Books - (also see Inspirational Books)

What are Vespers? Where have the consecration bells gone? Why do some liturgical ministers vest and others don't? Blinking sneakers on altar servers, Christmas trees in January . . . what is that all about? These are some of the candid questions that Catholics and others often wonder about the liturgy. In What's the Smoke For?, expert liturgist Johan van Parys offers helpful and engaging answers. Based on church teaching and rooted in sound theology, Johan's responses invite inquiring minds to continue to think about what is happening in the church and to be engaged in learning more about liturgy and the arts.

Author: Johan van Parys

Details: 168 pgs, 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 Paperback

Publication Date: 07/07/2014

Explore the deeper meaning of eucharistic celebration with a highly regarded expert on liturgy. In Mystagogy of the Eucharist, Gilbert Ostdiek, OFM, draws on ritual actions, liturgical symbols, prayer texts, and reflective commentary to help participants in the liturgy name and reflect on the meaning that Eucharist has for daily life. This book is offered as a practical, pastoral resource for those engaged in the ongoing formation of worshipers and their liturgical ministers.

Author: Gilert Ostdiek, OFM

Details: 144 pgs, 6 x 9 

Publication Date: 05/12/2015

What are we doing when we confirm teenagers? Why is the religious education of teenagers so perplexing? Why is confirmation often a moment of "graduation" out of parish life?

Confirmation: How a Sacrament of God's Grace Became All about Us tells the story of how confirmation, more than any other sacrament, has interacted with secular culture to give rise to these kinds of pastoral challenges. At the same time, confirmation has, over the course of the twentieth century, become a sacramental stamp of approval for various Catholic renewal movements.

The cultural shifts of the last century have led to various theological themes for confirmation, creating a crisis of meaning today. Is confirmation a personal choice for faith, or is it the deepening of an ongoing relationship with the Divine? Timothy Gabrielli gives us a fresh approach for addressing these pressing questions.

Author: Timothy Gabrielli

Details:132 pgs, 6 x 9 

Publication Date: 09/24/2013

More than half a century after its introduction into the Easter liturgy, the rite of the washing of feet on Holy Thursday goes to the heart of what it means to take part in Christian liturgy as well as to live a Christian life. In Washing Feet: Imitating the Example of Jesus in the Liturgy Today, Thomas O'Loughlin explores the significance of mutual footwashing in early Christian communities and in the rituals of churches today.

Washing Feet is a sound and engaging combination of liturgical theology, historical exploration, and practical pastoral guidance. Clergy, liturgy committees, and RCIA leaders involved in Holy Week liturgies will find this a useful and accessible resource for understanding how this practice is a key to how ordinary Christians understand the nature of the church and their relationship to others within their particular communities.

Author: Thomas O'Loughlin

Details: 144 pgs, 5 x 7 

Publication Date: 12/07/2015

As the summit of the church's liturgical year, the Paschal Triduum requires the energy, time, and talents of many people within the parish community. In Three Great Days, Jeremy Helmes draws on rubrics, liturgical theology, the church's tradition, and plenty of lived experience to offer a sound guide to planning and preparing. He draws attention to rituals requiring special attention and helps you determine liturgical roles and responsibilities. He also offers templates, worksheets, planning forms, and other ready-to-use resources that any parish can use to make their liturgical preparation and evaluation easier and more effective.

Whether it's your first time preparing these liturgies, you're looking for fresh ideas, or you just want to make sure you're covering everything, this book will help your parish make this year's Triduum three truly great days.

Author: Jeremy Helmes 

Details: 106 pgs, 7 x 10 Paperback

Publication Date: 12/07/2016

Since its initial publication in 2006, Paul Turner's Let Us Pray has become a valuable resource for understanding, planning, and celebrating the Eucharist. This new edition, thoroughly updated by the author to be in full continuity with the Revised English Translation of The Roman Missal, will be one that priests, liturgical ministers, planners, and students will want to keep close at hand.

Turner offers helpful explanations for the principal rubrics for a typical Sunday Mass. He reflects on the place of ritual within the context of Catholic piety and then explores the regulations governing the furnishings, vestments, and ministers. He carefully walks readers through the entire Mass from the entrance procession to the dismissal. The book is cross-referenced to answer most questions about the Sunday ritual.

Author: Paul Turner

Details: 184 pgs, 6 x 9 

Publication Date: 09/01/2012

The Collegeville Psalter is a brand new responsorial psalm collection for Catholic worship, composed by one of today's most accomplished and inspiring composers. It faithfully follows the U.S. Lectionary text of the psalms and responses for the complete three-year cycle of Sundays and major feast days. It also includes settings of the "Common Texts" responsorial psalms.

The music is fresh and singable, with memorable responses for the assembly, fresh tones for the cantor, and engaging accompaniments for organ or keyboard. Psalms with different refrains or sets of verses use the same or related musical material for ease of learning. An important new resource, The Collegeville Psalter serves well either as a stand-alone parish psalter or as a fine addition to any existing liturgical music program.

Author: Paul Inwood

Coil bound 166 pages 8 1/2 "x 10 7/8"

The Collegeville Ministry Series offers inexpensive, yet comprehensive, training on the various liturgical roles. Each booklet is 5 3/8" x 8 1/4" in size and prepared by a specialist in the field and provides down-to-earth suggestions for making ministry more meaningful for the ministers and those who serve.

We all know that a one-size-fits-all approach to RCIA catechumenate formation doesn't work. But until now, many of us were stumped trying to find a viable alternative. Seek the Living God: Five RCIA Inquiry Questions for Making Disciples is the answer to your prayers. After just a few meetings with your seekers, you will be able to easily create a customized faith formation plan that is tailored to the unique needs of each person. The best part is that the seekers do most of the work in developing their own plan. Your role shifts from being the Catholic "expert" to being a mentor and coach.

Once you understand how the five-question process works, you can easily train others to use it. New team members don't have to worry about "knowing enough" to be on the team. Start using these questions with your very next RCIA seeker. You will be amazed at the powerful conversion that will happen with your inquirers-and with you.

Author: Nick Wagner

130 pages, 6" x 9" Paperback

Publication Date: 12/14/2017

In The Word on the Street, John Martens brings the Bible to where people live: in the church, at home, at work, and in the broader world. This Lectionary commentary for every Sunday of the liturgical year will help readers understand the Bible in light of their daily lives, experiences, and challenges and will help Sunday Mass preachers find new ways to articulate God's work in the world.

John Martens is known for his contributions to "The Word," a popular column in America magazine. The Word on the Street, Year C is the final book in a three-volume series that presents scriptural, liturgical, and preaching commentary for Sundays throughout the year.

Author: John W. Martens

138 pages, 6"x 9" Paperback

Publication Date: 07/17/2018

Rites of Passage is a much-needed, practical homiletic resource for priests and deacons who preach Christian baptisms, weddings, and funerals. The three authors, a religious priest, a diocesan priest, and a permanent deacon, draw from the scriptural and liturgical resources available to the preacher for these three important ritual moments to suggest ways to build an effective homily. This book will serve as a helpful and engaging resource for priests and deacons in parish life and as a blessing to the faithful.

296 pages, 6" x 9" Paperback

Publication Date: 09/15/2018

The Psalms' insights are remarkable, unexpected, eye-opening. They have vital things to say to us if we listen intently to the ancient wisdom, much of which has been lost to modern ears.

Using the insights of the "shape and shaping of the Psalms" work done by Psalms scholars over the past twenty-five years, James Chatham presents an inviting study for non-experts to explore the interactions that various psalms have with one another. The book invites us to listen in on several psalm conversations, to realize how contemporary they are, and to join them. Chatham encourages us to immerse ourselves in the mind, heart, and world of the Psalms editor, to get to know that editor well, and to realize that that editor's world was, in important ways, very much like ours. Through this process, the messages spoken by the Psalms editor emerge with words of faith about everyday issues in human living, both then and now.

144 pages, 6" x 9" Paperback

Publication Date: 08/24/2018

The Divine Office for Dodos from Catholic Book Publishing is a step-by-step guide to praying the official prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours. For those who want to pray the Liturgy of the Hours correctly and completely, The Divine Office for Dodos contains over 90 detailed lessons with questions, helpful hints, and practice sessions presented in a simple style. This book includes everything you need to know to be able to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with confidence.

This second volume of the official English edition of theLiturgy of the Hours(Divine Office) from Catholic Book Publishing, for use during the Lenten and Easter Seasons, contains the translation approved by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy. Includes the currentSt. Joseph Guide for the Liturgy of the Hours(Product Code: GF400G) and Inserts for theLiturgy of the Hours(Product Code GF400I). Printed in two colors with a flexible burgundy binding, theLiturgy of the Hours(Vol. II) includes handy ribbon markers and features a gold-stamped spine and distinctivestained page edging to match the cover.

The Liturgy of The Hours Vol. III: Ord. Time - Wks 1 - 17. This third volume of the official English edition of the Divine Office, for use during Weeks 1-17 of Ordinary Time, contains the translation approved by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy. Includes the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) and INSERTS FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code GF400I). Additional copies of the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) are available. Size 4 3/8 X 6 3/4. Brown imitation leather cover. Special Features: Readable 10 pt. Type. Printed in Two Colors . Includes Ribbon Markers. Gold-Stamped Spine. Stained Page Edging to Match Cover.

The Liturgy of The Hours Vol. IV - Ord Time - Wks 18 - 34. This fourth volume of the official English edition of the Divine Office, for use during Weeks 18-34 of Ordinary Time, contains the translation approved by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy. Includes the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) and INSERTS FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code GF400I). Additional copies of the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) are available. Size 4 3/8 X 6 3/4. Green imitation leather cover. Special Features. Readable 10 pt. Type. Printed in Two Colors . Includes Ribbon Markers. Gold-Stamped Spine. Stained Page Edging to Match Cover.

Large Print Bonded Leather Edition. The complete set of THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS in four volumes. Leather volumes are sold only as a set. Includes the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) and INSERTS FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code GF400I). Additional copies of the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) are available. Size 4 3/8 X 6 3/4. Blue, Red, Brown and Green bonded leather covers. Special Features: Readable 14 pt. Type. Printed in Two Colors. Includes Ribbon Markers. Gold-Stamped Spine with elegant gilded page edging.

The complete set of THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS in four volumes.Leather volumes are sold only as a set. Includes the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) and INSERTS FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code GF400I). Additional copies of the current ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Product Code: GF400G) are available. Size 4 3/8 X 6 3/4. Black bonded leather covers. Special Features: Readable 10 pt. Type. Printed in Two Colors. Includes Ribbon Markers. Gold-Stamped Spine with elegant gilded page edging.