Marajoy is just going to LOVE this.

When I asked for the text of the new General Instruction (GIRM) in Latin, just for fun, somebody warned me that it was not useful because the section on music is left to the Bishops' Conferences, so the Latin text is not normative. True enough, although to pour gas on the flame (as it were) I include both texts below. I have a lot to do today, so I expect to have a good halfhour's reading off of this when I get back home.

As for pointing out that the Latin text is not normative on that point...Boy, am I glad they said that.

Because that means that one need not argue over what the Latin word "cantus" means. One merely need attend to the instructions written in English by our own Bishops, and they chose the word "chant."

We will pause very briefly to let Jeff T's fuse light--should be just a millisecond--and...

Let the flame begin!

48. Peragitur autem a schola et populo alternatim, vel simili modo a cantore et populo, vel totus a populo vel a schola sola. Adhiberi potest sive antiphona cum suo psalmo in Graduali romano vel in Graduali simplici exstans, sive alius cantus, actioni sacræ, diei vel temporis indoli congruus,55 cuius textus a Conferentia Episcoporum sit approbatus.

48. This chant is sung alternately by the choir and the people or similarly by a cantor and the people, or entirely by the people, or by the choir alone. In the Dioceses of the United States of America, there are four options for the Entrance Chant: (1) the antiphon from the Missal or the antiphon with its Psalm from the Graduale Romanum, as set to music there or in another setting; (2) the antiphon and Psalm of the Graduale Simplex for the liturgical time; (3) a chant from another collection of Psalms and antiphons, approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop, including Psalms arranged in responsorial or metrical forms; (4) another liturgical chant that is suited to the sacred action, the day, or the time of year, similarly approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop.