by Michael McGourty (Author)
Sent Out into the World contains a liturgical theology for a parish community and the new evangelization that is derived from a reading of The Order of the Dedication of a Church. For this reason, its content can be attributed directly to a liturgical rite of the Catholic Church. It is not the creation of any one person, but rather an exercise in lex orandi, lex credendi. It presents a vision of the parish that comes directly from a rite of the church and focuses the parish community, and its members, on the mission that it has within the body of Christ. Applying the content of the ordo to a parish community, it presents a theology for those communities in which most Catholics meet the Lord and practice their faith. The liturgical theology for a parish community that is presented here focuses all parish communities on Christ and his presence in the liturgical celebrations that take place in the parish churches. As this ritual powerfully reminds the baptized, from the liturgical and sacramental celebrations in which they encounter Christ in their parish church, the faithful are to be sent out into the world as ministers of the new evangelization. By reading this book, every Christian who practices his or her faith within a parish community will be reminded of the mission which they are called to live as members dismissed to go into the world at the end of every eucharistic celebration.