Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Newark records

The Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Newark was created after the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was produced by the Second Vatican Council and gave guidance to the priests and lay congregation of the Archdiocese of Newark on changes to the liturgy.

The Sacrosanctum Concilium, or the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was produced by the Second Vatican Council as a way to increase lay participation in the liturgy. This document established guidelines for the reform of the sacred liturgy to increase lay participation, and left the determination of local customs incorporated into the liturgy to the bishops of each diocese. In the Archdiocese of Newark, Archbishop Thomas Boland established the Liturgical Commission for the purpose of giving guidelines for parishes in the Archdiocese on the new sacred liturgy.

Part of the work of the Liturgical Commission involved communicating upcoming changes to the liturgy, including changes in music, prayer, language, and responses, to the priests of the Archdiocese, who in turn communicated these changes to the congregation through homilies before the changes were implemented. The Commission held study days for diocesan priests to educate them on changes, the most major of which was the change in language from Latin to English in the readings first and later the rest of the liturgy. Bishop Joseph A. Costello and Monsignor Theodore Bonelli were involved with the Commission during the 1960s.

The work of the Commission in deciding and communicating changes and approved additions to the liturgy continues through the Office of Worship.