The Office for Liturgy and Sacramental Life serves as a resource and guide for pastors and parishes in the areas of liturgical formation, liturgical preparation, celebration, and evaluation, liturgical spirituality, and the sacramental life, seeking to deepen awareness of our Catholic liturgical and sacramental identity, and to promote ways in which this identity may find fruitful expression in daily life.
In addition, the Office for Liturgy and Sacramental Life serves as liturgical consultant to Archbishop Naumann, and coordinates and directs the preparation, celebration and evaluation of the liturgical celebrations of the Archbishop for the Archdiocesan Church.
“The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ’s faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred action conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration.
“They should be instructed by God’s word and be nourished at the table of the Lord’s body; they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn also to offer themselves; through Christ the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into an ever more perfect union with God and with each other, so that, finally, God may be all in all” (Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, paragraph 48).
The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion is celebrated each year in two regional celebrations.
The Rite of Election is for those catechumens who will receive the sacraments of initiation the following Easter. The Call to Continuing Conversion is for those already-baptized who are seeking to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, usually during the following Easter.
The regional celebrations of the 2025 Celebration of Election and Call will be on Sunday, March 9 at 3pm at Most Pure Heart of Mary in Topeka and at 7pm at St. Michael the Archangel in Leawood.
The Adult Confirmation Mass provides the opportunity to be confirmed by the Archbishop for those adults who were baptized in the Catholic Church yet did not receive the Sacrament of Confirmation as youth. The Mass is celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle each year on Pentecost Sunday. Contact your pastor or parish adult faith coordinator for more information. Pre-registration and the validation of your eligibility by your pastor is required.
Archbishop Naumann, as a way of showing his solicitude for those open to raising larger families, has offered to celebrate the baptism of any third or greater child — by birth, adoption, or family blending. Baptisms take place at 3 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Kansas City, Kansas, and are scheduled to be celebrated in 2024 on November 24 and in 2025 on January 12, March 23, May 18, July 13, September 14, and November 16. Contact the Office for Liturgy and Sacramental Life, or your parish office, to receive further information as well as a registration form, which must be certified by your pastor.
A prayer to use when reception of Holy Communion at Mass is not possible.