasingly totalitarian features. Throughout his long life and ministry that led him to the See of Peter, he strove to put God first and ensure that Christ was at the [End Page 1] center of the Church's mission. Since his early years of formation, he found in the New Testament "the soul of all theology."2 As cardinal and pope, he challenged the hubris of historical-critical exegesis and called for a rediscovery of what it means to read the Bible in the tradition of the Church. In the three volumes of his work Jesus of Nazareth, written during his pontificate, Benedict XVI invited us to join his search for the face of Christ, which he has now completed. Even though his university career focused on fundamental and dogmatic theology, Joseph Ratzinger considered the liturgy central to his academic and pastoral work and hailed it as the "living element" of theology, "without which it would necessarily shrivel up."3 Divine worship brings us into the right relationship with God and with one another, and its true meaning and relevance far exceed the actual liturgical celebration. As Joseph Ratzinger concludes from his reading of the Exodus narrative: the worship to which the people of Israel—and, by extension, all the nations—are called "embraces the ordering of the whole of human life."4 Joseph Ratzinger lived and worked at a time when the form and expression of the Church's faith in the sacred liturgy had become a highly controversial topic. As a theologian and bishop, he did not shrink from entering this contested arena with admirable lucidity. He was convinced that infelicitous choices have been made in the actual implementation of the sound principles of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. With his election to the See of Peter, Benedict XVI found himself in a position to shape the future of the Catholic liturgy, a position he could only approach with misgivings, because he strongly held that genuine liturgical renewal does not happen by decrees and instructions. Instead, he [End Page 2] intended to create favorable conditions and open perspectives for an "organic" development of the liturgy that would avoid the discontinuity that had done so much damage to Catholic ritual in the post-conciliar period. The Society for Catholic Liturgy is indebted in a particular way to the liturgical vision of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. Authentic liturgical renewal needs to be grounded in scholarship that is academically rigorous, faithful to the Church's perennial teaching, and guided by charity. The various activities of the Society, above all its annual conference and its journal Antiphon, promote such scholarship in the service of liturgical formation. It is rewarding...

The contextualisation of Christian Eucharistic worship in Pakistan

ABSTRACT This research paper is an attempt to explore contextual dynamics in the Christian Eucharistic liturgy of Pakistan. The debate about the adoption of indigenous elements in Christian worship is linked to the history of Christian missions in the Indian subcontinent. As a result of this debate, some intentional and unintentional inculturation has been made, especially in the Protestant Churches. However, the production of Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) after Vatican II enabled local Catholic clergymen to adopt cultural elements, so that worship rituals may appear natural to the worshipers. For the research semi-structured qualitative interviews were used as a method and eight theologians from both Protestant and Catholic Churches were interviewed. This research concludes that because of the deep influence of western churches on the Pakistani church, local theologians are not able to fully contextualise Christian worship in the context of Pakistan. Consequently, contextualisation is mostly limited to the use of local language in Catholic Churches; however, Protestant Churches are more open to localise their liturgy.

Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic by Giles Dimock, O.P.

Reviewed by: Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic by Giles Dimock, O.P. Gerald Dennis Gill Giles Dimock O.P. Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic Discerning Hearts, 2020 195 pages, Paperback. $11.99. Dominican Father Giles Dimock, a pioneering member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, enjoys a fine reputation for his seriousness about the study and celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. His book, Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic, is introduced with a foreword by Dr. Anthony Lilles, another member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy and a former student of the author. Lilles aptly describes Fr. Giles and, in so doing, the content of book as well: "Whereas some charismatic circles saw spirit-filled praise as an activity reserved for a prayer meeting and the Rosary as an entirely different devotion, [Fr. Giles] trailblazed a path of spirituality that was at once charismatic, Marian and liturgical" (i). Lilles further explains how the author was able to combine seamlessly the charismatic and liturgical underpinnings of his musings: "He could do this because he had learned obedience in a very disobedient time, discovered beauty during a very ugly period, and humbly embraced the truth when many others walked away" (i). Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic consists of published columns written by Fr. Giles over the years, especially for the National Catholic Register. These articles are arranged under six titles, and consequently chapters, in the book, all with an emphasis on renewal. These titles include "Renewal in the Holy Spirit," "Renewal of Devotion to Our Lady," "Renewal of Liturgy, Prayer [End Page 317] and Devotion," "Renewal of the Liturgical Seasons," "Renewal of Truth, Beauty and Goodness," as well as "Renewal of the Church's Mission." The author's keen sense of the times, the need for clarity in instruction and a fidelity to the truth and tradition surfaces consistently throughout each of these six chapters. The project of liturgical reform and renewal begun prior to the Second Vatican Council and institutionalized with the promulgation of the Council's Sacrosanctum Concilium (December 4, 1963) endures. The ebb and flow of this project over these many years has generated a considerable amount of discussion, argument, and some confusion. Presently, we are in moment when the topic of the liturgy and its reform is once again in relief in the life of the Church. Chapter three of Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic is especially helpful in this regard. It makes significant straightforward points that benefit today's discussions, "The Mystery of the Mass Still Remains," "It's the Mass that Matters," "Love of the Mass." The chapter continues addressing such topics as the development of the Mass, the language used in the celebration of Mass, and restoring a sacred spirit, among others. In this chapter as well as all throughout the entire book, the reader meets the scholars and teachers of the liturgy that have shaped the mind of the author. Fr. Giles' book is not the result of scholarly research nor a critical review of the topics presented. In some instances the material overlaps and ideas are repeated. Yet, the reader will enjoy the refreshing frankness of the author and the timeliness of his pastoral response to the questions at hand. After all, these are the musings of a priest with half a century of dedicated service to the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. [End Page 318] Gerald Dennis Gill Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Copyright © 2022 Society for Catholic Liturgy

Die Rolle der Kommunikation während der Liturgiereform nach dem Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil. Die Geschichte einer pastoralliturgischen Rückmeldung über die Ergebnisse der liturgischen Erneuerung aus Ungarn

Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, one of the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council, is the Magna Carta of the post-conciliar liturgical reform. However, the renewal of worship in the Catholic Church is by no means a mere one-step, linear process, but a complex sequence of procedures in which many authors have participated and are participating. It is therefore inevitable that the various hierarchical levels will engage in a continuous dialogue. The Consilium ad exsequendam constitutionem de sacra liturgia, which is responsible for coordinating liturgical reform in Rome, has on several occasions requested specific reports on episcopal conferences and the impact of liturgical amendments made by liturgical committees. The present study examines the Hungarian responses to the 1967 pastoral literature report.

Organic development and its place within the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: some Plenary reflections

Organic development and its place within the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: some Plenary reflections

True Harmony Between Liturgy and Popular Piety: Expressing The Thomasian Faith in The Sabuaga Festival

True Harmony Between Liturgy and Popular Piety: Expressing The Thomasian Faith in The Sabuaga Festival

‘Scrupulous and Timid Conformism’: Ireland and the Reception of the Liturgical Changes of Vatican II

The Second Vatican Council and, in particular, its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, changed much in the daily life of the Church. In Ireland, a country steeped in the Catholic tradition but largely peripheral to the theological debates that shaped Vatican II, the changes to liturgy and devotional practice were implemented dutifully over a relatively short time span and without significant upset. But did the hierarchical manner of their reception, like that of the Council itself, mean that Irish Catholics did not receive the changes in a way that deepened their spirituality? And was the popular religious memory of the people lost through a neglect of liturgical piety and its place in the interior life, alongside what the Council sought to achieve? In this essay, Dr Gary Carville will examine the background to the liturgical changes at Vatican II, the contribution to their formulation and implementation by leaders of the Church in Ireland, the experiences of Irish Catholic communities in the reception process, and the ongoing need for a liturgical formation that brings theology, memory, and practice into greater dialogue.

Forming The Youth in and for The Liturgy in The Light of St. Pope John Paul Ii’s Apostolic

Forming The Youth in and for The Liturgy in The Light of St. Pope John Paul Ii’s Apostolic

Singing His Song: A Short Introduction to the Liturgical Movement by Thomas M. Kocik

Reviewed by: Singing His Song: A Short Introduction to the Liturgical Movement by Thomas M. Kocik Kevin D. Magas Thomas M. Kocik Singing His Song: A Short Introduction to the Liturgical Movement Revised and Expanded Edition Hong Kong: Chorabooks, 2019 68 pages. Paperback. $12.64. Since then-Cardinal Ratzinger called for a "new liturgical movement" to "call to life the real heritage of the Second Vatican Council" in his memoir Milestones,2 there has been a renewed interest in reengaging the historical roots of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Liturgical Movements and their relationship to the Second Vatican Council and its implementation. Kocik's work aims to provide a short sketch of this historical trajectory by introducing a popular audience to some of the major phases, figures, and ideas in both the classical and "new" manifestations of the Liturgical Movement. Kocik's introduction highlights the predominantly spiritual goals of the Liturgical Movement to restore liturgical worship to the center of Christian life. Kocik's explanation of his title provides a moving image of this: "to sing one's life and live one's song" is "being in tune with the life of Christ by nourishing and living our faith through the Church's sacred liturgy" (2). Kocik's exploration of the first phase of the Liturgical Movement, "Recovering Lost Treasures," introduces readers to early liturgical pioneers and major figures such [End Page 147] as Beauduin, Guardini, and Pius X. Kocik takes care not to romanticize the state of the celebration of the liturgy prior to the Second Vatican Council and highlights the reasons a liturgical renewal was called for. In general, the contours of Kocik's analysis follow Alcuin Reid's thesis that the Liturgical Movement had the restoration of a distinctively liturgical spirituality rather than ritual reform as its primary motivation. The second phase, "The Movement Comes of Age," focuses on the affirmation of certain aspects of the movement in the magisterium of Pius XII as well as a criticism of its excesses, such as the dismissive attitude towards popular devotions in some of the movement's proponents. Here Kocik casts the shift towards a reform of the liturgical texts and rites themselves in a negative light, indicated by the subtitle "a storm brews." While Kocik's account of the "Third Phase: Vatican II" contains only a brief expository description of the content of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, he devotes more time to postconciliar reforms and implementation. Kocik views the state of the liturgy after the council as debased and attributes the liturgical malaise to deficient social-cultural attitudes, a climate of dissent in the Church, and the weaknesses of the Consilium commissioned with the liturgical reform. This fourth and final phase, "Towards a 'New Liturgical Movement'" provides an overview of the magisterial response of John Paul II and Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI to the postconciliar situation and the main proponents in the "reform of the reform" and "new liturgical movement" umbrella. Kocik concludes by offering his own reflections on the liturgical reform, which are critical not only of the implementation of the council but the revised liturgical books themselves. A final "liturgical examen" returns to the spiritual moorings of the introduction by leading readers through an examination of whether the rhythms of the liturgy truly shape their daily lives. As a short introduction, Kocik's book favors breadth over depth and does well in distilling a wide range of ideas and figures in the complex history of twentieth-century liturgical reform and renewal. One of its major goals is to make available to non-specialists the more technical studies of the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement, and Kocik largely succeeds in translating the perspectives of Reid, Dobszay, [End Page 148] Bux, and his own previous writings to a more popular audience. Readers' perceptions of this work will depend on their own assessment of the postconciliar situation and whether they find the standard narrative of various "reform of the reform" or "restorationist" agendas convincing. This short work could likely serve as a book for a study group with some preliminary formation in liturgical issues. Kocik's account is typically marked by a balanced tone but at times contains...

An English Bishop at the Second Vatican Council: George Patrick Dwyer and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

An English Bishop at the Second Vatican Council: George Patrick Dwyer and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg

Reviewed by: Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg Kevin D. Magas David Fagerberg Liturgical Mysticism Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2019 xxi + 171 pages. Hardback. $29.95. Lambert Beauduin, one of the chief pioneers of the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement, believed that "[the] liturgy is theology, not scientifically expounded, but applied to the art of glorifying God and sanctifying souls."1 This deepened, "thickened" understanding of the theological dimensions of the liturgical act pioneered by the Liturgical Movement and crystallized in the conciliar Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy has been developed and enriched by the liturgical theologian David Fagerberg over the course of his career. Fagerberg's entire theological project has been dedicated to articulating the contours of liturgical theology understood as theologia prima, the "primary theology" of the Trinitarian life of God communicated, epiphanized, and opened up for our participation in the liturgical life of the Church. His most recent work, Liturgical Mysticism, brings cohesiveness and consistency to a liturgical vision Fagerberg began to develop over thirty years ago; as such, it can only be understood in light of his project as a whole. His first work, Theologia Prima (revised edition, 2003), sought to deepen our understanding of liturgical theology by thickening the meaning of both "liturgy" and "theology" and exploring how the lex orandi of the Church is the foundation for her lex credendi. He came to understand that the relationship between liturgy and theology required an appeal to the ascetical dimension of Christian life which "capacitates" one to participate in liturgy, understood by Fagerberg as the "perichoresis of the Trinity kenotically extended to [End Page 141] invite our synergistic ascent into deification" (xvi). He explores this theme at length in his work Liturgical Asceticism (2013) and applies this liturgical-ascetical vision to our daily life in the world in his Consecrating the World (2016). Liturgical mysticism, then, is interested in how this liturgical participation in divine life is applied to the soul. What happens in us when our personal liturgy synchronizes with the Son's self-offering to the Father in the power of the Spirit? Here Fagerberg is interested in the connections between the visible, sacramental rites of the liturgy and their invisible, mystical fruition in the life of the Christian. He offers, in his prologue, an eloquent thesis that ties together his previous work: "Liturgical Mysticism is the development of graces received in baptism; liturgical asceticism is the process which develops those graces; the product of those graces is a liturgical theologian who is enlightened. Liturgical mysticism wants to know what is done inside a person by the liturgy" (xviii–xix). Fagerberg's first chapter lays the methodological foundations for the idea of liturgical mysticism he is interested in pursuing. Readers familiar with Fagerberg's work will recognize the characteristic moves he makes near the beginnings of his works to define his terms and clear up misconceptions that arise when we treat certain theological terms in a "thin," reductionist way. Fagerberg's concept requires that liturgy be not merely the rubrics or external ceremonies but participation in divine life; mysticism must be understood not as the esoteric, enigmatic, or otherworldly, but the actualization of baptismal graces through transformative contact with the mysteries of Christ encountered in the liturgy. In short, the key to a proper hermeneutic for understanding Fagerberg is to understand how key terms are functioning in the "language game" he is playing (see Ludwig Wittgenstein). Chapters 2 and 3 attempt to purify our associations and images of the mystical life, moving the reader from a mysticism that is something rare, extraordinary, individualistic and for the "professional" (i.e., the monk in his cell) to an understanding that is corporate, ecclesial, and within the realm of the ordinary baptized Christian, precisely because it is the unfolding and flowering of sanctifying grace received in baptism as a seed (semen gloriae). Fagerberg elo-quently [End Page 142] describes this process as a "quickening," an animating, a "making alive" of baptismal grace. Notable here is Fagerberg's development of this theme using the works of Dominican spiritual theologians of the early twentieth century, such as Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange and Juan Arintero. While readers will encounter Fagerberg's characteristic...

Liturgische Bibelhermeneutik: Die Heilige Schrift im Horizont des Gottesdienstes by Marco Benini

Reviewed by: Liturgische Bibelhermeneutik: Die Heilige Schrift im Horizont des Gottesdienstes by Marco Benini Antonio Portalatín marco benini, Liturgische Bibelhermeneutik: Die Heilige Schrift im Horizont des Gottesdienstes (Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 109; Münster: Aschendorff, 2020). Pp. xvi + 574. €76. Certainly, the vast research contained in Benini’s book and presented in 2018 as his Habilitationsschrift at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany is of great interest for exegetes, especially if they share the hermeneutical inclinations of the author. The investigation concerns liturgical biblical hermeneutics and is therefore primarily a liturgical and not an exegetical study. Offering principles of biblical interpretation is not its purpose either. Rather, the inquiry, following the lead of the Second Vatican’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (§24) about the importance of the Scriptures in the liturgy, seeks to investigate the relation of the Bible to the liturgy and, consequently, how the liturgical context affects the interpretation of biblical texts as well as how they provide meaning to celebrations. This knowledge could greatly benefit exegetes. After the introduction, the work is divided into two parts. The first part is of an analytical character, in which B. surveys the use of the Bible in liturgy and goes deeply by selecting samples from the Roman Latin, the Ambrosian and Byzantine ritual traditions concerning readings in the lectionaries, the liturgy of the hours, the echo of the Bible in the prayers of sacramentaries, biblically inspired liturgical songs, and the biblical significance of liturgical gestures. This part is very instructive for the history of biblical reception. It also treats the case of Psalm 24 (MT 23), which B. follows from the biblical setting, to the liturgical context, and into the hermeneutical implications for liturgy. Thus, examining this psalm gives B. the opportunity to recognize a liturgical biblical hermeneutics in the types of voices with which the psalms are used, that is, their “christologisation” (p. 105) in the liturgy: vox Christi ad Patrem, vox ecclesiae ad Christum, vox de Christo (“the voice of Christ to the Father, the voice of the church to Christ, the voice concerning Christ”). In the second part, B. uses the results of his investigations to construct systematically a biblical hermeneutics for liturgy. He elaborates the principles related to intertextuality, [End Page 115] that is, how meaning is produced in the relationship of biblical texts with other intertexts within the liturgical celebration, including other biblical readings, prayers, antiphons, and the whole setting of the celebration. Next, there are principles that result from the placement of the readings in the lectionary, either in their relationship with other readings of the same celebration, or according to their distribution during the year, or from their connection to a thematic liturgical festivity. Then B. analyzes the performative dimension of biblical texts in the liturgy: how they produce and receive meaning from gestures, rites, and representations. In addition, B. proposes a list of liturgical functions of the Scriptures. First is the catechetical function, by which liturgy is a major means to convey knowledge of the Scriptures. Second is the anamnetic function, by which the liturgy actualizes events of the biblical history of salvation. Third, B. mentions the paracletic or pastoral function, by which the Scriptures edify the participants in the celebrations. Fourth is the meditative function, by which the biblical texts in the context of the liturgy are occasions for prayer. The performative function is the fifth, by which the participants in the liturgy identify themselves with roles or characters of the Bible. Then, in the sixth place, there is the doxological function, a major and specific goal of the liturgy. Seventh, B. notes that biblical narratives are also origins of liturgical celebrations. Finally, B. reflects theologically on the relation of liturgy and Scriptures in general. The concept of sacramentality of God’s Word, stressed by the post-synodal document Verbum Domini (§56), serves as a category to illuminate the relation of the human and divine Word, the efficacy of the Scriptures in the liturgy, and the relationship between sacrament and word. In addition, the participatio actuosa to which every worshiper is invited in the liturgy is also a particular form of Scriptures’ reception, not...

Principles of Sacred Liturgy: Forming a Sacramental Vision by Christopher Carstens

Principles of Sacred Liturgy: Forming a Sacramental Vision by Christopher Carstens

The value of good liturgical music

It is disturbing that in recent times, the worshiping community in the capacity of some church ministers, composers and musicians have deviated from the specifications of liturgical music even as recommended by Vatican Council II (The Constitution of The Sacred Liturgy). Also misunderstood and misappropriated is the idea of inculturation that permits composers in different countries to write music using the language of the locality as well as the indigenous instruments. This is partly due to inadequate enlightenment and training on the part of the liturgical music practitioners on the real meaning of liturgical music. A lot ofproblems have come up from these misconceptions and misinterpretations which include but a few making noise in place of music, negligence of the core features of liturgical music ranging from little or no attention to the solemn nature of the liturgy to relevance for some unimaginable selfish interests. In remedying these challenges, the researcher has made lots of recommendations. One of them is that the practitioners of liturgical music be exposed through seminars and workshops to relevant church documents on liturgical music from time to time. It is necessary and most pertinent that the church retains its solemnity in worship as against the recent mediocrity which has come to envelop the liturgical music making practices. The great value of good liturgical music needs to be sustained.
 Keywords: Liturgical Music, Gregorian Chant, Sacred Polyphony, Instrumental Music, Catholic Church, Liturgical Musician, Choir, Congregation

Pursuing the Intrinsic Relationship between Liturgy and Ethics: Practical-Theological Promise in Poverty of Spirit

This article examines whether and how sacramental liturgy and the Christian life-ethic are intrinsically related, a fundamental problematic in theory and practice in the decades since Vatican Council II. The first half of the essay examines the state of the question, starting with a brief articulation of the normative tradition based in scripture and the council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, followed by a selective review of the theological discussion, centered on Don E. Saliers’s virtue-ethics approach. The second half, building on a thesis of Johann Baptist Metz, argues for poverty of spirit as the key virtue for practically bonding liturgy and ethics.

The Fullness of Divine Worship: The Sacred Liturgy and its Renewal edited by Uwe Michael Lang, Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2018, pp. xi + 225, $34.95, pbk

New BlackfriarsVolume 101, Issue 1093 p. 345-347 Review THE FULLNESS OF DIVINE WORSHIP: THE SACRED LITURGY AND ITS RENEWAL edited by Uwe Michael Lang, Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2018, pp. xi + 225, $ 34.95, pbk OSWALD McBRIDE, OSWALD McBRIDE OSBSearch for more papers by this author OSWALD McBRIDE, OSWALD McBRIDE OSBSearch for more papers by this author First published: 07 April 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12553Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume101, Issue1093May 2020Pages 345-347 RelatedInformation

American Catholics and the Church of Tomorrow: Building Churches for the Future, 1925–1975 by Catherine R. Osborne

Reviewed by: American Catholics and the Church of Tomorrow: Building Churches for the Future, 1925–1975 by Catherine R. Osborne Jillian Plummer Catherine R. Osborne, American Catholics and the Church of Tomorrow: Building Churches for the Future, 1925–1975 ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), 288 pages. Catherine Osborne's American Catholics and the Church of Tomorrow historicizes one of the most dramatic changes of the U.S. Catholic Church in the late twentieth century: the movement away from medieval-inspired churches to shopping mall chapels, churches with ecumenical spaces, and floating congregations. And yet as Osborne shows, this movement away from medieval architecture was also about new theology. Catholic modernists "claimed the future of churches as vital to a renewed ecclesiology (or theory about the nature of the Church), and as critically connected to a renewed eschatology (the theology of the redemption of creation)" (4). Through an analysis of buildings and architectural plans as well as through the voices of those people who imagined, built, and used these spaces, Osborne argues that how American Catholics imagined their churches intersected with how they envisioned the future. Across six chapters, Osborne suggests that American Catholics' engagement with evolutionary science, modern architectural trends, and new theology espoused before and simultaneously with Vatican II fueled conversations about the parish of the future. She focuses this analysis on the period between 1925 to 1975. Most visions for the future church were not built in the period before the Second Vatican Council. Yet in the early twentieth century, Osborne shows how American Catholics borrowed images from architectural discourse, which used biological metaphors, and language from the [End Page 97] theology of Henri de Lubac, S.J., and Yves Congar, O.P., which characterized the Church as "living" and "organic," to discuss futuristic churches. By the mid-twentieth century, Osborne illustrates how the availability of reinforced concrete opened up new possibilities for architects who imagined constructing churches that might unify a congregation during Mass and also focus a congregation's attention on the altar (80, 100, 102). In the second half of the book, Osborne details how American Catholics used the eschatology elaborated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., Harvey Cox, and the Second Vatican Council to experiment with where the celebration of Mass took place (14). For example, she discusses how the theology articulated in the Second Vatican Council's "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World" (Gaudium et Spes) and Harvey Cox's The Secular City inspired American Catholics' new visions for urban parishes in the mid-1960s. Encouraged by this theology that blurred the divide between sacred and secular space, American Catholics attempted to increase the visibility of the Church in the inner-city among marginalized populations. Other Catholics, influenced by this same theology, envisioned creating shared spaces that might foster ecumenism. Yet by the late 1960s and early 1970s, especially with the implementation of the Council's "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" (Sacrosanctum Concilium) and its continued reinterpretation among the faithful, American Catholics began to raise more radical questions about what exactly a church ought to be. In order to discuss this post-conciliar period of uncertainty, Osborne focuses her attention on American Catholics who formed "non-territorial parishes." The community of John XXIII in Oklahoma City, for instance, decided not to construct buildings in order to avoid debt so that they had more freedom to serve their local community and worship in different locations across the city (212, 213). While Osborne alludes to the conflict among American Catholics in the period after the Council, future scholarship will more comprehensively reveal the uneasy reaction by some Catholics to these futuristic churches. One of the most impressive feats of the book is Osborne's wide-ranging analysis of American Catholic modernist architecture across the United States. She considers futuristic churches from coast to coast: from the construction of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona, to sanctuary renovations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Over the course of this book, readers learn that discussions about the Church's future in relationship to their worship spaces transpired among American Catholics in seminaries, in convents, in the pews, and in non-territorial parishes...