While researching for my Vatican II paper on the liturgical reform, I ran across a little book by the French theologian Denis Crouan called The Liturgy Betrayed, which ironically enough has a picture of St. Thomas Becket's murder on the cover.

The book, published in translation by Ignatius in 2000, is only about 100 pages or so, but is hands down the best analysis I have seen of the rationale behind the changes introduced into the 1969 Missal - both additions and deletions - and explaining why such changes are in harmony with the liturgical tradition. It also gives a well deserved smackdown to the "spirit of Vatican II" crowd of liturgists and bishops who cannot read documents as well as the "traditionalist" camp and their rather tenuous understanding of liturgical history.

Crouan has also written a book called The History and The Future of the Roman Liturgy, which in light of the aforementioned work I am probably going to pick up.

Interestingly enough, Franciscan does not have either book in its holdings while Athenaeum of Ohio, which includes Mt. St. Mary's Seminary of the West, has both.

- Posted by in Catholic , Literature and the Arts at 6:19 PM