"Why Gregorian Chant" blurb for worship aid?
  • jczarn
    Posts: 65
    Hello all,
    I will be cantoring for a Mass tomorrow that my wife organized at our parish, with the intent of fostering community among local Catholic homeschool families. The Mass will be Ordinary Form in English, but I am using the propers (some Latin, some Palmer/Burgess in english), as well as the "Jubilate Deo" ordinary chants.

    I am expecting there to be a mix of some who are already hardcore EF Mass-goers, as well as those who have probably experienced nothing other than the typical suburban parish OF liturgy. I am making a worship aid/program, and have some space left on the back page (half of an 8.5x11 sheet), and thought it would be neat to include some sort of succinct blurb on why we use chant, perhaps including quotation(s) ("pride of place" etc). I don't necessarily expect any hostility, but I'm guessing there are some that might be surpised and open to learning why.

    Has anybody done anything like this that I might be able to cut and paste into my program? I'd like to avoid re-inventing the wheel if possible. Thanks in advance!
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I know I've done these once or twice, but they're deep in my archives somewhere...I'll see if I can find them.
    Thanked by 1jczarn
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    The CMAA sacred music FAQs have a few quotes that might be of use.
    CMAA FAQs

    Looking at the FAQs as a whole, there's definitely some age on them. They were put together in 2006, before the Parish Book of Chant and the many new resources for simplified English chant adaptations. But some general statements about chant still hold.
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    http://www.stspeterandpaulbasilica.com/joy-of-tradition

    Scroll down to "Sacred Music," letter G: "Why Gregorian Chant?".
    Thanked by 3JulieColl StellasDad jczarn
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Phenomenal webpage, CCooze!
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    That is really fantastic!
  • StellasDad
    Posts: 5
    Looks like I'm too late for your purposes, but our little schola sings a once-monthly OF Mass in Latin, and like to try to incorporate some current documents regarding the use of Gregorian chant. On top of the Ignatius Press "Mass of Vatican II" booklet being used, I routinely make a similar worship aid, including English translations and Scripture references. This year, the pastor asked us to sing at the (English) parish Holy Thursday Mass, so I took the chance to expand the usual second half of GIRM 41 which I normally insert, to especially include the beginning of the section which echoes Sacrosanctum Concilium 116, a sample attached. Also, though it fits better when there is less text overall, I'll often "rotate" in GIRM 48 regarding the use of the GR antiphon starting with, "there are four options for the Entrance Chant".
    worship_aid_24MAR16.pdf
    58K
    Thanked by 1jczarn
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