In the 1950s the brethren at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint John the Baptist in Collegeville, Minnesota—the largest Benedictine abbey in the world—decided to expand their campus, including building a new church. From a who’s who of architectural stars—such as Walter Gropius, Richard Neutra, Pietro Belluschi, Barry Byrne, and Eero Saarinen—the Benedictines chose a former member of the Bauhaus, Marcel Breuer. In collaboration with the monks, this untested religious designer produced a work of modern sculptural concrete architecture that reenvisioned what a church could be and set a worldwide standard for midcentury religious design. Saint John’s Abbey Church documents the dialogue of the design process, as Breuer instructed the monks about architecture and they in turn guided him and his associates in the construction of a sacred space in the crucial years of liturgical reform. A reading of letters, drawings, and other archival materials shows how these conversations gave shape to design elements from the church’s floor plan to the liturgical furnishings, art, and incomparable stained glass installed within it. The book offers a rare detailed view of how a patron and architect work together in a successful building campaign—one that, in this case, lasted for two decades and resulted in designs for twelve buildings, ten of which were completed. The post–World War II years were critical in the development of religious and architectural experiences in the United States—experiences that came together in the construction of Saint John’s Abbey and University Church and that find their full expression in Victoria M. Young’s account of the process. Using the liturgy of the mid-twentieth century as a cornerstone for understanding the architecture produced to support it, her book showcases the importance of modernism in the design of sacred space, and of Marcel Breuer’s role in setting the standard.

Internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei commented that if Marcel Breuer's church for Saint John's Abbey had been built in New York instead of the north woods of Minnesota it would be world famous. Hamilton Smith, Breuer's longtime associate, wrote that the completed church was that rare thing, an architectural design fully realized, and he regarded it as Breuer's finest achievement. The junior member of the twelve-monk planning committee recounts in warm and frequently humorous detail how its members related to the Hungarian-born Bauhaus-trained architect who had no background in church architecture but shared their belief in the enduring quality of simple materials sympathetically used. How the strong architect-client relationship survived the strain of disagreement at a critical moment in completion of the church is the narrative high point in this informal record of four years in which the reader sees a masterpiece of modern church architecture take shape.

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Common Good, Uncommon Questions places the Catholic Church's guidance into contemporary context by considering stories, poems, and articles to challenge preconceptions, asking what contribution the Church can make to moral debate.

Fr. Michael Kwatera, OSB, helps deacons comprehend, share, and effectively perform their ministry by providing both spiritual and functional support. This short work is directed to al deacons, both permanent and transitional, in the hope that it will promote their formation for service within the church's Eucharist, other sacramental rites, and communal prayer. Contents include explanations of the deacon's role in various church situations and liturgies - such as confirmation and marriage - as well as outside of the Mass setting, such as ministering to the sick. With Petitions for Deacons from Ancient Liturgies and historical background, this book provides an interesting and informative look at the deacon's role in the Catholic Church. Fr. Michael Kwatera, OSB, PhD, is director of Oblates for Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota. He's a teacher and practitioner of Christian liturgy and the author of several Liturgical Press books, including Come to the Feast: Liturgical Ministry of, by, and for Everybody.

Words and Gestures in the Liturgy is a call to attentiveness. What do the various movements in the liturgy mean? How do words affect and effect liturgical actions? Antonio Donghi explains that these gestures emerge from the experience of prayer; they are a response to the invitation to relationship with God. This revised and expanded edition of Actions and Words: Symbolic Language and the Liturgy (1997) pulls readers into an active and knowledgeable participation in the worship of God.