The Study Guide to Catholic Liturgy, published by SCM Press, has been a project the Liturgy Formation Subcommittee of the Department for Christian Life and Worship. It was recognised that an introductory ‘text book’ to Liturgy would be useful in many areas of the Church’s life, including those preparing for ordination, priestly and diaconal, lay liturgical ministers, catechists and teachers in Catholic schools. The book is intended to offer a foundation in Catholic liturgy through a consideration of key principles and then an exploration of the Sacraments and other rites of the Church. The subcommittee drew together liturgists and theologians with academic and pastoral backgrounds. This is reflected in the text which offers both a grounding in the theology of each rite also looks at the celebration of the liturgy and some of the pastoral issues which arise. Each chapter contains Questions for Reflection and the book concludes with a Glossary and a Further reading list.
To support the text there is a dedicated part of the Liturgy Office website: Study Guide to Catholic Liturgy
The contents of the book are:
Part 1 Principles of Catholic Liturgy
The Roman Rite – Peter McGrail
Catholic Theology of the Liturgy – Peter McGrail
Fundamentals of Liturgy – Martin Foster
Part 2 The Sacraments
Catholic Sacramental Theology – Richard Conrad, OP
Christian Initiation of Adults – Caroline Dollard and Peter McGrail
Christian Initiation of Children – Caroline Dollard
The Celebration of the Eucharist – Stephen Dean and Martin Foster
The Theology of the Holy Eucharist – Richard Conrad, OP
Sacraments at the Service of Communion – Martin Foster and Peter McGrail
Sacraments of Healing – Martin Foster and Peter McGrail
Part 3 Beyond the Sacraments
Funerals – Andrew Downie
Times and Seasons – Jonathan How and Martin Foster
