Liturgy Resources

Ushers and greeters ministers of hospitality are vital to parishes so they need strong formation to comfortably and graciously respond to the needs of everyone who comes through the doors of your church. Solid training helps them become models of hospitality for the whole parish. This guide helps you train new and returning ministers of hospitality by providing knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are practical, theologically and liturgically-informed, and spiritually inspiring.

With its new title, design, and added content, this revised edition is more helpful than ever. To Fr. Paul Turner's foundational chapters on the meaning and history of the ministry and on the ministry's spiritual dimensions, a brief chapter on the liturgy by liturgist Corinna Laughlin has been added. To Karie Ferrell's practical and wise advice on the many detailed duties of the ministry, psychiatrist and spiritual director Thomas Welch has contributed some additional perspectives. Updates to frequently asked questions, the annotated list of recommended resources, and the glossary have added yet more value to the book, and questions for reflection and discussion continue to accompany each chapter.

Let this guide help you open wide the doors of your church so that it can be, as Pope Francis has called for, a spiritual field hospital for our needy world.

This guide includes:

• Theological and historical reflections on the liturgy and the ministry
• Practical skill-building and advice for serving in this role
• Ways to deepen your spirituality and call to discipleship
• Answers to frequently asked questions
 
• Recommended resources
• A glossary
• Questions for discussion and reflection

978-1-61671-591-5 | Saddlestitched | 6 x 9 | 64 pages | Language: English

The work of the sacristan is extremely important, for without their preparations, the Mass cannot begin. Sacristans work behind the scenes to help ensure proper celebration of the liturgy, setting out the books, the vestments, the vessels, the bread, and the wine. Grounded in Church doctrine and liturgical practice, this updated guide provides newly formed and experienced sacristans with the skills and theological insights to help them fulfill these crucial tasks.

This guide includes:

• Theological and historical reflections on the liturgy and the ministry
• Practical skill-building and advice for serving in this role
• Ways to deepen your spirituality and call to discipleship
• Answers to frequently asked questions
 
• Recommended resources
• A glossary
• Questions for discussion and reflection

978-1-61671-584-7 | Paperback | 6 x 9 | 96 pages | Language: English

Music ministers offer their gift to the glory of God.  Whether they sing or play, their ministry is essential to the worship of your parish.  It serves the flow of liturgical prayer, adds beauty and artistry to the way people pray, and enlivens the words that express belief and immerse those who sing them into the mystery of God.

This third edition has been expanded to help music ministers reflect more deeply upon their liturgical role. As part of the Liturgical Ministry Series®, this book is grounded in Church doctrine, liturgical practice, and follows a format that provides the newly formed and experienced ministers alike with basic skills and theological insights in order to perform their ministry well and in a Christlike manner.  This includes:

Michael Cameron, Corinna Laughlin, Virginia Meagher, Paul Turner

Because readers provide a bridge between the Word of God and the assembly, helping Christ speak to his people, they need to understand, believe, and love the Word of God they proclaim. The Introduction to the Lectionary calls for a preparation for lectors and readers that includes spirituality, biblical and liturgical formation, and technical instruction for proclamation. This book provides exactly that in an inviting and readable style that grounds readers in essential knowledge and inspires them to keep learning and growing. This resource includes:

• Theological and historical reflections on the liturgy and the ministry
• Practical skill-building and advice for serving in this role
• Ways to deepen your spirituality and call to discipleship
• Answers to frequently asked questions
• Recommended resources
• A glossary
• Questions for discussion and reflection
• 978-1-61671-578-6 | Saddlestitched | 6 x 9 | 80 pages | Language: English

Inspired by her daily contemplation and meditation on the Scriptures, Carmelite Sister Mary Grace Melcher offers this book of deeply meaningful prayers of the faithful for every day of the year. Cycles A, B, and C for Sundays and the two-year cycle for weekdays are all included. These beautiful intercessions echo the grace of the day indicated by the Scripture readings and have been prayed in her monastic community for years. Enrich your community's liturgy with these beautiful and inspiring intercessions.

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814634813

Details: 448 pgs   

Size: 7 x 10

Publication Date: 02/01/2013

Like its predecessor, this revised edition of The Ministry of Music explores liturgical singing in terms of how it enables the gathered assembly to enter more fully into ritual enactment of the paschal mystery. The "whats" and "how-tos" of music ministry are developed from this perspective. How does communal liturgical singing enable us to participate in and surrender to the paschal mystery? What musical and pastoral choices best enable the singing to fulfill this role? And how does the singing form us in a paschal mystery spirituality that shapes daily Christian living and makes the relationship between liturgy and life more evident?

This edition incorporates new understandings of the ministry of liturgical music generated by Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship (STL). New material addresses the underlying theology shaping STL, provides schemas for using both the Proper chants and vernacular songs at the Entrance and Communion, discusses the value of singing the dialogues, and explores silence as a necessary component of music-making and liturgical prayer.

Author: Kathleen Harmon, SNDdeN

104 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 Paperback

Publication Date: 01/19/2016

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

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

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"

9781568540351 | Paperback | 8 3/8 x 10 7/8 | 176 pages | Language: English

This third volume of a three volume series, includes liturgical images for Year C that will enliven your bulletins, handouts, programs, and orders of service. Original art is drawn from the Sunday readings of each year of the Lectionary, from the great feasts and seasons. There is also a handy subject index and pieces for the national holidays. Suggestions for using the art are given in the introduction. Secretaries, parish staffs, musicians, worship coordinators, principals, and teachers will find top-quality illustrations for many different projects.

This calendar presents the cheerful, colorful art of Catherine Pape. Her illustrations of blessings in Catholic family and community life focus on some of the many blessing practices rooted in tradition and lovingly passed on through generations: the blessing of a home and of an advent wreath, of food at a soup kitchen or at a family table, of children by parents as they depart for the day, and of crops, animals, and farm equipment. All of these scenes depict little celebrations of the ways we are blessed and protected by God. Such blessings keep us mindful of God's love and guidance, and they model for our children one way that Catholics try to stay open and aware of God's presence in our ordinary lives.

The Year of Grace liturgical year follows the Sunday Year A, B, or C cycles and the Weekday Year cycles.



LTP's circular display of the liturgical year makes its key features easily understandable. We can see at a glance the liturgical seasons in their characteristic colors, Sundays on the outer rim, and the days and weeks radiating from the center.



Use the Year of Grace notebook version in many ways:



Use as handouts for children and adults in classrooms or in catechetical or formation sessions to teach about the liturgical year
Give (or sell) laminated copies to households in the parish and school to use as placemats.
Along with the poster calendar, post one in every classroom, meeting room, and in the church vestibule to teach about the liturgical year.
Present to first communicants and Confirmation candidates in preparation sessions.

After Jesus died and rose, his disciples continued to preach: proclaiming Christ's resurrection, spreading his teachings, and recalling many facts about the life of Jesus on earth. This is how the Gospels came to be written.

This edition of The Gospels is specifically designed for children to encourage them to come to know Jesus and to foster their love of Scripture. Included are the first four books of the New Testament, written by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and selected verses from the Psalms, Isaiah, the Acts of the Apostles, and Revelation. With The Gospels, children will continue their study and meditation of God's Word.

This book is an ideal gift for children preparing for or have celebrated first Communion or confirmation, or those who are on a journey towards Christian Initiation. It includes:

• Easy-to-read text and full-page layouts to help children hone their reading skills
• Full color design to engage the reader with the text
• Embellished initial caps and numerals to help children identify the beginnings of each chapter
• Images of the evangelists and visual representations of the land and places of Jesus' time
• ¢ Scripture text from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

Printed on durable card stock with larger type, this confession aid includes the full order of service for individual confession from the new translation of the Order of Penance. Its easy-to-use, tri-folded-format is designed to help penitents participate more fully in individual reconciliation and know the appropriate prayers and responses. This confession aid also includes a Prayer of Preparation, an Examination of Conscience, and a Prayer of Thanksgiving.

This aid can be kept on hand in confessionals and reconciliation chapels or in church vestibules.

Each pack includes 50 cards.

By Richard B. Hilgartner and Daniel J. Merz

Guide for Celebrating Matrimony walks through each part the revised ritual noting best practices and appropriate adaptations while providing pastoral guidance for forming and catechizing couples; ideas for leading wedding workshops, handling difficult situations, and developing parish guidelines; as well as offering suggestions for parish evangelization and hospitality.

As part of the Preparing Parish Worship series, this book includes:

• Theological reflections on the Sacrament of Matrimony
• Historical overview of the development of Marriage rituals
• Answers to frequently asked questions
• A glossary and suggestions for additional resources
• Inspirational and instructive quotations from Scripture and Church documents
• Ritually instructive photos

978-1-61671-237-2 | Paperback | 6 x 9 | 128 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2015

By Rita Burns Senseman, Victoria M. Tufano, Paul Turner

This book helps parishes prepare and celebrate the rites of the Christian initiation process in ways that are appropriate to children. It also describes how to prepare children and their families for full participation in the rites. The Q&A chapter answers a range of questions.

978-1-61671-315-7 | Paperback | 6 x 9 | 160 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2017

By John Thomas Lane

Praying in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass has been a part of Catholic tradition for centuries. This practice leads us to a deeper appreciation of Christ's presence in our lives and to fuller participation in the Mass. This resource traces the historical developments of this practice from the early Church through the post-Conciliar reform. Providing a theological and pastoral context for best parish practices, this book addresses the following:

• The Rite of Exposition and Benediction
• Celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours and other Eucharistic services during exposition
• The transfer of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday
• The Corpus Christi procession
• Perpetual exposition
• Perpetual adoration
• Holy hours and Forty Hours
• Youth and exposition
• Eucharistic congresses and their significance for the parish

978-1-61671-243-3 | Paperback | 6 x 9 | 112 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2015

By Various authors including Joseph DeGrocco and Bruce T. Morrill

The process of preparing a Catholic funeral can be a healing and life-giving experience for all who are involved.  This resource provides parish staffs with a thorough treatment of the various funeral rites from the first meeting with families after death through the burial.  It offers pastoral guidance for collaborating with families, preparing the liturgical environment and music, selecting prayer texts, scheduling liturgical ministers, and ways for your parish to be a source of comfort, hope, and strength for mourners.

As part of the Preparing Parish Worship  series, this book includes:

• Theological reflections on the importance of Sunday Mass
• Historical overview of the development of Sunday Mass
• A walk-through the Order of Mass
• Answers to frequently asked questions
• Assistance with best liturgical practices
• Inspirational and informative quotations from Scripture and Church documents

978-1-61671-291-4 | Paperback | 6 x 9 | 176 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2017

Available in Spanish!

By Paul Turner

With a theological and historical overview of the newly translated texts of The Order of Confirmation, this practical resource provides your parish team with a collaborative approach to catechizing about and preparing for the Confirmation liturgy. Paul Turner walks through each part of the rite, noting best practices and highlighting differences in the newly translated ritual; provides guidance selecting Scripture readings, prayer texts, and music; advice for preparing the liturgical environment; and offers suggestions for evangelization and hospitality.

978-1-61671-242-6 | Paperback | 6 x 9 | 96 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2016

By  Christopher J. Ferraro and Anthony Ruff

Throughout the history of the Church, Christians have consecrated time by pausing at various moments throughout the day to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office. Day after day, hour after hour, Christians unite their hearts with Christ and his Church as they pray the Divine Office. This book will assist parish communities and groups of Christians who wish to gather to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

As part of the Preparing Parish Worship  series, this book includes:

• Theological reflections on the consecration of time
• A historical overview of the development of the Liturgy of the Hours
• A walk-through of the Hours
• Answers to frequently asked questions with responses to difficult pastoral situations
• Assistance with best liturgical practices
• Inspirational and informative quotations from Scripture and Church documents

978-1-61671-512-0  | Paperback  | 6 x 9  | 128 pages  | Language: English  | Copyright Year: 2020

Written by Corinna Laughlin, Michael R. Prendergast, Joanne Sanders, Paul Turner

Ensuring a smooth and prayerful celebration of the Eucharist begins with a focused, well-trained liturgy or worship committee. Responsible for setting the goals, direction, and principles of the liturgical life of the community, the committee functions best when both newly formed and experienced members of the committee receive training in the basic skills and theological insights that are vital to fulfilling their ministry with God's grace and guidance.

As part of the Liturgical Ministry Series®, this book is grounded in Church doctrine and liturgical practice, and follows a format that provides the newly formed ministers and experienced ministers with basic skills and theological insights.

This resource includes:

• Theological and historical reflections on the liturgy and the ministry
• Practical skill-building and advice for serving in this role
• Ways to deepen your spirituality and call to discipleship
• Answers to frequently asked questions
• Recommended resources
• A glossary
• Questions for discussion and reflection

Order additional packs of 25 participant booklets to supplement the 25 booklets included in your mission kit when you purchased Water, Light, and Life: A Lenten Parish Mission.

Comes in pack of 25. Not sold seperately

A Lenten parish mission by Paul Radkowski and Rodica Stoicoiu

Water, Light, and Life: A Lenten Parish Mission provides a reasonably priced (and reusable) option that will highlight the talent and knowledge of your staff and other parishioners as retreat mission leaders.

This multi-generational prepackaged mission is practical, adaptable, and easy for any parish staff to organize and implement. During this four-session mission, participants of all ages will reflect on the stories of the Samaritan woman at the well, the curing of the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus from John's Gospel. It is the perfect way for parish staff to animate parishioners during the Lenten season as the community journeys to Easter and prepares to celebrate baptism and renew baptismal promises.

Taking its cue from the Period of Purification and Enlightenment of the RCIA, this mission invites participants to reflect on sin and the need for conversion and renewal just like the three characters who accompany them through the mission. The mission kit includes all the materials the parish staff needs to successfully put on this parish mission.

Included in each mission kit is a Director's Guide, 25 participant booklets, a flash drive with all the mission materials, and access to an online landing page with PowerPoint presentations, reproducible handouts, a promotional video, and marketing materials to promote your mission.

978-1-61671-639-4 | Package Item | 8 1/2 x 11 | 160 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2022

By the liturgical institute and Douglas Martis

The Mundelein Psalter is the first complete one-volume edition containing the approved English-language texts of the Liturgy of the Hours with psalms that are pointed for the chanting of the Divine Office. The music consists of simple yet beautiful Gregorian-based modes composed for this Psalter. The Psalter is designed for use by priests, deacons, religious, and laity, making singing the hymns of the Liturgy of the Hours easier for all.

Features of The Mundelein Psalter:

• Translations of hymns proper to each ferial day and a selection of hymns for feasts and solemnities (taken from the editio typica).
• Music with the ancient modal settings is provided for each hymn. Hymns are also arranged to be sung with any long meter (L.M.) tune.
• A collection of 14 optional modes that can be used as needed.

It uses the Grail Psalms and contains Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer. It also includes the Sanctoral cycle and the Office for the Dead. "A Pastoral Implementation Guide for the progressive implementation of the Liturgy of the Hours in a parish setting. Hospitable. Durable. Faithful. Flexible: In its beautiful, clear layout of the canonical Office text, pointed and coupled with elemental chant tones, The Mundelein Psalter allows newcomers to the Liturgy of the Hours to participate with ease.  These same features, grounded to the bedrock of liturgical and musical tradition, wear well even with those who sing the Divine Office daily.

978-1-59525-019-3 | Hardcover | 6 x 9 | 1344 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2007

Instructions for my medical treatment, finances, and funeral by various authors.

Preparing for your own death removes a great burden from your loved ones who will be suffering deep sadness upon your death.

Preparing ahead of time will let them grieve without worrying whether they are fulfilling your wishes, and it may prevent conflict among family members. This booklet is a hopeful, prayerful, and practical guide that will help you record your wishes for the end of your life and funeral. It provides space for recording information regarding DNRs, living wills, and finances. It will guide you through the consumer information for funerals, while also providing theological reflections on the Catholic funeral liturgy, so you can select the Scripture readings and music you would like to be offered at your own funeral. This booklet is grounded in Catholic teaching and will help you make arrangements that reflect your faith in Christ.

978-1-61671-679-0 | Saddlestitched | 7 x 10 | 80 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2022

Available in Spanish!

Advanced training for proclaimers of the word of God by Douglas Leal.

Assemblies recognize the difference between a lector who simply reads and one who truly proclaims the Word of God. They perk up and take special notice when they sense that the lector has worked to get inside the text, to express the meaning authentically, and to draw them into the story. Douglas Leal has spent decades as a lector, lector trainer, actor, and director. He knows how to coach lectors beyond reading so they can become proclaimers of the Word. The conversational, spirited style of the book recreates the sense of a live training session with the author. In a magazine format, with running text surrounded by boxes that focus on a particular subjects and techniques, a tool from the actor's toolbox, or an encouraging story from the world of acting, the book presents a wealth of wisdom and practical instruction that can carry a lector far beyond basic training. Chapter by chapter, Leal guides lectors to