Lex Orandi

This book compares the texts of the Traditional rites and the Novus Ordo rites for the seven sacraments, so we can offer substantial reasons for choosing one rite over the other. The plan of the book is simple. For each sacrament, we describe patterns of changes in the texts; then, we lay the texts side by side with comments so you can see particular changes and see the patterns. Finally, we end the comparison of each sacrament by offering some conclusions. Throughout this book, we use the term Traditional to distinguish the Roman Catholic rites before 1962. The authors of the rites promulgated after 1968 use the term Novus Ordo, translated New Order, to describe their new rites. An objective comparison of the texts clearly shows the differences. As St. Thomas Aquinas observed, "What is objectively real is objectively true." The differences in the two rites are objectively real.