This readable and insightful collection of essays invites readers to contemplate the formative and transformative nature of the Church’s liturgy. Ideally, those in a parish responsible for the work of planning liturgies, preaching, faith formation, and promoting social outreach activities will together read and discuss these essays. The questions suggested for discussion will foster the learning and conversations necessary for creative and effective liturgical formation of parish communities. The critical need for the kind of liturgical catechesis and formation that will inspire communities to live from the liturgy is ongoing and cannot be overstated. This resource will spark thinking about how to invite parishioners to engage more deeply in the Church’s liturgy and in the liturgy of life.

Anne Koester is an adjunct professor of theology at Georgetown University and serves as the coordinator of Christian initiation at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Washington, DC.

Is liturgy only rules and rubrics? Parishes and minsters often get caught up in the details of doing the rite right. But liturgy is much more than proper etiquette. The eight essays of Beyond the Sanctuary offer the reader time to gaze deeply into essential aspects of the Church’s liturgy. The authors bring to the discussion both official teaching and pastoral practice to inform as well guide ministers in making connections between belief and praxis. Questions for discussion are provided at the end of each essay which are a helpful tool for both private reflection or group discussion among worship commissions, liturgy teams, or parish staffs. Indeed, a retreat could be planned using the book as foundation.

Mary Dumm, dmin, is pastoral associate at St. Blase Catholic Church in Sterling Heights, MI.

Lex Orandi – Lex Credendi – Lex Vivendi: The Church has always proclaimed the necessary connection between our common prayer, our belief, and the living of the Paschal Mystery in the concrete acts of justice and mercy in our everyday lives. In this collection of essays by scholars and pastoral ministers, this broad horizon of Christian faith is deepened and made accessible to communities of faith, giving a unity to these fundamental characteristics of Christian faith.

With unfolding simplicity and wisdom, each author reveals how the “matter and form” of our rituals take flesh in the beautiful and intentional way we gather, preach, sing, and form “missionary disciples” in a life-long mystagogy of communion. In this integral pastoral vision, “Do this in memory of me” reaches beyond a liturgical moment to become the pattern of the just and faithful life.

Each chapter includes accessible “Questions for Discussion” to carry the conversation beyond the sanctuary into every fabric of our lives. In a time when staying connected and living in faith, hope, and love challenge life as we have known it, this collection should be a resource and a practical guide to imagine a world, as the poet Hopkins describes, “charged with the grandeur of God.”

Rev. Paul Janowiak, sj is an associate professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, Berkeley, CA

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