How to launch the Campion Missal/Hymnal for congregational use?

JulieColl

Our pastor at St. Josaphat's in Bayside announced the wonderful news yesterday that he has ordered 200 copies of the St. Edmund Campion Missal/Hymnal for the EF celebrations at our parish. It's a much-needed dramatic improvement over the handout I've been making for the last 8 years which consumes a large amount of time and paper. As Father said, the Missal will add dignity to our liturgy and will be a treasured resource (and an answer to prayer! I really didn't know how I was going to keep up with the handouts since we are now doing TLM's on holy days and various feast days during the week.)

Not sure when our missals will arrive, but it does seem very providential that they will most likely arrive in Advent, which ought to make navigating them easier for newbies. I am wondering, though, if anyone on the forum has experience with the Campion Missal/Hymnal and how to implement it with a congregation?

Specific questions:

1) We have a number board, but how can we use it most effectively since we'll need to post entrance and recessional hymn numbers, the Mass setting and the Credo?

2) Would it be better to post the page and hymn numbers for the Missal in the bulletin ?

3) Any suggestions on how to help the congregation use the Missal?

I'm also reaching out to Jeff Ostrowski for suggestions and ideas, but I thought it would be useful to get input from the experienced parish music managers here. Thank you for any suggestions and advice you may have.

Jeffrey Quick

We've got the Campion. We use the same hymn as rec/pro, so the relatively small hymn selection works for us (and Breaking Bread is in the pews if we really need more).

The artsy mom of a former Schola director made number board cards with "Mass" and "creed" on them, and Roman numerals, so we'll just put up "Mass XI, Creed IV". But you could use the cards with page numbers in Campion, if you think it'll help the PiPs find the chant and sing.

32ContraBombarde

We just got ours about a month ago. It's a beautiful missal and hymnal. I'll share a few of the ways that we approached the launch.

Prior to distributing the new hymnals, we announced the arrival of the hymnals on social media and posted the "how-to" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43_FwYorPSc). The first week we distributed them into the pews, we included a brief paragraph in the bulletin thanking the benefactors who helped purchase them, the carpenter who helped resize the pew book holders, and entreating the parishioners to handle them with care and respect.

Here's how I arrange the hymn board:

PAGE NUMBER FOR MISSAL
P - page for processional hymn
K - Kyriale number, followed by page
C - Credo number, followed by page
R - page for recessional hymn

For example, this week, it looked like this:

427
P 873
K XI 740
C I 768
R 930

That gets the most critical information out there.

Additionally, we laid out and printed a few hundred bookmarks/cards to insert into the Missal, with the intention of being used to mark your place in the order of the Mass. We printed some useful explanations on each side of the card to help parishioners and visitors use the missal/hymnal efficiently. See attached. Feel free to borrow the concept if you like. We had 500 printed (uprinting.com) for about $80.

Now that we're several weeks into it, we're planning a brief workshop after each Mass this Sunday for anyone who wants to learn more about the missal/hymnal and how to use it efficiently. We wanted everyone to have a few weeks to get used to it. We didn't want to offer the workshop immediately, as we expected the reaction to be along the lines of: "I *know* how to use a book. I don't need a workshop for that." But after a few weeks, we expect some people (mostly those generally unfamiliar with missal use) to realize the benefit of such a workshop. We'll see if anyone shows up!

Hope that helps.

JulieColl

MANY thanks to you both for these wonderful suggestions! Great ideas about the hymn board, Jeffrey, and making "MASS" and CREDO signs with Roman numerals. Handing out additional bookmark/cards which explain the hymn board signs sounds like a winning combination. Thanks so much for the pdfs, 32Contrabombarde! I'll share them with our pastor, and a workshop down the line is a splendid plan.

It's quite thrilling to be part of a project like this. I've always dreamed of having such an opportunity; never thought it would become a reality. Deo gratias! Many thanks due to Jeff Ostrowski who had the vision to produce such a wonderful liturgical resource, and thanks to the Musica Sacra forum where we can share ideas.

Thanks again.

Richard Mix

There are hymn boards, and then there must be other hymn boards ;-) We have 0-9, and as a friend says, if you're not very careful when putting 6's and 9's away, you have to throw out the whole set.

(Pericope) [arabic numeral from hymnal]
Hymns
(Entrance)
(Offertory) [blank at choral Masses, unless number at very top is repeated for Sequence]
[redundant Sanctus & Agnus no.'s, when found in hymnal]
(Comm.)
(Recessional)

Seasonal Ordinary on pew leaf, everything spelled out in full in weekly bulletin.

JulieColl

Thanks very much, Richard.

Seasonal Ordinary on pew leaf, everything spelled out in full in weekly bulletin.

This is worth considering to make things easier on the congregation. In one parish I've seen they had the Mass and antiphon on appropriately colored card stock for each season in the pews. I also like very much the idea of offering a more detailed list in the bulletin in addition to the sign board and bookmark/insert.

Welcome to the MusicaSacra Forum!

Categories