POLICY AS PRACTICE

Abstract

This article addresses the processes of change that were put into motion by the Second Vatican Council. Our focus is on the central liturgical Vatican II principle of the “full, active, conscious participation of the faithful.” This tenet changed the terms through which community was to be enacted. Our inquiry focuses on the consequences of this policy, and we approach our concern with the Weberian and Pragmatist assumptions that all human affairs must be worked out in processes of social action. We specifically follow Hall and Estes and Edmonds in conceptualizing policy as a set of intentions. We present observational and interview data from a local parish that show how parish members and officials interpreted the policy of active participation as it pertained to the ritual celebration of first holy communion. We then discuss issues of segmentation and the changing church in contemporary America.