Called to Participate

The student and scholar will find in it content that presents major themese for a theology of liturgical participation that intersect with ritual and social perspectives.Msgr. Joseph DeGrocco, Professor of Liturgy and Director of Liturgical Formation, Seat of Wisdom
. . . a text rich in insights. . . . This is part of Searle’s legacy: trying to understand and never underestimate how the church’s liturgy is meant to have an impact on us and, through us, on the world. We worship for the sake of the world.Emmanuel
This slim volume on the meaning and modes of liturgical participation is a little gem.Worship
Called to Participate is an excellent resource for anyone who desires a deeper understanding of what it is we do when we celebrate liturgy.Liguorian
Searle presents compelling and disconcerting questions with which the Church continues to wrestle as we attempt to understand more fully the overwhelming consequences of what we engage in when we enact liturgical ritual.Pastoral Music
The editors present a cogent and thought-provoking work with special meaning for those involved in all aspects of liturgical leadership as well as the ‘people in the pews.’WritingWorks
Addressing a church still laboring with liturgical reform, a saintly voice rises from the grave to reclaim the past, reframe the present, and challenge this generation to make ready for the next. Mark Searle recasts the early liturgical movement as a twofold effort to bring people to the liturgy and liturgy to the people. He advocates a spirituality of the liturgy in the countercultural terms of surrender. And he looks to the future where the public function of liturgy will be more deeply absorbed in prayer and in action. If you think you know what it means to ‘participate’ at Mass, this book will make you think again.Rev. Paul Turner, STD, Pastor, St. Munchin and St. Aloysius Churches, Cameron and Maysville, Missouri
In this era of liturgical ‘culture wars,’ it is a godsend to have these final reflections on liturgical renewal from the late Mark Searle. The opening chapter, which identifies and characterizes two liturgical movements from the mid-19th to the late-20th century as ‘social transformation through liturgical formation’ and ‘church renewal through liturgical reform,’ provides wise criteria by which present practices might be assessed. Searle’s theory of three levels of participation—in ritual behavior, in the liturgy of the church as the work of Christ, and in the life of God—is extremely helpful in holding together ‘ascending’ and ‘descending’ understandings of the liturgy often separated in practice, while his brief remarks on the inward/contemplative and outward/public dimension of the liturgy flesh out this theoretical framework with cogent insights. I would make Called to Participate required reading for anyone with responsibility for liturgical leadership: academics, clergy, seminari