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Thousands of readers have found Fr. Mark Boyer’s The Liturgical Environment: What the Documents Say to be a useful compendium of the church’s law and guidelines on the liturgical environment. Rooted in the norm of active participation as the guiding principle for all liturgical celebration, each chapter considers the ecclesial documents that pertain to the particular objects under discussion, the theology found in the documents, and the praxis that flows from the theology. Now in its third edition, The Liturgical Environment has proven to be an essential resource for all those involved in planning, building, renovating, decorating, and worshiping in a sacred environment.
This new edition is significantly expanded and revised to take into account important material from the third edition of The Roman Missal, the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Pope Benedict’s apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, and the Vatican’s Instruction on the Eucharist, Redemptionis Sacramentum. Additional material has been added on celebrating the parish feast day, principles involved in decorating, and fakery in the liturgical environment. New information on the font and various baptismal scenarios for the Easter Vigil is also included. Three new chapters focus on celebrating marriages, funerals, and anointing the sick; on the concept of progressive solemnity in the liturgy; and on liturgical furniture for conference use when Mass is not celebrated in a church. Finally, new discussion questions present opportunities for reflection and discussion.
Fr. Mark G. Boyer, a priest of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for thirty-nine years, is the author of forty books, including the two previous editions of The Liturgical Environment, on biblical and liturgical spirituality. Besides serving as the director for the mission apostolate in his diocese, he has been part-time instructor in the Religious Studies Department of Missouri State University, Springfield, for twenty-eight years. He teaches courses in New Testament and Bible and Film. He gives workshops on the liturgical environment and assists in renovating churches.
