A Challenging Reform: Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal by Archbishop Piero Marini (review)

mittee of the Catholic Theological Society of America. These are all valuable resources for understanding the complex and sensitive issues of applying the norms of Ex Corde Ecclesiae to Catholic higher education in the U.S. Of course, there are the texts of the various drafts of the “application ” and the final approved document. The last document is the USCCB’s guidelines concerning the mandatum. If the reader wishes to know what role the Congregation for Catholic Education played during this period, Gallin gives two documents that clarify this dicastery’s influence. We have the 1991 directives of the Congregation to assist in formulating the application to the Church in the United States and the 1997 response to the bishops’ draft of its ordinances . This response sent the bishops back to the meeting room to resume their work of formulating a document that would ultimately receive the Vatican’s recognitio. As valuable as these documents are in themselves, what makes this work truly worthwhile and absorbing is its thirty-five page introduction. Gallin summarizes the entire process, puts each document in its historical context and describes the impact it had on the discussions and final product. With amazing skill, Gallin makes the reader feel like he or she is actually participating in the meetings. In the epilogue, Gallin chronicles the many programs started on Catholic campuses to implement the principles and norms of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. This book serves as an essential resource for understanding and living the Catholic identity of our colleges and universities in the United States. Paul L. Golden, C.M. Vincentian Canonical Services Denver, CO A CHALLENGING REFORM: REALIZING THE VISION OF THE LITURGICAL RENEWAL by Archbishop Piero Marini. Edited by Mark Francis, C.S.V., John R. Page, and Keith F. Pecklers, S.J. Collegeville , Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2007. A Challenging Reform traces the birth, life, and death of the Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de sacra liturgia and the Congregation for Divine Worship. In the opening two chapters, Marini highlights not only the drafting process of Pope Paul VI’s motu proprio Sacram liturbook reviews 799 800 the jurist giam, which announced his intention to establish the Consilium, but also the initial reaction of some (especially the French bishops) to the document ’s problematic article IX. The Consilium’s difficult relationship with the Congregation of Rites is a constant theme through the early chapters. With a solid plan for implementing the reform of the liturgy with cardinals, bishops, and consultors who were experts in various areas of liturgy, and most importantly, with the personal support of Paul VI, the Consilium thoroughly revised all the rites of the Latin Church in less than ten years. In the middle chapters, Marini outlines the contention between the Consilium and the Congregation of Rites in the drafting of the first instruction on the liturgy, Inter oecumenici (1964), and steps taken early in the reform to engage conferences of bishops and publishers. The briefest of overviews is given to the work of the twenty-three study groups charged with revising the ritual books. Finally, in chapter seven, Marini looks at the aftermath of the initial reform by assessing the contribution made by the Consilium.The volume also includes an appendix of six documents in English translation: (1) the never-promulgated motu proprio Primitiae and appended instruction predating Sacram liturgiam; (2) the memorandum from the French bishops in reaction to Sacram liturgiam, article IX; (3) Bugnini’s promemoria on the interpretation of Sacrosanctum Concilium; (4) the principles and norms used by the Consilium to confirm acts of conferences of bishops; (5) the formula agreed to by the Consilium and the Congregation of Rites for the promulgation of documents ; and (6) abridged observations on the draft of Inter oecumenici by the Congregation of Rites and the response from the Consilium. As the former secretary to Annibale Bugnini, who served as secretary to the Consilium (1964–1969) and later to the Congregation for Divine Worship (1969–1975), Marini offers unique insights into an important institution in the life of the post-Vatican II Church. Nevertheless, his telling of events pales in comparison with the details Bugnini provides in The Reform of the...