Peter McGrail has considerable personal experience of celebrating adult initiation as a Roman Catholic priest and educator. As a member of the Liturgy Committee of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales - and especially as Chair of its Liturgical Formation Sub-Committee - he has an extensive and in-depth understanding of current liturgical developments in the Roman Catholic Church internationally.

’The influence of the RCIA upon the wider church has encouraged new and imaginative approaches to Christian initiation. However ecumenical appreciation of the rite seldom extends to its ecclesiological foundations within Roman Catholicism. Peter McGrail provides a fascinating insight into how the RCIA reflects ecclesiological shifts within the Roman Catholic Church. The result is a very welcome, stimulating and enlightening read that will provoke serious thought about how Christian initiation enacts communal Christian identity.’ James Steven, Sarum College, UK 'This is a proactive book in the best sense of that word. Placing side by side the primary theology of initiatory ritual practice and the systematic presentation of evolving ecclesiology, the reader is at once reminded that the choice of the ritual form of inititation goes beyond taste and preferences while being informed of the ecclesiological ramifications of such choices. Peter McGrail's detailed study is to be very much welcomed into the initiation and ecclesiology repertiore!' Anaphora

• Contents: Introduction: The perfect society and the mystical body: Catholic ecclesiology from Trent to Pope Pius XII; The extraordinary form 1: the 1614 Ordo Baptismi Adultorum; Sacrament of Christ and people of God: ecclesiology at the eve of Vatican II; The extraordinary form 2: the Christian initiation of adults from 1948 to Vatican II; The ecclesiologies of Vatican II: the Church ad intra; The ordinary form: the rite of Christian initiation of adults; Christian initiation and the Church ad extra; Hermeneutics of continuity and discontinuity; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Peter McGrail has considerable personal experience of celebrating adult initiation as a Roman Catholic priest and educator. As a member of the Liturgy Committee of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales - and especially as Chair of its Liturgical Formation Sub-Committee - he has an extensive and in-depth understanding of current liturgical developments in the Roman Catholic Church internationally.

’The influence of the RCIA upon the wider church has encouraged new and imaginative approaches to Christian initiation. However ecumenical appreciation of the rite seldom extends to its ecclesiological foundations within Roman Catholicism. Peter McGrail provides a fascinating insight into how the RCIA reflects ecclesiological shifts within the Roman Catholic Church. The result is a very welcome, stimulating and enlightening read that will provoke serious thought about how Christian initiation enacts communal Christian identity.’ James Steven, Sarum College, UK 'This is a proactive book in the best sense of that word. Placing side by side the primary theology of initiatory ritual practice and the systematic presentation of evolving ecclesiology, the reader is at once reminded that the choice of the ritual form of inititation goes beyond taste and preferences while being informed of the ecclesiological ramifications of such choices. Peter McGrail's detailed study is to be very much welcomed into the initiation and ecclesiology repertiore!' Anaphora

• Contents: Introduction: The perfect society and the mystical body: Catholic ecclesiology from Trent to Pope Pius XII; The extraordinary form 1: the 1614 Ordo Baptismi Adultorum; Sacrament of Christ and people of God: ecclesiology at the eve of Vatican II; The extraordinary form 2: the Christian initiation of adults from 1948 to Vatican II; The ecclesiologies of Vatican II: the Church ad intra; The ordinary form: the rite of Christian initiation of adults; Christian initiation and the Church ad extra; Hermeneutics of continuity and discontinuity; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Peter McGrail has considerable personal experience of celebrating adult initiation as a Roman Catholic priest and educator. As a member of the Liturgy Committee of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales - and especially as Chair of its Liturgical Formation Sub-Committee - he has an extensive and in-depth understanding of current liturgical developments in the Roman Catholic Church internationally.

’The influence of the RCIA upon the wider church has encouraged new and imaginative approaches to Christian initiation. However ecumenical appreciation of the rite seldom extends to its ecclesiological foundations within Roman Catholicism. Peter McGrail provides a fascinating insight into how the RCIA reflects ecclesiological shifts within the Roman Catholic Church. The result is a very welcome, stimulating and enlightening read that will provoke serious thought about how Christian initiation enacts communal Christian identity.’ James Steven, Sarum College, UK 'This is a proactive book in the best sense of that word. Placing side by side the primary theology of initiatory ritual practice and the systematic presentation of evolving ecclesiology, the reader is at once reminded that the choice of the ritual form of inititation goes beyond taste and preferences while being informed of the ecclesiological ramifications of such choices. Peter McGrail's detailed study is to be very much welcomed into the initiation and ecclesiology repertiore!' Anaphora

• Contents: Introduction: The perfect society and the mystical body: Catholic ecclesiology from Trent to Pope Pius XII; The extraordinary form 1: the 1614 Ordo Baptismi Adultorum; Sacrament of Christ and people of God: ecclesiology at the eve of Vatican II; The extraordinary form 2: the Christian initiation of adults from 1948 to Vatican II; The ecclesiologies of Vatican II: the Church ad intra; The ordinary form: the rite of Christian initiation of adults; Christian initiation and the Church ad extra; Hermeneutics of continuity and discontinuity; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.