Tools for Evaluating Liturgy

Evaluating liturgy can sometimes devolve into a competion of varying personal tastes and preferences. But by starting with some solid liturgical principles, such as the integral role of the assembly, silence, the purpose of music, the transparency of ministers, we can begin to evaluate our liturgies using some common baseline standards.

I discovered this Sunday Eucharist Evaluation Instrument in English (pdf) and in Spanish (pdf), developed by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This can be a good starting point for discussion among your liturgical committee members.

Also, we developed these Observation Forms for liturgy to help your liturgical ministers and leaders look at your liturgies more objectively. Feel free to use them in your parish to evaluate and discuss your liturgical practices.

• Observation form for liturgy - Gathering Rites (Word doc)
• Observation form for liturgy - Liturgy of the Word (Word doc)
• Observation form for liturgy - Liturgy of the Eucharist (Word doc)
• Observation form for liturgy - Communion Rite (Word doc)