The Case For Liturgical Restoration

The Case for Liturgical Restoration takes up one by one the most controversial topics in liturgy today-among them, active participation, the role of the laity, eastward orientation, extensive silence, Latin and Gregorian chant, male-only service of the sanctuary, communion received on the tongue, the calendar, the lectionary, and veiling.

This is a serious, scholarly analysis of liturgy combining historical, philosophical and musicological aspects.

At the crest of volatile years of experimentation, a new rite of Mass was introduced in 1969—no mere cosmetic treatment but a radical reconstruction of the Church’s central act of worship. A minority of the faithful continued to hold fast to the traditional rite, which John Paul II and Benedict XVI gradually freed from restrictions. The steady growth of this “traditionalist” movement inevitably prompts questions in the minds of more and more people. What is it that Catholic laity, clergy, and religious are discovering and falling in love with? Could you—should you—be among them? In this engaging book, Peter Kwasniewski draws on decades of experience and, presuming no specialized knowledge, explains why the traditional Mass operates the way it does, what its distinctive features and benefits are, and how it still captures hearts with a beauty deeply rooted and perennially green. Every reader—whether already a lover of the Mass of Ages or a complete newbie, whether committed or curious, perplexed or skeptical, sitting on the fence or bouncing back and forth between old and new—will find life-changing insights in these pages.

Recent decades have been marred by pervasive Eucharistic abuse, from violations of liturgical norms and rubrics to practices that encourage irreverence and facilitate habitual sacrilege. The coronavirus crisis in 2020 has occasioned a further wave of sacramental manipulation, desacralization, and deprivation that has left almost no Catholic in the world unharmed. These disturbing ���signs of the times��� call for an unsparing reassessment of official and unofficial policies, practices, customs, and attitudes, along with fresh appreciation for ���creative minorities��� that are taking a different, more difficult, and more successful path to reverence. The Holy Bread of Eternal Life is a powerful and timely book by scholar Peter Kwasniewski that exalts the divine gift of the Blessed Sacrament, which can never be too much adored, too much loved, too much cared for, or too muc

We are going through a period of liturgical exile, explains Bishop Athanasius Schneider in this enlightening book, and the vast proliferation of modern abuses are crying out for liturgical reform. The primary source of most modern abuses, he declares, is man's narcissistic tendency to idolize himself instead of paying homage to God. In what is sure to be seen as one of the most impressive and authoritative books ever written on the Catholic Mass, Bishop Schneider reestablishes what Catholics have known for centuries but have largely forgotten today: that the Mass is the highest form of Christian prayer, which enables us to express with exterior worship our interior belief. He describes how saints such as Padre Pio and John Vianney helped the faithful enter into a profound spiritual experience during Mass, and he explains why the Mass should serve as a means to lift our hearts to God so we can surrender to His will. You'll come to understand why the rubrics are vital to p

How has the Liturgy of the Roman rite developed and changed in history before and after the Council of Trent? What principles have determined the boundaries of legitimate liturgical reform over the centuries? What was the Liturgical Movement? Did Guéranger, Beauduin, Guardini, Parsch, Casel, Bugnini, Jungmann, Bouyer and the Movement's other leaders know and respect these principles? And what is to be said of the not insignificant liturgical reforms carried out by Saint Pius X, Popes Pius IX and Pius XII and Blessed John XXIII in the course of the twentieth century? In The Organic Development of the Liturgy, Dom Alcuin Reid examines these questions systematically, incisively and in depth, identifying both the content and context of the principle of "organic development"-a fundamental principle of liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium-making a significant contribution to the understanding of the nature of the Liturgical Movement and to the ongoing re-assessment of the reforms enacted following the Council.

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, this volume assembles the liturgical documents needed by students and pastoral ministers to understand the theological, historical, and pastoral significance of this influential liturgical document.