| abstract | "If the Church alone makes the Eucharist, it is also true that the Eucharist makes the Church" appeared as a footnote in a
preliminary draft that resulted in Vatican II's Constitution on the Church. This statement, influenced by Henri de Lubac echoes the maxim of Prosper of Aquitaine,
"ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi." "Lex orandi, lex credendi" teaches that the manner of prayer constitutes the manner of belief.
Lex orandi, lex credendi is the foundational principal of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the first debated conciliar. Sacrosanctum Concilium
offered an ecclesiological framework to the Council as a Church of Prayer. Using the Constitution and the ecclesiology that permeates the Rite of Initiation of
Adults, this study shows the influence of Sacrosanctum Concilium and the RCIA on the other Conciliar documents and the Church during its post-conciliar reform.
Debate over the Liturgy increased since the Fortieth anniversary of the Council. In addition to these discussions, there was a restructuring of liturgy and
its text translations; permission was granted for a more extensive use of the 1962 Missal and its companion Ritual. A cry for a "Reform of the Reform" arose and
adult initiations have dwindled in the last fifteen years, according to a U.S. survey. Very often, instruction replaced formation in the RCIA process. These
liturgical changes also had an effect on ecclesiology, evidence, again of Lex orandi, lex credendi. |
