MAJOR PUBLISHERS' NOTICE --- BEWARE!!! BEWARE!!!
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    OCP is sending letters around saying our 'subscription' will be 'automatically renewed' if we don't respond by 6/24 - meaning, if a parish is busy, on vacation, distracted, etc., a box of their new schlock will arrive for Advent I and the new Missal translation whether you want it or not. What a cheap trick!


    This was in my "inbox."

    I would like to go on record as saying this is not a good policy.

    But I'm sure others will have different opinions.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    I went through this once. It's a nightmare. They will do it. In many parishes it can take weeks for mail to filter through, especially if it looks like junk mail!
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    JMO, FNJ,
    This isn't news and has been SOP for OCP for decades. The thread is needlessly alarmist.
    I get the concern, but this is not a Chicken Little Alert.
    OCP is not culpable here.
    I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Well....there are parishes every year that, for one reason or other, end up having to pay for them and use them because:

    OCP does not say, "do you want to reorder."

    OCP says, "we are going to ship them as usual."

    The bookkeeper looks at it and thinks, "It's not a bill...stick it in the file."

    IT IS A MAJOR SHOCK to new staff members who think that they are in control to find that this has happened to them and makes them look foolish and incompetent. Especially if they have gotten approval to a much better guide to be purchased.

    "WHY DIDN'T YOU CANCEL THE OCP ORDER?" says the pastor....
  • G
    Posts: 1,401
    "WHY DIDN'T YOU CANCEL THE OCP ORDER?" says the pastor....

    To a certain extent, this has to do with the weird chains of command at many a parish. Musicians often find they have responsibilities without concomitant authority.
    I found there were licensing fees coming out of my budget for music and publishers for whom I had no use, (and this was not a parish that had EVER printed weekly aids.) Church secretary/bk just paid it and dropped a note to that effect in my mailbox.
    No ones fault, really.
    But had I tried to begin a subscription with such a large expenditure I would have had to go through the liturgy committee, the pastor...

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,995
    I don't buy anything from OCP. Problem solved.
  • countertenor
    Posts: 17
    I'm in this situation right now. Just recently hired, still trying to get a real list of what I'm in control of and what I'm not. Today I receive an email from the parish secretary saying they are renewing our current setup of United in Christ. I would like to use nothing from OCP if possible, starting in Advent, so I called OCP and had our order put on hold, under the presumption that I'm new to the position and I need time to review their other resources. This was no problem and they did it so I now have time to look at other resources both OCP and non OCP. The pastor at my parish has never used anything but OCP especially being that we're in the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, but he is open to checking other resources, especially if they can save money in the long run and give us a broader and better selection of music than in UC. I've been to the colloquium and it's wonderful. I'm wondering how to I can transition a pastor/parish that has only known subscription based OCP services that tie the missal and music issue together, and place the Respond and Acclaim settings of the Responsorial Psalm inside the missal. What other publishers should I be looking at in regards to missals that would allow me to pick whichever hymnals I'd like, or are tied to better music issues than those OCP publishes?
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Countertenor,

    You might want to glance at the Vatican II Hymnal, in spite of the fact that the publication has been delayed by a few weeks due to a circumstance I cannot control.

    It should be available in late July, God-willing.
  • countertenor
    Posts: 17
    JMO,

    I have looked at it and I am impressed by it. It is one of the options I'm going to speak with the pastor about.
  • ProfKwasniewskiProfKwasniewski
    Posts: 247
    Jeffrey,

    Late July -- oh, that would be grand! Please tell me it's really possible?

    My pastor has cancelled his OCP subscription (God bless him--time off from Purgatory!), and is telling people "I'm going to get this new hymnal, the Vatican II Hymnal, which has the readings and music, all in one book!"

    Peter
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Dr. Peter,

    Thanks to a meeting I had last Thursday, I should have very good news for you very soon.

    God is great.
  • ProfKwasniewskiProfKwasniewski
    Posts: 247
    JMO,

    Blessed be God. Thanks for the heartening reassurance. I am counting the days and weeks, as are many others, I'm sure.

    BTW, is there a chance you could publish the psalm responses without using bar lines/measures? The chant idiom lends itself better to having no bar lines. Maybe others have already pointed this out and you've already responded.

    Peter
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