Christopher Carstens
Christopher Carstens
Christopher Carstens is Director of the Office for Sacred Worship in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, a visiting faculty member at the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois, editor of the Adoremus Bulletin, and one of the voices on The Liturgy Guys podcast. He is author of A Devotional Journey into the Mass (Sophia) and, along with Father Douglas Martis, the co-author of Mystical Body, Mystical Voice: Encountering Christ in the Words of the Mass (Liturgy Training Publications).
God and Grace in Human Translation
There is a truth that each liturgical translation of the Roman Rite is attempting to communicate—a truth that is more profound than the translation’s conveyance of particular words or phrases into the vernacular, even though it is tied to each word.
Has the Liturgical Movement Turned Itself Around?
An Austrian pastor following World War I until his death in 1954, Father Parsch opened the treasures of the liturgy and the Bible to his people.
A Rose is a Rose is a…?
What is the best way to convey, in words, the restoration of heaven and earth? How does the Church find…
Three Men Walk Into a Mass… (In anticipation of Father’s Day)
Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this story before. It’s worth hearing again—especially with Father’s Day around the corner.
Quasimodo out of the Ashes
Few Catholics may be aware that the Second Sunday of Easter also bears a proper name from its Introit: “Like newborn infants, you must long for the pure, spiritual milk, that in him you may grow to salvation, alleluia,” Quasi modo geniti infantes.
Q: What should be the posture of the faithful after receiving communion?
A: The proper postures for both ministers and faithful are described in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM)…
A Fixed Rule of Language Reflects the Grammar of Faithful Assent
Whether in Latin, English, or Kiswahili, the language of prayer must express and foster the belief of the Church. Put more simply: the Church says what she means and means what she says. The Church calls this premium it places on words its fixed rule of language. To better understand how this is so, though, we must first examine another sort of rule first formulated in words some 1,500 years ago.
The Church’s Vernacular
We hear the sacred Scriptures proclaimed at each celebration of the Mass during the Liturgy of the Word. But apart from the Liturgy of the Word itself, echoes of the word resound in the rest of the Church’s prayers. Let’s take a few examples.
We Are Our Own Parents: Let Us Not Abort Ourselves
The life you save may be your own – and Christopher Carstens shows how, in startling terms, the liturgy must be integral, according to St. Gregory of Nyssa, to hope of (re)birth in Christ.
Be It Done to Us According to the Word: The Virgin Mary and the Roman Missal
In recent months, we have found many occasions to reflect upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in our…
