Father Puglisi examines liturgical texts currently in use by the Roman Catholic Church and certain Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Methodist Churches of western Europe and the United States. For each text, he evaluates the version in use today and its previous version to identify the changes made over time and to see the various influences that it underwent. Father Puglisi also identifies the various roles of those active in the celebration and who fills those roles.

Chapters are "Rituals of Ordination—The Latin Catholic Church," "Rituals of Ordination—The Lutheran Churches," "Rituals of Ordination—Reformed," "Rituals of Ordination—Methodist Churches," and "General Conclusions."