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Creating the Space where “Something Happens”!

A Retreat for Those Engaged in the Work of Liturgical Ministry

with Father Kevin Yell of the American Catholic Church

May 16-18, 2024

Holy Family Catholic Church, Austin, Texas

Far from a lecture series, this engaged workshop will explore the physical reality of being a minister in the work that is liturgy—of speaking, listening, seeing, touching, sensing, blessing & sharing. Though we usually “work” in a church building, the first “space where something happens” is in our own bodies, requiring our incarnation & our real presence to our God & the world. This workshop & retreat will be a safe place to address the joys & challenges of that engaged reality.

For too long, liturgical training has “put the cart before the horse,” effectively prioritizing books & rules over living people & skills. Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium articulates five ways in which Christ is present in the world, and they all depend on people with bodies & breath—and not on books & things! The premise for this gathering is that liturgical ministry is work, & this work may be defined as creating occasions where an experience of both the transcendence & imminence of the Divine can happen to & for anyone present. Recalling the way of the early, pre-Constantinian church, the presider is the “horse,” leading & protecting the herd. The “cart,” containing all the paraphernalia that has accumulated in the “Church” over 1,700 years, is our wonderful, shared resource, not a rule book. Our cart is full of many great assets & treasures capable of being powerful, enduring symbols of God’s love & mercy. Ultimately, though, the leader & the community—not the contents of the cart—do the work. It’s not simply about “saying the black & doing the red”: Liturgical leaders need a different training for this new “old” understanding of their role!

Recommended (but not required) pre-gathering reading includes:

• The NCCB’s Environment & Art in Catholic Worship, a short work available on Amazon
• Peter Brook’s The Empty Space, a relatively-short work about theatre in 4 chapters: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate (almost everything Brook insightfully says about theatre can be said about liturgy & the business of doing Church)

Thursday, April 16

7:30 PM – “The Who, What & Why of Contemporary Liturgy: An Inclusive/Independent Catholic Exploration”

Friday, April 17

9:00 AM – “Having a Body with Breath” Liturgical ministry can only happen when one body with breath comes into the presence of one or several other bodies, ideally with breath, too. Sacraments require our incarnation & real presence. What gets in the way of that for each of us?

10:45 AM – “Giving Away the Good News by Living an Archetype or Playing a Role?” Our liturgical life is largely guided by books of words & stage directions, of props & costumes, of a long Tradition & lots of little traditions. How well do I know my material & how comfortable am I in it?

12:45 PM – “Interlude: What I Wish All Catholic Priests & Deacons Knew” by Jennie Blankenship Huerta, former news reporter for KVUE-TV

1:30 PM – “Dealing with Words, Helping Them Come Alive” This totally-practical session will explore the “7 dials” of communicating with words (including pitch, pace, volume, etc.); each participant will be asked to share by heart a piece of personally-significant poetr

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