The Collects for Ordinary Time

As part of the renewal of the liturgical books called for by the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Missal has undergone substantial revision. This has included a revision of the presidential prayers assigned to the priest. Given the central role of the Missal in the worship of the Church, especially as the ecclesia works to renew itself in response to the Council, these prayers merit comprehensive study. This study, focussing on the collects for the Sundays of Ordinary Time, will attempt to ascertain their liturgical theology of the relation of the Christian people to God. This relationship, in fact, appears to be one of the central concerns reflected in these orations.

Gerard Moore, an Australian theologian and liturgist, gained his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America. Currently he is Principal of Broken Bay Institute in Sydney. He has been a member of various committees within the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL), as well as in a range of ecclesial Australian worship bodies. Gerard has published widely in liturgy, nationally and internationally, and is a member of the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre, Charles Sturt University.