Speaking of Liturgy

Reclaiming Catholic Art: Identity and Worship in Church Communities Today

Fr Mark Joseph Costello invites us to engage more actively with local communities when renovating churches so that the identity of the local church and the human desire for meaning in the modern world may be better expressed in the liturgical environment.
Rev Mark Joseph Costello OFMCap is Provincial minister of the Capuchin Province of St Joseph. He has worked extensively as a liturgical designer and consultant, has been published in various liturgical journals, and undertaken professional consultancy on liturgical spaces.  He is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and Societas Liturgica.

Ministry of the Sacristan: Loving God’s house and serving the people of God

Corinna Laughlin invites us to consider the ministry of Sacristan as more than knowing what sacred objects are needed for the liturgy and where to find them. She asks: ‘What does it take to be a good Sacristan?’ She discusses this important role and highlights some key aspects of training.
Dr Corinna Laughlin is a Pastoral Assistant for Liturgy at the Cathedral of St James, Seattle, USA. Since 1998, she has worked with clergy, Cathedral staff and volunteers, planning hundreds of liturgies each year.  Corinna has written the Guide for Sacristans, Guide for Servers, and Guide for Celebrating Holy Week and Triduum for Liturgy Training Publications as well as articles for many other publications. Corinna serves as a Consultant to the Liturgy Office of the Archdiocese of Seattle.

Singing the Mass: Liturgical Music after Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963) — Areas of Growth and Challenge

Paul Inwood reflects on areas of growth and challenge since the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the liturgy and poses some important underlying questions about the nature of music in the liturgy.
Paul Inwood is an internationally-known Roman Catholic liturgist, composer, organist, choir director, author, speaker and workshop presenter. His work is to be found in major Catholic hymnals across the English-speaking world. A former president of the international liturgical music study group Universa Laus, Paul was responsible for the introduction of the music of Taizé into the British Isles in the 1970s. He was named 2009 Pastoral Musician of the Year by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (USA), and was the official composer of the Vatican Hymn for the Holy Year of Mercy (2015-16).

The Diocesan Liturgical Commission: Its Role and Importance Today

Rita Thiron describes how a synodal Church places importance on Diocesan Liturgical Commissions. She outlines the role of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission and how it contributes to the vitality of the Church today.
Mrs Rita Thiron is the Executive Director of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions in Washington, DC.  She previously served as the Director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of Lansing (Michigan) and an adjunct professor at Siena Heights University.  Since 2013, Rita has served as a consultant to the Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She is the author of eight books and countless articles. She is a frequent workshop presenter in dioceses across the United States.

The People of God: Formed for the Liturgy and by the Liturgy

Fr Michael Driscoll encourages all the baptised to reflect on their liturgical experiences and the meaning of the rites, so that they can participate more deeply in the celebration of the liturgy.
Rev Michael S. Driscoll is a priest of the Helena Diocese. He taught sacramental theology and liturgy at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in January 2017 and founded and directed a graduate program in sacred music. He is actively involved in pastoral practice, and has worked as a liturgical consultant in the United States. He has served as president of the North American Academy of Liturgy (2002) and the Catholic Academy of Liturgy (2013) and was elected on two occasions to the Council of the Societas Liturgica. He also served as an advisor to the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, USA. He is widely published.

Look at us with Māori Faces: Inculturated Images of Mary in the New Zealand Church

Fr Michael Wallace describes some inherited images of Mary depicted in New Zealand churches and how local and indigenous knowledge have been absent in Church art. He describes what Māori images of Mary might include and invites us to consider to what extent our own images of Mary are enculturated expressions of the local community.
Rev Michael Wallace JP, BA, BTheol, MPhil, PhD is the vicar of All Saints Church and Chaplain of Selwyn College, Dunedin, New Zealand. He has worked with students for many years; from 2004-2010, he was General Secretary of the World Student Christian Federation in Geneva, Switzerland. He has degrees in Arts and Theology from Otago and a Master of Philosophy (in Ecumenics) from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD (in liturgical inculturation) from Australian Catholic University. Fr. Michael is married to Julanne Clarke-Morris and they have three children.

Thinking Again about Assembly

Gordon W. Lathrop invites us to ponder the nature of a real Christian assembly in our contemporary virtual world. He discusses how to treasure and promote diverse assemblies and work towards their renewal.</p<
Rev. Prof. Emeritus Gordon Lathrop is the Schieren Professor of Liturgy Emeritus at the United Lutheran Seminary (USA) and a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He has degrees from Occidental College (Los Angeles) and Luther Theological Seminary (St. Paul), a doctorate in New Testament studies from the Catholic University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and honorary doctorates in theology from the University of Helsinki, the University of Iceland, the Virginia Theological Seminary, and Wartburg Theological Seminary.  He is the author of several books, including Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology (Fortress, 1993), The Four Gospels on Sunday: The New Testament and the Reform of Christian Worship (Fortress, 2012), Saving Images: The Presence of the Bible in Christian Liturgy (Fortress, 2017), and The Assembly: A Spirituality. He is a Past-President of both Societas Liturgica and the North American Academy of Liturgy. 

Burning Hearts and Liturgical Formation

Sr Louise Gannon, RSJ, outlines some of the modern challenges of liturgical formation and invites us to explore different approaches, especially a dynamic process of mystagogical reflection. The best experiences invite an encounter with the mystery of God’s presence and inflame the hearts of all the faithful.
Sister Louise Gannon, RSJ is a member of the Sisters of St Joseph Lochinvar, Australia. She has served in a range of ministries in Secondary Schools and in adult faith formation in the Tenison Woods Education Centre Lochinvar. Louise has been in liturgical ministry in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle for many years, guiding the Diocesan Liturgy Council, and until recently as the Manager of Worship and Prayer. She is also a member of the National Liturgy Council, an advisory body to the Bishops Commission for Liturgy of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.  

Space matters: shaping a place for worship

Fr Richard Vosko examines the relationship between churches and the people who worship in them and how worship spaces can help us sense the unexplainable and create unlikely connections. He explores how buildings reflect the community's response to the Gospel message and become symbols of faith in action.
Rev Dr Richard Vosko AIA is an award-winning liturgical designer and consultant whose work is well known internationally. He speaks and writes frequently on topics pertaining to religion and the environment for worship. His portfolio includes 150 completed churches, 13 cathedrals, and dozens of synagogue consultations. His latest book is Art and Architecture for Congregational Worship: A Search for Common Ground (Collegeville: Liturgical Press) 2016 

Liturgical Rituals and Popular Film

Hans-Jürgen Feulner explores the depiction of liturgical rites in film. Religion is a key part of life and filmmakers incorporate religious rituals in different ways for different effects. He notes how perspectives and interpretations have changed.
Professor Hans-Jürgen Feulner is professor of Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at the faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna, Austria. His research focuses include Comparative Liturgiology with the various Eastern liturgical rites, liturgical rituals in film, and Anglican liturgy. He was a member of a Vatican working group on the preparation of a liturgical form for former Anglicans in the three Personal Ordinariates, and was awarded the papal knighthood of St Gregory the Great by Pope Francis in 2015.  More on this topic can be found at https://lit-ktf.univie.ac.at/en/research/research-projects/religious-rituals-in-film. An English article about the Dies Irae in film music will be published in fall 2025 in the open access online Journal Ex Fonte: https://exfonte.org