12:315 The Liturgical Year

 Spring Semester 2008, Online, January 29 to May 13 - Three Credit Hours
Saint Meinrad School of Theology
St. Meinrad, Indiana

Rev. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M., S.T.D,
Professor of Sacramental / Liturgical Theology

Course Description

Assigned Reading

Course Objectives

Course Method

Overview of Topics and Activities

 

The Seven Chapters of the Course

1. Introduction
2. Time
3. Sunday
4. Lent Triduum Easter
5. Advent Christmas
6. Saints
7. Conclusion

Evaluation and Grading

Participants

Course Description

This course studies the historical development of the Roman Catholic Liturgical Year and the reforms of the Church Calendar that were brought about by the Second Vatican Council.  The course is directed toward discovering the theological and liturgical principles which guided the reform of the Liturgical Year so that these principles might enable the participants to prepare the liturgical celebrations of Sunday, the liturgical seasons, and feasts in the parishes where they might minister and to incorporate the spirit of the Liturgical Year into their personal prayer and spirituality.  For a description of the professor and further rational for the course click here. 

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Assigned Reading

There are four required reading assignments for the course:

1. Maxwell Johnson, Editor. Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year. The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 2000.  ISBN 0-8146-6025-8. Paper, $39.95. (= Johnson)

2.  Martin Connell. Eternity Today:  On the Liturgical Year ( 2 Volumes). The Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2006.  ISBN 0-8264-1871-6.  Paper $31.32 (= Connell)

3. Calendarium Romanum (in English).  General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the New General Roman Calendar issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on March 21, 1969 was published in English by the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy in their booklet Norms Governing Liturgical Calendars,  Liturgy Documentary Series, Number 6.  Washington DC: Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, USCCB, 1984.  Publication number 928-9.  $6.95 paper.  The first half of the text is available online at www.catholicliturgy.com 

4.  Ordo Lectionum Missae (in English).  "General Introduction to the Roman Lectionary for Mass" The text is available online at www.catholicliturgy.com   You can also find the text printed at the beginning of the Lectionary.  

For further information on the reading assignments for the course click here.

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Course Objectives

The hoped for outcomes of the course are:

1.  A deeper appreciation of the Church Year and its role in forming a liturgical spirituality.

2.  A familiarity with the current Roman Calendar, Sacramentary, and Lectionary and the other Church documents related to the Liturgical Year.

3.  A knowledge of the history of the Liturgical Year which will help the student appreciate its current structure and future developments.

4.  The background necessary to intelligently plan and prepare fruitful celebrations of Sunday, the liturgical seasons, and feasts in the parishes and/or monasteries  where they might minister.

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Course Method

1.  Online  This course will be taught totally online.  Online learning presupposes a specific set of skills.  In addition to technical skills (e.g. participants in this course are expected to have a personal computer or access to a computer; the ability to access websites and download and print files; the ability to send and receive e-mail; and the ability to post essays and enter into discussion on ANGEL) the course requires specific "learning skills." Online learning is not for everyone.   Online learning requires a high degree of self-discipline and the ability to set schedules for oneself.   To see if you would make a good online learner you might want to take an "assessment for online learning" available on the internet, for example the Readiness for Online Courses survey at Texas A&M University.  To learn more about online learning click here.  

2.  ANGEL St. Meinrad School of Theology uses ANGEL (A New General Environment for Learning, version 7.2) as its learning course software.  (For those of you who are not familiar with ANGEL but have used Blackboard or Moodle, you will find ANGEL very similar.)  When you enroll in this course at Saint Meinrad you will be given a username and a password which will enable you to log onto ANGEL.  All coursework, assignments, and communication with the professor and other participants in the course are to be conducted through ANGEL.  Exception:  Send e-mail to me directly at TRichstatter@saintmeinrad.edu   rather than through ANGEL.  ANGEL contains all materials pertinent to this course that are not included on my website.  Postings on ANGEL are subject to Saint Meinrad's policies as stated in their "Agreement for Use."  

3.  Posting  Each participant in the course is expected to post at least one original posting and two replies during each of the 14 weeks of the course, as indicated in the syllabus. 

4. Time Management   Online courses require approximately twice the amount of time as a face-to-face course.  I estimate that you should schedule approximately two hours a day, five days a week, for each of the 14 weeks of this course (i.e. about 140 hours).

5.  Due Dates All assignments must be completed by midnight of the date listed in the syllabus.  Because of the collaborative nature of this course and the importance of the group discussions, these deadlines are absolutely necessary.  No credit will be given for work posted after the due date given in this syllabus.  Look ahead through the syllabus; if you find your going to be absent during one week or on a particular day simply turn in the assignment ahead of time as best you can.  Even a "C" is better than no credit at all. 

7.  Spring Break  I have designated the two weeks before Easter (March 9 to March 22) as "Spring Break" and no assignments are given for those two weeks.  If your personal "Spring Break" happens at a different time, make the adjustments necessary so that you can follow the assignment schedule given in this syllabus.  While no assignments are given for those two weeks, I suggest that you use some of that time to read the assignments for Chapter 4 of the course:  Lent / Triduum / Easter.

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Overview of Topics and Activities

This is an overview of the course assignments; each assignment is explained in greater detail below.  Additional information on the course and course assignments can be found at Chapter y12 Introduction to the Liturgical Year Course

The course begins on January 29, 2008 and ends on May 13, 2008.  The material will be studied in seven chapters:

1. Introduction (Weeks 1 & 2:  January 29 to February 9)
2. Time (Weeks 3 & 4:  February 10 to February 23)
3. Sunday (Weeks 5 & 6:  February 24 to March 8)
--- Spring Break (March 9 to March 22)
4. Lent / Easter (Weeks 7 & 8:  March 23 to April 5)
5. Advent / Christmas (Weeks 9 & 10:  April 6 to April 19)
6. Saints / Mary  (Weeks 11 & 12:  April 20 to May 3)
7. Conclusion (Weeks 13 & 14:  May 4 to May 13)

Chapter 1 will require an "Introductory Essay" and two response-postings on the introductory essays

Chapter 7 will consist of a concluding project.

Chapters 2 through 6 of the course will each consist of five activities:

1.  Introductory Essay   This is simply a way to start thinking about the topic of the chapter.  This introductory essay can be written before reading any of the text books etc.  It is simply a statement of "where you are at"; it does not require footnotes or references, etc.

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays    Read all (or as many as you can) of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and make a substantive  (300 words) comment to at least two of them.   Do not waist time with a simple "That's nice" comment.  It is good to post positive and encouraging comments but tell why you agree (or disagree) with the author and the posting. 

3.  Content  This syllabus will list the pertinent parts of the textbooks, my website, etc, and other "content" activities which you are to read and study for each of the seven chapters of the course.

4.  Major Essay   This is the major activity for each chapter.  Write a 800-1000 word essay on the topic of the chapter study.  This can be done in a variety of ways; e.g. you can select one of the readings and offer a theological reflection on it; you can show how the readings have been implemented in your parish; you can indicate how one author does or does not agree with another author, etc. etc. etc.  Select a topic that is a) interesting to you; b) of importance to the Church.  This essay is to be substantive and footnoted with references to the required readings.  It will be graded according to the standard grading rubric. 

Footnotes and citations in the Major Essays:  

1) If you wish to put the footnote in the text in parentheses, that is acceptable – and often easier to read in an online format. 

2) Henceforth, when citing “Martin Connell. Eternity Today:  On the Liturgical Year (2 Volumes). The Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2006.  ISBN 0-8264-1871-6.”  – From now on, just type the author, volume # and page #  e.g. (Connell, Vol 1, p 15).  That is sufficient for any of us to look up and find the quotation. 

3)  When citing from Maxwell Johnson, Editor. Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year. The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 2000.  – From now one, just type the actual author of the article cited and the title of the article and then the page number in Johnson, e.g.  (Patrick Regan, “The Fifty Days and the Fiftieth Day,” in Johnson, p 225). 

4) When citing from the Bible, simple give the reference followed by the translation you are using.  The New Revised Standard Version and the New American Bible are both acceptable.  The NRSV is the one used in the courses in graduate schools (e.g. Saint Meinrad), the NAB is that used in the Lectionary.  E.g.  (Luke 23:39-43 NRSV) 

5.  Dialogue with the major Essays  This is the major collaborative learning activity.  This is the area where real learning takes place.   Read the "major essay" postings of your classmates and and make a substantive (about 300 words) comment on at least two of them.  These postings will be graded according to the grading rubric for dialogue.

When dialoguing with the major essays:  It is important to distinguish between questions of fact and questions which pertain to "deep truths." The answer to a question of fact is true of false. The opposite of a true answer is a falsehood. This is not the case with deep issues. Here the opposite of a truth is often another deep truth. For example, the Eucharist is both the sign of God’s real presence and the sign of God’s real absence.  In your dialogue you will often want to consider these "opposite truths".

6.  Synchronous chat session    On a time and day of the week to be determined by the mutual agreement of the participants,  we will gather online for a synchronous ANGEL chat session.

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Chapter 1. Introduction

1.  Introductory Essay Date due: February 4  The first assignment is to post an "introductory essay" in which you describe your favorite season of the liturgical year and explain why it is your favorite.  Then tell something about yourself; describe your current Church ministry if any.  Are you working toward a degree at Saint Meinrad or are you taking this course for personal enrichment?  If you ware working toward a degree, how many courses have you completed?  Finally, state your personal objectives for this course; what do you want to learn?  While this essay is not due until midnight February 4, I suggest you post it as soon as you can so that we can begin to get acquainted.  [A secondary function of this posting is that it lets me know that you are “onboard” with the course and know how to post your assignments on ANGEL so that we can work out any difficulties before the “due dates” begin.] 

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays   Date due: February 8  Read all of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and respond to two of them – one which you find most similar to your own, and one which you find most different from your own.  [After reading the original posting, click "reply" at the bottom of your computer screen on ANGEL and post your (300 word) response.]

3.  Content  Begin reading the text books.  I suggested you read the advantages inherent in online learning.  The introductory materials regarding course method.  Orientation to my website www.tomrichstatter.org    d11 General Introduction to All of the Courses I Teach   and  d12 General Introduction to All of the Online and Hybrid Courses I Teach  

If this is one of your first courses in liturgy, I would suggest that you also read  Four Treasures in the attic   A note about icebergs   Chapter y13 Overview of the Liturgical Year   Chapter y17 Bibliography   Anamnesis     Pleroma    Numbers as Qualities   Time as Metaphor   Conclusions   Spirituality of the Seasons    

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Chapter 2.  Time

1.  Introductory Essay  Date due: February 11 What is your experience of the Liturgical Year? What is your favorite season and why? What do you know about the Liturgical Year? Have you taken courses in this area before?

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays Date due: February 15   Read all of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and make a substantive (about 300 words)  comment to at least two of them. 

3.  Content Date due: February 18  As you read and think about the material for Chapter 2 of the course (Time) struggle with the concept of Anamnesis (e.g. in Johnson pp 17-22 passim). This is the key issue. How does the liturgy make us present to the once and for all saving events of the paschal victory? Check "under the iceberg" to see that the way you understand anamnesis in this course is the same way you understand anamnesis with regard to the Eucharist (i.e. real presence). This is a "deep" issue, the understanding of which develops over a lifetime.

4.  Major Essay Date due: February 18 

5.  Dialogue with the major Essays Date due: February 22 This is the major collaborative learning activity.  This is the area where real learning takes place.  Read the "major essay" postings of your classmates and and make a substantive (about 300 words) comment on at least two of them.   These postings will be graded according to the rubric given in Assessing Effectiveness of Student Participation in Online Discussions.

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Chapter 3. Sunday

1.  Introductory Essay  Date due: February 25    Spend a few moments reflecting on what you do on Sunday. Do you think of Sunday as being different from the other days? If so, how does this effect your behavior and activities? Do you have any opinions as to how civil society helps or hinders the religious observance of Sunday? 

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays  Date due: February 29   Read all (or as many as you can) of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and make a substantive comment to at least two of them. 

3.  Content  Date due: March 3  Read and study:   

  • Johnson, Part II.  From Sabbath to Sunday, pp 49-98

  •  Connell Vol 2, (note:  Volume 2) Chapter 1 Sunday, pp i-51

  •  My lecture notes at   Chapter y21 Sunday    

4.  Major Essay  Date due: March 3        

5.  Dialogue with the major Essays  Date due: March 7 This is the major collaborative learning activity.  This is the area where real learning takes place.  Read the "major essay" postings of your classmates and and make a substantive (about 300 words) comment on at least two of them.   These postings will be graded according to the rubric given in Assessing Effectiveness of Student Participation in Online Discussions.

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Chapter 4. Lent Triduum Easter

1.  Introductory Essay   Date due: March 24   When you close your eyes and say "Lent" what is the first thing that comes to mind?  How has your observance of Lent changed during the last five years? Why?  How has the celebration of Lent and Easter changed in your parish after the introduction of The New Rite for Christian Initiation of Adults? 

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays  Date due: March 28  Read all (or as many as you can) of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and make a substantive comment to at least two of them. 

3.  Content Date due: March 31 Read and study:

4.  Major Essay  Date due: March 31 

5.  Dialogue with the major Essays  Date due: April 4 This is the major collaborative learning activity.  This is the area where real learning takes place.  Read the "major essay" postings of your classmates and and make a substantive (about 300 words) comment on at least two of them.   These postings will be graded according to the rubric given in Assessing Effectiveness of Student Participation in Online Discussions.

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Chapter 5. Advent  Christmas

1.  Introductory Essay  Date due: April 7  Which liturgical season do you like better, Advent or Lent?  Why?  What is your experience of Advent? Christmas?  In your opinion is it possible to in some real way celebrate the season of Advent (joyful expectation) in our American consumer culture?  What have you been taught about the meaning of Advent? Christmas? What of the mystery is made present (anamnesis)?  What of the liturgical and civic celebrations is mere historicism?  Which is your favorite feast, Easter or Christmas?  How is Christmas different for you now that you are an adult from your recollections of Christmas when you were a child?  Do you enjoy all the gift giving, card sending, tree decorating, etc of Christmas or does it just seem like "a too busy" time?  What special significance do the feasts of the Christmas season take on by their relation to the Solemnity of Christmas that they would not have if they were celebrated at another time of the year?

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays  Date due: April 11  Read all (or as many as you can) of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and make a substantive comment to at least two of them. 

3.  Content  Date due: April 14  Read and study:

  •  Johnson Part IV From Pascha to Parousia, pp 265 374
  •  Connell Vol 1, Chapter 2 Advent pp 53-87
  •  Connell Vol 1, Chapter 3 Christmas pp 88-146
  •  Connell Vol 1, Chapter 4 Epiphany pp 147-198 
  •  Connell Vol 1, Chapter 5 Candlemas pp 199-234
  •  View the video clip Advent and Christmas  
  •  Read my lecture notes at  Chapter y41 Advent   Chapter y42 Christmas   Chapter y43 Feasts of the Christmas Season

4.  Major Essay  Date due: April 14 

5.  Dialogue with the major Essays  Date due: April18 This is the major collaborative learning activity.  This is the area where real learning takes place.  Read the "major essay" postings of your classmates and and make a substantive (about 300 words) comment on at least two of them.   These postings will be graded according to the rubric given in Assessing Effectiveness of Student Participation in Online Discussions.

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Chapter 6. Saints

1.  Introductory Essay  Date due: April 21 Do you have a patron saint? Do you have devotion to this saint? How frequently do you pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary?  How are civil holidays to be celeb rated? 

In this section of the course we also want to consider the relationship between the liturgical year (liturgy, the official prayer of the whole Church) and he popular prayer and devotion of the people. For example: while there is a liturgy for All Souls’ Day in the Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours, we might ask how Catholics in Latin America celebrate the Day of the Dead? Or: what is to be thought of the insertion of the devotion to the Divine Mercy which has replaced the liturgy for the Second Sunday of Easter? Or: in 2008 the feast (popular "Solemnity" in some places) of St. Patrick fell on the Monday of Holy Week. While the liturgical celebration was moved to another day, how did the people celebrate the "external solemnity (Parades, Parties, etc) during Holy Week?

My professors in Paris said in class that when they were revising "Lent" they wanted to have Lent start on the First Sunday of Lent (eliminate ash Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday as Lenten days). However this was impossible because of the "popular devotions" that have grown up around fasting/feasting and Mardi Gras. They decided that it would be impossible to change this day liturgically in the current culture. "When religion and culture fight, culture always wins." 

2.  Comments on the Introductory essays Date due: April 25  Read all (or as many as you can) of the introductory essays that have been posted by the other participants in the course and make a substantive comment to at least two of them. 

3.  Content   Date due: April 28  Read and study:

4.  Major Essay  Date due: April 28

5.  Dialogue with the major Essays Date due: May 2 This is the major collaborative learning activity.  This is the area where real learning takes place.  Read the "major essay" postings of your classmates and and make a substantive (about 300 words) comment on at least two of them.   These postings will be graded according to the rubric given in Assessing Effectiveness of Student Participation in Online Discussions.

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Chapter 7. Conclusion

1.  Major Essay  Date due: May 12  Teams will be assigned for this final project.  However, I would prefer if you would select another participant (so that we have 3 teams of 2 people each) with whom you share a common interest and with whom you feel comfortable working.  Try to select a topic that you would find useful for your ministry; this gives you extra motivation to do well.  Each team can decide for themselves how the presentation is to be prepared.   For example, prepare a Catechetical presentation suitable for some parish group (e.g. ongoing formation for adults; presentation to the catechumens and candidates preparing for full reception into church; adolescents preparing for confirmation, etc.) on the liturgical year or on some aspect of this course.  For example: What Catholics do on Sunday; or Honoring the Blessed Mother; or How Catholics Read Scripture Makes the Liturgical Year; or any other similar topic of your choice. 

I realize that there is a lot of work involved in a "group" or "team" project in an online course; I have had this experience myself in taking courses online. However, all of the courses I have taken on "How To Teach Online Courses" strongly recommend a "team project" to be part of the course, usually the final project. And that is why I have included a team project in this course (and in each of my online courses). Second, I have also heard from other students that these projects have been great learning experiences, despite the time/effort involved. Third, in past courses the results of these group projects have been outstanding! And fourth, most of you in this course are or will be involved in some sort of church ministry, and all ministry today is collaborative ministry (indeed, Christianity itself, is a "team effort.")

2.  Course Survey  Date due: May 13 Please take the Course Survey in ANGEL listed under the LESSONS tab next to the discussion box for the Concluding Essay. It should not take more than ten minutes and I will make the results available for everyone to view.  Students in the past have found this a very useful and helpful exercise.

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Evaluation and Grading

Your postings are presumed to be your original thought unless you indicate otherwise.  When quoting someone give the source of the quote and indicate by quotation marks where the quotation begins and ends.  Each participant is expect to be familiar with the "Statement on Plagiarism" in the Saint Meinrad Student Handbook.

The Saint Meinrad School Bulletin states that the grade scale in use is the following:  Excellent A= 100 - 95; A- = 94; Superior B+ = 93; B= 92 - 87; B- =86;Average C+ = 85; C = 84-79; C- = 78; Passing D+ = 77; D = 76-71; D- = 70; Failure F = 69 and below.   [.5 is rounded up] 

The grades on the postings will be "weighted" as follows:

  • The postings for Chapter 1 Introduction will not be graded. The postings for Chapters 2-6 will be graded as follows.

  • The Introductory Essays -- 3% for each of the 5 essays for a total of 15%

  • The two postings responding to the Introductory Essays -- 2% for each posting; (2 x 2 x 5) for a total of 20%

  • The Major Essays -- 7% for each of the 5 major postings for a total of 35%

  • The 2 postings dialoging with the Major Essays  -- 2% each (2 x 2 x 5) for a total of 20%

  • The final project -- 10%

Remember that I am assigning the grade to your essay on ANGEL.  I am not assigning a grade to your faith or your piety.  One can flunk the course and still get to heaven; one can get an A+ in the course and still not do so well before the judgment seat of God!   I mention this because some who are starting out on the path to a degree in Theology can confuse or identify these issues.   If you were to receive a low grade on a paper, this does not mean you are a bad person; it simply means that I did not judge the paper deserving of a high grade.  

Also, I want to fully respect your faith journey and the work of the Spirit in you life.  We each have our unique life journey.  As the poet Murray Bodo has said: "Who we are is how and where we've traveled." (The Place We Call Home: Spiritual Pilgrimage as a Path to God, Brewster, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2004, p. 70.)   But while respecting your individual journey, as a teacher I want to point out areas where you might incorporate new facts into your understanding of a topic, and to challenge you to look at things in a new way.  I consider this to be part of my "job" as a teacher.  However, it is often difficult to convey complex ideas and subtle meanings when we have only the words appearing on a computer screen without all the other communication "cues" that are present in face to face communications.  An online course has its advantages, but it also has its own difficulties.

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Participants

1. Sr. Maria Christi Cavanaugh

2.  Mary Chasten

3. Jerid Miller

4. Elaine Robertson

5. George Sanders

6.  Ron Werner

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© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 06/22/08 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at webmaster2@tomrichstatter.org.