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To achieve “full, conscious and active” participation in the liturgy, parishes need comprehensive liturgical catechesis for all age groups.
That’s the recommendation of Catechetical Consultant Mary J. McDonald in Building a Eucharistic Community: A Handbook for Liturgical Catechesis.
This concept is not new, she says. “Participating in the liturgy strengthens members of the assembly to live the Christian life.”
She proposes using the lectionary as a primary catechetical text because it “instills a love of scripture, links to the Eucharist and the liturgical year, and forms Christian disciples.”  Chapters conclude with reflection questions. Appendix includes an extended bibliography.

“Building a Eucharistic Community makes a strong case for liturgical catechesis at a time when people in the parishes need to have that spelled out for them in language they can understand.” – Cissy Cunningham. DRE, Our Lady of the Pines Parish, Shreveport, Louisiana.

Mary J. McDonald, has been a schoolteacher and a director of religious education programs at the parish and diocesan levels. A native of Cornwall in England, she received her undergraduate degree in history from the University of London and her graduate degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in New Orleans. The mother of four children and grandmother of six, she lives with her husband in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Building a Eucharistic Community:
A Handbook for Liturgical Catechesis
Mary J. McDonald
96 pages 5½"× 8½",
ISBN: 0-89390-533-X, $14.95
August 2001