Each week, beginning this Sunday and continuing until the first Sunday of Advent, The Leadership Institute will publish a series of articles that will be distributed at all parishes in the Diocese of Bridgeport as we await Bishop Caggiano’s promulgation of the Revised Liturgical Norms.
An intro to each article and the links to each in English and Spanish can be found below. A new article will be added each week. Click here to learn more about the Norms.
Week One: What is the Sacred Liturgy?
Until the documents of the Second Vatican Council were published, Sacred Liturgy was shrouded in mystery. The first catechetical article, “What is Sacred Liturgy?” asserts that today, we have a better balance in understanding the aspects of the Liturgy and an even greater grasp of what the Church believes and teaches about the Sacred Liturgy will bring forth much fruit for the life of the Church.
After the Second Vatican Council (1962- 1965), when the word liturgy sprang into more common usage, its definition (from the Greek leitourgia) – the work of the people or work on behalf of the people – soon resulted in an emphasis solely on the first, rather than the more important second understanding. Some explain this as a consequence of the Council’s call for “full, active and conscious participation” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 2, 14) in the worship of the Church as the “right and duty” of the Christian people, particularly as individuals and the entire assembly gradually assumed a more active role in liturgical celebrations. It is true that, immediately after the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, the tendency was to focus on the assembly’s role in the celebration of the Liturgy while failing to recognize the more important “work of God” being accomplished in the assembly’s midst. While a better balance in understanding both aspects of the Liturgy now exists, an even greater grasp of what the Church believes and teaches about the Sacred Liturgy will bring forth much fruit for the life of the Church.
Continue reading our first Catechesis Article here.
