As I have been working to prepare settings of the Responsorial Psalm and Gospel Acclamations as part of my Spanish Propers Project, I recently received a question about the discrepancy between the Responsorial Psalm texts I have used and the texts most commonly printed in worship aids by the big publishers.

Upon asking the question to my contact at the USCCB (Rev. Andrew Menke) about the question, I got the following response:


The short story is that a number of years ago there was the intention of creating a US Spanish lectionary that would use the readings from the Mexican lectionary and Psalms from the bishops of Spain (which were thought to be more poetic). Because of that intention, publishers of worship aids were encouraged to start using the Psalms from Spain in their publications. This gave us the current confusing situation whereby at Mass people might hear Psalms from the Mexican lectionary but see different texts in their printed worship aids.

For various reasons, that plan for the US Spanish lectionary had to be scrapped. But a new plan is in the works – the USCCB is now the owner of the US rights to a new Spanish translation of the entire bible (bishops’ conferences south of the border have the rights to use it in their territories). We were financial partners in the project of creating this bible, but the work was done in another country. So now we’re having scholars review the text in light of some revisions that we feel might need to be made. Once that work is finished we plan to get the Holy See’s approval to use the text in the liturgy, and then we’ll prepare our own US Spanish lectionary based on this bible. At that point everyone in this country ought to be able to be on the same page. We’re guessing (and I can’t overstate how much this is a guess!) it will be done around 2025.

That’s a long preface to the answer to your question. Basically, you can use either the translation from Mexico or the one from Spain -- it’s up to you. But understand that your compositions will have a limited shelf life in this country. My understanding is that most compositions here in recent years follow the translation from Spain, partly because that’s what people thought we’d be using and partly because they’re “better” for singing. But some parishes probably read (or sing) the Psalms straight out of the Mexican lectionary.

To get the psalms from Spain you have to work directly with the bishops’ conference of Spain, as the USCCB in the licensing of their texts. (By the way – they’ve subsequently done a newer version of the psalter, so you’d have to ask for the older version that is approved for use here). Frankly, the easier thing would be for you to use the Mexican lectionary, which is found in printed lectionaries and also on the USCCB website.


The settings I have prepared have been based upon the lectionary at the USCCB website, so are from the Mexican Lectionary.

So... in 5-6 years, when the new lectionary is complete, much of this work will need to be re-done. Just wanted to share this information.