The Seven Sacraments, Past and Present: A Short Critical Study of the New Rituals - Couverture souple

Barthe, Claude; Kwasniewski, Peter

Couverture souple

ISBN 13 : 9798903780129

Editeur : Os Justi Press, 2026

Synopsis

It might be said that the tree of the Mass has often obscured the forest of the sacraments. For decades, debates about the liturgical reform that began while Vatican II was still under way have coalesced around the new missal that emerged in 1969. However, this reform of the Mass was accompanied by a profound overhaul of the rites of the six other sacraments: baptism, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, penance, and extreme unction (the last two renamed reconciliation and the anointing of the sick).

Traditionally, the liturgy is the theological locus par excellence for the preservation and transmission of the faith. If the new rite of the Mass deserves criticism for its diminished signification of that faith, the same holds for the new rituals of the sacraments, which Fr. Barthe compares with their traditional counterparts, looking to the matter and the form (the elements used, the words spoken) as well as the ceremonies surrounding them. The multiplicity of available formulas and their tendency toward vagueness have undoubtedly played a role in weakening the doctrinal message. Has the reformatory urge to “adapt the rites for modern man” not failed in the missionary purpose it claimed as justification?

A well-documented, measured work, Fr. Barthe helps readers to see why a coherent defense and practice of tradition must reach beyond the Mass to embrace all of the Church’s rites—at a time when the very possibility of using those rites is being widely called into question.

“Wherever one looks in the older Roman liturgical rites, one finds a form of worship that embodies the fullness of Catholic doctrine more explicitly, more robustly, and more impressively than its ‘reformed’ counterpart, as Fr. Barthe makes abundantly clear. Instructive, yet accessible to non-specialists, this study is an important contribution to the growing body of critical literature concerning twentieth-century liturgical reform in the Western Catholic Church.” —Fr. Thomas M. Kocik

“Fr. Barthe has done the Church a great service by placing, side-by-side, ‘Before’ and ‘After’ snapshots of the seven sacraments (and funeral rites). The similarities and differences between the usus recentior and the usus antiquior are apparent.” —Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.

“The rites for the administration of all the sacraments underwent substantial revisions following the Second Vatican Council. Fr. Barthe argues that these changes were by and large for the worse. The Seven Sacraments is a valuable resource that joins other works of ‘loyal dissent’ such as the ‘Ottaviani Intervention.’” —Michael P. Foley

Fr. Claude Barthe is the author of numerous works reflecting on the current crisis in the Church and of religious columns in various journals. He has devoted himself in particular to defending and illustrating the “genius” of the traditional Roman liturgy.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Os Justi Press
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 13: 9798903780129
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 134
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg