Liturgy in the Twenty-First Century: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives

‘Because the Sacred Liturgy is truly the font from which all the Church’s power flows…we must do everything we can to put the Sacred Liturgy back at the very heart of the relationship between God and man… I ask you to continue to work towards achieving the liturgical aims of the Second Vatican Council…and to work to continue the liturgical renewal promoted by Pope Benedict XVI, especially through the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis…and the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum… I ask you to be wise, like the householder…who knows when to bring out of his treasure things both new and old (see: Mtt 13:52), so that the Sacred Liturgy as it is celebrated and lived today may lose nothing of the estimable riches of the Church’s liturgical tradition, whilst always being open to legitimate development.’

These words of Robert Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, underline the liturgy’s fundamental role in every aspect of the life and mission of the Church. Liturgy in the Twenty-First Century makes available the different perspectives on this from leading figures such as Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Abbot Philip Anderson, Father Thomas Kocik, Dom Alcuin Reid, and Dr Lauren Pristas.

Considering questions of liturgical catechetics, music, preaching, how young people relate to the liturgy, matters of formation and reform, etc., Liturgy in the Twenty-First Century is an essential resource for all clergy and religious and laity involved in liturgical ministry and formation. Bringing forth ‘new treasures as well as old,’ its contributors identify and address contemporary challenges and issues facing the task of realising the vision of Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and the Second Vatican Council.