Worship aids/hymnals/etc.: what do you do?
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Thanks to the recent "Hymnals" thread started by PGA, I thought it might be helpful to start a discussion on the more general idea of worship aids and associated hymnals, so as to not hijack her thread!

    For what it's worth, here is the model we have followed for the past few years with our worship aid. It is a nice format (legal half-sheet-size pages) and we can fit more information legibly than I have been able to in the past with full 8 1/2 x 11 sheets OR 8 1/2 x 11 half-sheets. Please understand we are a "work in progress" regarding the repertoire, although the particular Sunday in question wasn't so bad for a parish such as ours (upper middle-class urban/suburban parish, 1000+ families, very "broad church" approach desired by pastor.)

    I say for the past few years because it seems I will be forced to adopt a new format soon. We have the OCP Breaking Bread missalette...thus the need for this aid!

    Also, FWIW, the "About Today's Music" section at the end has been the most positive thing in my whole almost three years here. People who agree (or disagree) with my music selections are nonetheless positive and thankful that I take the time to explain the choices and help them understand the liturgy and music presented.

    It goes without saying that I welcome your critiques, but I also hope other people will be forthcoming in the interests of mutual enrichment!

    BruceL

    PS-The Children's thing on the back is not my design or preference...
    Eighth Sunday OT lowres.pdf
    422K
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    I'm a design freak, so if the following is helpful, your welcome. If it isn't, just ignore.

    -Nice font! Goudy Old?
    (To all: The best fonts for this sort of thing are: Caslon, Garamond, and Goudy. Also, Small Caps is great.
    -Hanging "me" on the Entrance antiphon text. If you had put a hard-return after the first sentence, would have been much more readable and attractive.
    -Music seems blurry. IF you have control (that is- you are scanning it yourself, and can tell that person what to do), I've found best for print is about 600dpi on the B&W only setting. Also, be sure to use PNG files instead of JPGs (PNG are lossless. JPGs are very lossy, as they are intended for photographs, not line art and text)
    -On Psalm, since first two verses have to be three lines of text, you gain nothing by not placing a hard return after the semi-colon. Also, that's a weird "R"
    -The "About Today's Music" section should be left-justified. Anything longer than a sentence should NOT be centered, as it creates a ragged left edge, so your brain doesn't know precisely where to return the eye at each new line. Also, consider breaking that much text into a few paragraphs.
    -The About Music section is a wonderful addition, and I really wish I had the time to write something similar for my parish's program every week.
    -The Copyright license statement at the end has the same "new-line should go here" problem. Put a break in after "holders." There's no sense in "A-704956" having its own line.
    -Overall, the program has a great feel to it- tastefully restrained, laid out in a (mostly) straightforward manner. It's total lack of clipart, color illustrations, or Comic sans (the children's section notwithstanding) is an amazing accomplishment in and of itself, particularly if this is put together by a volunteer who isn't you.
    -Great work.
    Thanked by 1tomboysuze
  • Bobby Bolin
    Posts: 421
    Where can I find a copy of that mass, Missa Sancta Maria?
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Adam,

    Thanks for your comments. I'm with you on almost all of this stuff. As I am a musician by training (and had no experience AT ALL in this sort of thing before this job), I appreciate your formatting advice. As always with this sort of thing, many of these things had never crossed my mind.

    I do actually produce these. At first, it was an unbelievable drag, but I enjoy it now since "if it's bad, there's no one to blame but me." Also, the ATM section is really fun. I'm on full-time at my job, so I don't have an excuse...

    Couple things in response to your questions:

    1) Font for "big stuff" is Goudy Old; smaller things (14 pt. and below) are Garamond. I agree about small caps: it was totally by accident at first, but I like it now.

    2) Psalm: the "R" is actually the "Respond" character found in the Liturgy font here (http://www.romanliturgy.org/fonts/_index.phtml). It's the proper sign for that sort of thing.

    3) Music: I'm not sure what the problem with the music is. One thing: this is the "lowres" copy, posted so that it will fit on this board. The one I send is higher resolution and looks better. The problem, however, remains. What you're seeing is stuff input in Finale 2007, output as PostScript, then rendered by Adobe Distiller (which saves to PDF). Do you know how to improve this (output to TIFF, etc.)?

    4) RE: clipart. I do use art for a filler sometimes, but it is usually line art or something that is a "monumental" piece (i.e., Crucifixion by El Greco).

    @Bobby Bolin: It is a composition of Philip Baker, organist at St. Mary Cathedral, Austin, TX. It's dignified, but in a lyric style. People pick it up quickly and like the melody. If anyone else is interested in it, I'll ask Philip's permission and post it. So far as I know, he desires for it to be freely distributed and is revising it for the new missal.
  • How interesting that the first half of your communion respond quotes RVW's anthem with the same text written for the queen's coronation. (In the unlikely case that you don't know this little gem, you should have your choir learn it. It is quite beautiful, very easy, and useful on a number of Sundays and Feasts.)
  • How wonderful, Bruce, that you re-engrave all the music yourself. It really lends a great consistency to the whole thing. I would recommend changing the typeface of the text in Finale to Garamond also to match the rest of the aid.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    MJO,

    Yes! Very familiar. We do that quite often here. There is a premium at my place on "people singing a lot...and loud", for better or worse. So, Fr. Samuel's psalm was used in this case since Psalm 33/34 is always a legit option at communion during Ordinary Time.

    Regarding the RVW, though: one of my projects has been to get a repertoire of that piece and other similar general or Eucharistic motets to use on a moment's notice (i.e., if communion is taking "too long") to fill out the choir's on demand repertoire. It's a chance in attitude to have a piece like that on hand in addition to another motet/anthem, but is ultimately good for their focus and musicianship.

    Halley's piece on Jesu dulcis memoria, although not based on anything remotely resembling the chant, is very nice, if you get a chance to look it up.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Ah, Garamond and Goudy. What a pair! Most people have really bad taste in font choices (or don't realize how important it is).
    Are you being sure to use the same font in the lyrics? It was hard to tell with the blurriness.

    From Finale, output to TIFF will usually render a higher quality image. Also with TIFF export, you can set some output variables like resolution and so forth. I really wish Finale exported PNG, but alas, I just bought 2011 and still no dice.

    Keep up the good work. Nice repertoire too, by the way. Your parish is lucky to have you (and so are we!).


    What are you program using for layout?
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    Finale 2011 does export to PNG.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,847
    Very nice job!

    Just a few minor things I would do.

    What app do you use for layout? If you can, import your music graphics as (encapsulated postscript) and they will never loose resolution and stay crisp.

    Avoid force justified ALWAYS… it's very hard to read. White space is just important as printed matter. It is like breathing… you need in and out.

    Paraagraphs of text should be left justified… always. The Mass times in parens could be 8pt. Text size for congregational singing should try to stay at 12pt (for older eyes).

    Notes in paren (eg… refrain: cantor/choir and assebly) should be in smaller Italics and not small caps.

    (a strong opinion) Delete the final page. It's childish.

    Redundant lines for a musical selection:

    eg

    Communion Psalm
    Psalm 34: Taste and See

    How about this?

    Communion: Psalm 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weber

    Closing Hymn: O God, Almighty Father . . . . . . . . .. . #726
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    @supernoxic: I didn't realize you could get Garamond in Finale...I am the wiser for it. I think I may be switching to Sibelius soon. I hear one Adam Bartlett favors it, and I have a composer/arranger friend here who says he is never going back to Finale...so I should at least check it out.

    @Adam Wood: Adobe Pagemaker (!) It was here when I got here, and until the office's c. 2000 Dell gives up, I suppose I'll use it. Does anyone know a discount for InDesign? Or, should I just use Publisher?

    @Francis: I'll have to revist that import style. I seem to remember trying that, and it not showing up. RE: left justify: we may agree to disagree there. I did that for a long time, but it never looked right to me. I know there is a healthy difference of opinion on this sort of thing, though. I know some people like hyphenating syllables in psalm pointing (even when said syllables are on the same note), but I have a terrible time reading it. Agreed for parenthesis: that was a mistake particular to that day. The rationale for "Communion Psalm" is to point up one of my projects here—namely that we should not just be singing "a communion" with any text, but a psalm. I understand your point, though. Regarding the last page...well, you'll just have to read my initial post again (and perhaps read between the lines!)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Clemens: PNG from Finale 2011? Can I have a hint? Or is it obvious and I'm being dumb?

    Bruce: Never used pagemaker, so I can't speak to it. I have used both InD and Pub, and find InD to be WAY better. (Also, its help files and tutorials include some "good taste and style" advice that is really invaluable).
    You can get any font "into" any program. Setting typefaces for lyrics in Finale is a little annoying, but not impossible.

    If there are people who have really used both Finale and Sibelius extensively, I'd love some opinions or a head-to-head.
  • Francesca
    Posts: 51
    Bruce L:

    apropos of your practice of having a repertoire of communion music available for instant use - we do this and have found it not only helpful and a good way to stretch the Schola's skills, but sometimes there's that shiveringly beautiful moment when the Holy Spirit fills it in a numinous way.

    I highly recommend the Motecta Trium Vocum by Kevin Allen - almost all on Eucharistic texts. Also in my bag of tricks are lovely, lesser known hymns, such as 'Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord' to the Gibbons Song 46. I shamelessly mine hymnals for this kind of thing, write a few things, etc.
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    Sorry I didn't explain. With the Graphics Tool selected, go to the Graphics menu and select Export Pages. You can then choose Type: EPS, JPG, PNG, or TIFF; and Resolution: 72, 150, 300, 600, 1200. Hope that helps.
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    I prefer Finale 2011 to Sibelius. A few years ago, I'd have said Sibelius for easier use, but Finale 2011 is so much more intuitive than previous versions, and I still think it's more powerful.
  • I don't think it's a great idea to use two similar old-style serif fonts side-by-side. If you want something to set apart smaller text (or even for subheadings), Optima is a good choice (serifs become less desirable at smaller sizes), and for titling there are sweet choices like Castellar or the ever-popular Trajan. You could also bring in a slightly different feel with an accent font like Sava Pro or even something along the lines of American Uncial. But to have Goudy, Garamond, and Times is like having a fruit basket consisting of navel oranges, Valencia oranges, and tangerines.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    I agree with MarkThompson's point about fonts. Using two serif fonts in the same design creates an inconsistent appearance. However, you can use a serif font in several versions: (bold, italic, smallcaps), and get nice results.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    MT and chonak: I get this. I believe (perhaps I missed one) that I've eliminated Times, although (as mentioned earlier) I have to check what font Finale is using. One question: in Pagemaker (the production program), I use Goudy Old Style (e.g., the large print on cover) and Garamond (which it calls Goudy)...so, what does that mean? They are different fonts, correct, and you are saying this is in poor taste? Just wondering...this is not an area of expertise for me.

    That said, Mark, at this very time, I have clementines AND navel oranges in my fruit basket (along with tomatoes and bananas)...I'm not sure what that says about my character!
  • Claire H
    Posts: 370
    Enjoyment and amusment from the font discussion since I'm a "font freak" too (the term my family uses is "The font queen"...sounds a little better)! ;)
  • francis
    Posts: 10,847
    Best rule of thumb is one serif, and one sans serif.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,115
    For people who are not font geeks: avoid Times and its progeny. Times was designed for the Times of London to save newsprint. That is, not to be reader-friendly.

    Georgia is a good modern serif font.

    It also helps to space your lines 2 pts greater than the font size (assuming you are in the standard text sizes). So, if your font is 12 pts, have lines spaced "Exactly" "14 pt" (rather than "Single"). For certain fonts that have elegant descending g's, j's, q's and y's, et cet., you may need a little more space to avoid those being cut off oddly. Also, instead of double spacing between paragraph breaks, just standardize 6 pts after each paragraph break.
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,199
    Here is a vote for Indesign. There is nothing better.
    For music files imported, I take them into Illustrator and clean them up sometimes.

    Adobe makes Indesign available for cheaper if you work for a church. Also, you can find legitimate copies for sale on craigslist. They may not be the latest and greatest, but will do the trick. Beware of the not so legal copies also.

    Publisher is clunky and inflexible.

    Yeah, I am an adobe fan. Sometimes they act nasty in their software support and upgrade push.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    @BruceL: Right: the original document used Garamond, GoudyOldStyle, and TimesNewRoman, in regular/bold/italic. If you reduce that to all Garamond, in several varieties, it'll look better. Or you could use Garamond and a sans-serif font. I'd favor the Garamond over the Goudy because the Goudy italic looks cramped.

    As an opinion, I think it's fine -- maybe even helpful -- for the music scores to use their own font for lyrics, so you needn't be concerned about making the lyrics use a font consistent with the rest of the document.

    Another tip: some headers are centered: e.g.: "The Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time". That's fine. But anything longer than one line is harder to read when centered.

    Do let us know how things come out when you try a new combination.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Ok. Yes, I'll turn this into an "online prayer request", too. I am being "asked" to change the format of these to fit in 4 folios of an 8 1/2 x 11" bulletin (which people will no doubt read throughout Mass.) I hate that, because I really like this half-legal format. The problem is that it seems quite certain that, outside of my control, we will no longer be able to use this format. I would like to use a local shop and sponsors to do this, but I am not sure that I will be able. It's unfortunate, but...

    ...I suppose this becomes a two part post: whom of you use an 8 1/2 x 11 worship aid in a bulletin...there has to be someone...right? How is it formatted? It seems a terribly inefficient layout for a worship aid.
  • For what it is worth, our worship aides (containing all the necessary music as well) is printed on 11x17 and tri-folded.
  • It would be very helpful to see some of these as attachments!
  • Here is the letterhalf handout that was used last Sunday at our churches.
    3.3.1-A - Third Sunday of Lent.pdf
    585K
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Since we're picking nits, I would just like to point out that in the United States, commas, periods, and most other punctuation marks belong inside quotation marks 99% of the time. I'm not sure when, how, or why it became tolerable to put them outside.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    DougS
    It started happening because of computer programming. If you have a list of strings (text that doesn't "mean anything" to the computer) you would do it like:
    "This string.", "This one.", "that one", "jklkjblib";
    --------

    Been doing half-folded 8.5X11 all my life.
    It works about the same as your current layout, but you have to use smaller fonts and long text takes up more room.
    Most people can see 12pt (in a decent font) pretty well.
    Music is a little problematic, though. But since you're engraving your own stuff, you can make the lyrics big enough to read.

    Another thing is that you'll almost certainly need to create a half-dozen (or more) "large print" editions of everything for the people who can't read 12pt.


    Also-, most typographers would disagree with:
    >>Also, instead of double spacing between paragraph breaks, just standardize 6 pts after each paragraph break.

    The general rule is that the blank line between paragraphs should be the same size as the line-height of lines with text. This creates a regular vertical rhythm of lines of text. (People who are really into this sort of thing would ensure that music and other images do not "throw-off" that vertical rhythm. That's a bit hard to do, though.)



    I agree with NO Times / Times New Roman / Times derivative. Besides their inherent flaws, it simply looks like you used the default font on your Word Processor (which you probably did).

    I'll repeat:
    Good serif fonts: Garamond, Caslon, Goudy
    Georgia is good too, particularly for websites, but I find it's a little too soft and easy for liturgical use.
    Adobe's Caslon Pro is my go-to font for stuff at my parish. (I'm not 100% sure, but I think GIA sets it's hymnals in Caslon).

    I disagree with not mixing two serif fonts in the same document, but only on theoretical grounds. IF you know what you're doing, it they're different enough, if yo're consistent with usage... it can work.
    However, as a "default good taste" sort of rule, it's reasonable to say, only use one.
    (Besides, it's easier. There's hardly ever a real need for selecting a second serif font.)

    Sans-serif fonts are mostly unattractive, and I can't think of very many good reasons to use them in the context of a worship aide, except perhaps as titling or something.
    The big problem with sans is that everyone uses arial or calibri, both of which look terrible. At least spring for Helvetica or something (or, you know, don't use a sans font).

    While we're at it- other rules of good taste:
    • Novelty fonts are to be avoided at all times. This includes:
      • Papyrus (My, aren't you creative!)
      • Anything in cursive (Look how classy THAT is!
      • Comic sans (Unless you're in kindergarten. Children deserve better than that.)
      • Anything else intended to make a statement, be cute, or otherwise draw attention to the font choice. (It's not about the font, it's about the content. God.
      • Monospace or typewriter fonts
    • Nothing longer than two lines should be centered. Ever. For any reason.
    • If a piece of text is going to run to a second line anyway, break it at punctuation.
    • Check for orphaned hanging lines (when the last single word of a paragraph falls onto another line). This can usually be corrected by adding a line break somewhere in the block or minutely adjusting the right margin.
    • Nothing longer than two lines should ever be italicized. Ever. For any reason. This includes explanatory notes, lyrics, or anything else other than a short translation, very brief instructions, or one-sentence (or less) descriptors.
    • 10pt font is the smallest you should ever use, and then only for things like copyright notices.
    • 12pt or 14pt are your options for body text. Smaller than that and it's hard to read. Larger and it starts to look silly. 13pt is just dumb
    • You only get one body font size or the other. Do not switch back and forth from 12 to 14 for any reason.
    • Be consistent. All song titles should be the same as all other song titles. The arrangement of the composers name in relationship to the title should be the same throughout. The speaker's name ("Priest:" "Deacon:" "Cantor:" "All:") should be the same throughout. Section headings, the same throughout. If you use InDesign, this is easily accomplished through the use of Paragraph styles.
    • People with bad taste are constantly thinking of an exception to the "Be Consistent" rule. "But the words of institution are super important, I should make them bigger." No. There are no exceptions to the Be Consistent rule. And if you find one, it's probably because you haven't realized that the thing you're looking at is somehow analogous to another thing which it should look the same as.
    • Indenting is part of the Be Consistent rule.
    • The jazz font should never be used for music typesetting.
    • Never, ever give people pieces of unfolded paper. It crinkles and feels flimsy.
    • People in "leadership roles" in the liturgy (priests, deacons, lectors, cantors, choir, etc, or anyone else who has a singing or speaking solo who would need to read from the program) should be given a plain matte-black 1/2" binder with the contents of the program inserted on full-size paper.
    • Black ink. Crisp, bright white paper. That is all.
    • The worship aide is not your creative outlet. Take a pottery class or something.
    • Wordart is never, ever, ever a good idea. There's a special place in Purgatory for people who use Wordart.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,847
    O but Adam... The JAZZ font and Wordart!
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Anyone, hate to bump my own post:

    I wasn't clear about the format of my worship aid in previous posts. We have now switched to a folded 11x17 sheet that is part of the bulletin; this means that individual sheets are 8.5x11. Do any of you use this format? If so, could you post examples? If for some reason you are uncomfortable doing so, could you send them to my email? Thanks for your help.

    One example I HAVE found is from St. James Cathedral, Seattle: http://www.stjames-cathedral.org/Bulletin/bulletin.pdf. Thanks to my friend and sometime poster on this board John Hoffman of Austin, TX for finding me that.
  • I've used 11x17 trifolds, very similar to what we used at the Sunday Mass at the colloquium this year. I'll send one to you.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,847
    i do 11 x 17 trifolds and once in a while legal size folded in half to create 8.5 x 7 pages
  • ralvarez
    Posts: 18
    .
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Looks like Bernhard Modern Roman font (or something similar) — a favorite of mine — in that Cathedral of the Madeleine one. Nice.

    And nice to see this thread… I must've missed it the first time around. Good to see that lots of others here (Adam!) are as fastidious as I am about design matters.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    And echoing what ralvarez said… I just saw that "Gloria" in the St. James aid, too… yikes!
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,486
    Here are a few of the Worship aids we use here on Sundays at Holy Trinity Seminary.Respectfully, I think they ought to be done as beautifully as possible, just like the architecture, music and liturgy of the church. Anything in worship should be the best we can possibly do.
    Palm.Sun.2011.pdf
    460K
    OT33A.2011.pdf
    382K
    Christ the King A 2011.pdf
    560K
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Thanks for these! Could we keep this coming, everyone, but with Christmas worship aids? I'm sure we have all had to adjust/reevaluate due to the need for the new responses to be presented clearly... Anyone want to bite?
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    I'm not in charge of the worship aids, but for us the Order of Mass (according to the Book of Divine Worship and the Roman Missal, respectively) is not printed in the same document as the hymns/readings/propers/priest's prayers/graduale of the day. The latter has our title page with parish/academy contacts, and bullentin (folded, so that the former and the latter are like the cover of book) and the music, etc. on the other. The graduale has the notation. The text appears to be about 10 font, Times New Roman. On the title page: Xyz Sunday After Epiphany/Pentecost or Sunday of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ or Pentecost or Ascension of Our Lord or other day. Time of Mass. Date. (all this on same line) During Ordinary Time, a sketch of our church is featured in the top left corner as decoration.

    On specials (Evensong, Nine Lessons and Carols, etc) we get better looking programs with cream color title/back page with the parish/academy seal on the back.
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    If the reader wishes to sing the graduale after the epistle with the people, he turns away from the lectern towards the altar and his worship aid is folded horizontally. If not, he faces the people as if reading and stands respectfully.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Adam, what's the one thing you would change about the services at your parish? Would you spring for better vestments? A decent organ instead of that Hammond? Better dressed parishioners? A larger choir?

    I would love to fix all those things.

    But if I was allowed to change one and only one thing, I would design the printed worship aides myself.

    Four words:

    Oi vey.

    Ah, well.
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,486
    Here area few more of ours, FYI.
    I do get comments on the cover art, which is always chosen to illustrate the Gospel or the feast, etc.
    Easter II 2011.pdf
    370K
    Lent V.pdf
    707K
    Copy of Advent I 2011 Legal.pdf
    527K
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Those are beautiful indeed, ghmus7! Very elegantly done.

    Some questions: Where do you get those cover art images? And assuming that you do print those in color, is it somewhat expensive? Do you do it in-house?
  • First, I disagree with universal left justification. To me it just looks cheap, like you used a clunky old typewriter that happened to have some prettier characters on it. You don't see real books done with left justification. I use full justification on everything. (I used to like telling my Episcopalian friends that it was very appropriate for the '79 Prayerbook to be left justified, only because the new prayerbook was never justified on the right!) If I have too much white space on a given line of text, I look for one long word to hyphenate.

    Second, I don't mind Times. And I do like other serif fonts. But I'm still a creature of convenience, so I'm sticking to it. Besides, I have it in at least 300 Finale files, and I want the music insets to be the same as the document itself.

    Third, I do like to spice up the Lessons with a fancy drop-cap. There are many to pick from. I do stick with Times and a 3-line drop on regular Sundays, and expand it to 4 lines with a fancy font for big feast days.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,198
    My all-time favorite serif font is Palatino Linotype, which I use for all my Finale engraving. I really wish that Finale would let the user change the default fonts (from Times New Roman), but - since they haven't granted that wish yet - I have taken the time to change the fonts in the Finale Templates (and, more importantly, in my own templates), so it isn't that much of a hassle anymore. I don't use Book Aniqua (too "bookish" - as if for writing essays) or Garamond (I just like the artfulness of P.L. more).

    Chuck
  • francis
    Posts: 10,847
    full justification sux

    IOHO

    sincerely,

    fk
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Full justification vs. left justification DEPENDS...
    -The length of the text
    -The type of content (you wouldn't full-justify Psalms)
    -The width of the text block
    -The size of the font
    -etc
    -etc


    However....
    Do not CENTER-Justify or RIGHT-justify any text longer than two-line.
    A ragged-left edge slows down reading, and makes it easy for people to accidentally skip/jump lines.
    (Besides that it looks weird.)

    I've seen a number of my friends here on this board who center-justify large blocks of text
    (all the lines of a hymn, for example).
    In love, I must tell you... it looks bad.
    Please stop.


    Also-
    Palatino Linotype is a GREAT font.
    It was my go-to font for years until I switched to Caslon for a while.
    Now I'm really into Garamond, primarily because I work at an Episcopal Parish (The 1979 BCP was set in a Garamond-derivative).
    I find using Garamond with Episcopalians makes them subconsciously think my stuff is official.
    If I was working in a Catholic Parish, and making programs, I would try to find a font that matched either:
    -The font used in the edition of the Roman Missal you are currently using
    -The font used in the hymnal or other hard-back pew-book that is most-used in the parish