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  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,025
    .
    Thanked by 1CeciliaJulia
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,152
    Is this legal? Isn't the Missal copyrighted?
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    Yes, different bits copyrighted by USCCB, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, ICEL, Grail/Conception Abbey, and the Bible publishers. But should it be? or should it be something akin to Creative Commons non-commercial no modifications?
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Hawkins,

    Whether it should be akin to the Creative Commons or not, it is copyrighted, so urging people to violate the law and incur the just punishment for doing so seems, …., ill advised.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,025
    If a parish already has purchased the Missal for liturgical use, which every parish has, having a pdf file is a convenience that doesn't deny any royalties to the copyright owners. Nobody is going to say, "Hey, here's a pdf so now I don't need to buy the book!" It's not like downloading pirated music files. Nobody would use a pdf file to replace a physical Missal. But the physical Missal is unwieldly for study and planning purposes. Does any musician here believe it is a violation of copyright law or immoral to make personal convenience copies of copyrighted music to avoid page turns in books that have been purchased? I doubt it. I think this is similar. For liturgy planning purposes, is a parish supposed to buy copies of the Missal for everyone to have at the meeting? Are they not allowed to make photocopies of pages in the Missal to bring to meetings and distribute and mark up with notes? By having a pdf file (with searchable and selectable text!) for planning use, the ceremonial Missal can be kept in the sacristy and the church, preserved in beauty, and reserved for sacred use during liturgy. My position is availing yourself of a pdf file is a legitimate and morally permissible convenience so long as it doesn't replace the purchase and use during Mass of a physical Missal.
    Thanked by 1Schönbergian
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,152
    It is a violation of copyright law to make personal convince copies of copyrighted materials. To upload a full copy of the Missal is probably a copyright violation. If you want/need a copy of the Missal (or any other published work), for whatever reason, you should be willing to pay for it.
    Thanked by 1mattebery
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,160
    Fortunately, a study edition of the Roman Missal is available for around $42, so that can be useful for some people.

    But we're not in a position to speak on behalf of the USCCB, the rights holder, or ICEL, which acts as its agent. And I assume that none of us here runs the parish website where the file resides.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    We cannot speak on behalf of the Church or its agencies, but we can take a view on the morality of its actions. And contrast it with, for example, the US Government which places its publications in the public domain (within the USA).
    Thanked by 4M. Jackson Osborn Carol CHGiffen CatherineS
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    ...which places...
    The BCP historically is also not copyrighted.
    It is interesting that the Catholic bishops copyrighted the most awful English liturgy in history after VII - who would have wanted to copy it!
    Thanked by 2tomjaw CHGiffen
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