Worship in Spirit and Truth

A new liturgical institute at St. Norbert Abbey is the latest project from a community intent on expanding the ways it meets the needs of the local church.

Initially planned to begin in the spring of 2020, the institute offered its first program, an Advent & Christmas Seasonal Preparation Workshop, early last fall.

“We postponed because of the influx of COVID,” says Michael Poradek ’11. “We really wanted to do in-person learning and programs rather than online.” Poradek co-directs the Liturgical Institute with the Very Rev. Brad Vanden Branden ’09, prior.

The Liturgical Institute offered a Eucharistic Minister Formation Workshop in November, and, in December, Sister Pam Beihl, O.S.F., a former parish leader and director of liturgy at parishes in the Diocese of Green Bay, gave a presentation on the anniversary of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council.

“We want to continue to bring other voices in from our parishes and liturgy people from across the country,” says Poradek, who also serves as director of the National Shrine of St. Joseph at St. Norbert College, and as director of administration for the Norbertine Center for Spirituality at the abbey.

“Hopefully, we will continue to grow our opportunities to provide practical formation and reflection on our liturgical roles. That’s so important after COVID, and everything has been interrupted, to engage people for new roles and people to come back to roles in public worship.”

Training covers not only conducting public worship, but also why it should be done – both from a liturgical perspective and out of consideration for the spirituality of the individual. The institute’s activities are guided by the hope of the Second Vatican Council that “in the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy… full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else; for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit.”

“For Eucharistic ministers (extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion), it’s not only distributing the Host, but what does that mean to them in their own spirituality of feeding others and being disciples? That all ties into the work that we want to continue to explore. We want to go deeper into the meaning,” says Poradek. “If someone has been doing the ministry for years, it may become routine for them. We want to break that routine. There is value in bringing people together for formation at the same time.”

In addition to formation events and ministry training, the institute will provide support and development of the liturgical arts and sacred music, sacrament-focused retreats for clergy and laity, and seasonal prayer resources.

The institute will be able to serve as a resource in preparing ministers in the use of new liturgical texts as they’re issued by the Church. The release of the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults, for instance, is anticipated over the next couple of years. The new liturgy will replace the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults for those entering the Catholic Church.

“You have to go back to 1988 for when that was last changed,” says Poradek. “That will be a big topic in the Church, and a whole series of opportunities [for the institute].”

For now, all programming will be held at the abbey. Overnight retreats, a summer study week and program offerings in Spanish are all future goals for the institute.

“Everyone is welcome to the programs – people who are new to the ministries, people who have been in the ministries for decades and people in the parishes who are responsible for others – that train-the-trainer mentality. We want this to be a place where people know they can come for formation opportunities, to go deeper into the liturgy. There is so much to unpack.”

More information about the Liturgical Institute of St. Norbert Abbey, including upcoming events, is available at norbertines.org/institute.

The south windows in the abbey church at St. Norbert Abbey depict the parts of the Mass. Our image shows the window illustrating the Eucharist.

March 17, 2022