Hi Jeff. Thank you for the information which I will use. However,I really am trying to trackdown a hymnal, but without muuch success! Apparently, no hynalsseemto to exist in either the USA or Latin America, except in museums!!! Other than the one i mentioned Tesoro de Alabanzas published by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in San Antonio in 1967 era! This booklet had hymnsof French and German origins as wellas a few Mexican Franciscan Alabados!! I thinkthere was a St Joseph Mass and Hymnal in Spanish as well1965,but again can't find one anywhere!!

Do you know of the RESPONSORIAL HISPANOAMERICANO/CANTO GREGORIANO from Buena Prensa (Mexico), ISBN 9789706930538
http://tinyurl.com/5caj55

I would caution you regarding hymns and service music in Spanish. OCP is notorious for chopping up the Gloria in Spanish. There is one setting marked Tradicional and another Misa Popular that use a Gloria that is missing some major parts of it. The song, for lack of a better word, removes "Deux Rex celestei, Deus Pater omnípotens. Dómine Fili Unigénite, Iesu Christe, Dómine Deus, ..." and goes directly into the Lamb of God reference. It also deletes the final reference to Jesus Christ by name. Another setting, by Bob Hurd, is more along the lines of a responsorial Gloria, but, suprisingly, it is faithful to the text. I cannot say the same for his Agnus Dei because he doesn't separate the invocations.

As far as the hymns are concerned, the ones found in OCP are also very problematic because some of them have references to liberation theology (Pueblos Nuevos (Danos un Corazon) and others place undue emphasis on the community (Somos el Pueblo). Others are more along the lines of social justice and treat the liturgy and the Eucharist as after-thoughts (Amor de Dios, Ven al Banquete). The only two of the newer songs that comes close to being traditional is Fr. Schiavonne's 'Amen" and "Donde Hay Caridad y Amor" (used for Holy Thursday and for Communion).

There are traditional hymns like "Altisimo Senor", "Tu Reinaras", "Alabado Sea El Santissimo" and "Cantemos al Amor" that do work well. Some work very well for Communion: "Racimo y Trigal", "Un Mandamiento", "Amemonos de Corazon", "Una Espiga" and "Bendito, Bendito". The one hymn that I would avoid like the plague is "Pescador de los Hombres." This song is over-used down here for Communion, even though it has nothing at all to do with the Eucharist.

The sad part is that a lot of the music used on the Mexican side of the border is tinged with charismatic styles and Neocatechumenal genre. There are some parishes in Nuevo Laredo (I'm in Laredo) that use OCP stuff.

Of the psalms settings, the one who is probably the best composer is Manuel Garcia. His settings work well with either organ or guitar (not too fond of guitar, though). His works are found in the OCP catalogue.

Paul, with all due respect, how would that help if this comes from the Methodist catalogue and might very well contain songs that do not jibe with the Church's standards on liturgy?

Now, I admit that a lot of the stuff from OCP is questionable; unfortunately, until someone takes it upon himself to put forth a legitimate Spanish language hymnal, we have to contend with what is out there.

My diocese is 99.9% Mexican-American. By my reckoning, we might very well be the most Hispanic diocese in the country. We are also located along the Texas-Mexico border, so, we do get a lot of cross-traffic. The faithful from Nuevo Laredo will attend Mass on this side when they are visiting and vice-versa. We use the Mexican Episcopal Conferences' version of the Roman Missal because no such Sacramentary exists in the United States. In fact, I posed this question in 2003 to Msgr. Maroney as to why we don't have a Spanish-language Roman Missal of our own. He told me that it would be five years in the making. We are now in the tail quarter of 2008 and we don't have anything to show for it.

If the OP is going to use OCP, I would suggest going over the content with a fine-toothed comb and weeding out the questionable stuff. Look at the service music and compare it to what is found in the Mexican Roman MIssal. If the words are not the same, don't use the settings. If the Gloria is chopped up to the point that references fo Jesus Christ and God the Father are omitted, move on to the next one. I admit that it is cumbersome, but, we have to maintain a true Sensus Fidei.

I've tried but have had no luck ordering RESPONSORIAL HISPANOAMERICANO/CANTO GREGORIANO. While I found it at several e-commerce sites, I could not get the ordering utilities actually to work. Oh well!

That a list of resources for Spanish-language liturgical music compiled by the Methodists would be in any way more useful than available Catholic guides to such resources is indeed a pathetic and troubling state of affairs. I've worked as an assistant music director for a fairly large Spanish-language Mass for two years now and have experienced only silly secular-style music, and I know that this prevails throughout Central and South America. Is there literally ANY model to help guide American Hispanic communities away from the Flor y Canto musical world and toward chant and polyphony?

Here is a website from the Diocese of Ponce, Puerto Rico. I can't get the Finale Viewer to work but there appears to be reliably Catholic music here.

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to download something, anything, from the Finale site link that would make Monsignor di Marco's scores available to me. I've installed every bit of software available for Mac, and I also have two different Finale products on my desktop. Nothing works. Perhaps it's a Mac problem. If other Mac users have discovered a solution, I would love to hear it.
Mary

I'm PC and have also never been able to download anything from the site, (been trying for 5 years, on 7 different computers)
But then again I am an admitted, albeit abashed, technidiot...
I have in the past found very usable Spanish-language hymns in both Lutheran and Methodist sources, unimpeachable as far as their theology, (I am, I admit, dependent on someone else translation,) and after all, the English-language output of at least two "Catholic" publishers can be more than questionable, theologically.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

I am leery about saying this, but, a lot of the stuff that OCP has in Spanish is quite questionable. One time, we had programmed "Hombres Nuevos" into the rotation. We had a visiting priest from Poland, who had been stationed in Brazil. He stopped the song midway and told us to not sing that anymore because it was tinged with liberation theology. Needless to say, we didn't sing that anymore. Other songs focus more on the community (O Amor de Dios, Ven al Banquete and Somos El Cuepo de Cristo). The older ones, like Bendigamos al Senor, Todo lo que Tengo and Alabado Sea El Senor, and even the newer ones like Amen (El Cuepo de Cristo) and Donde Hay Cardiad, do a much better job because they are more grounded in the Church's liturgical theology.

I would just proceed with caution.

I'm bumping this thread, because Jeff Ostrowski above mentions having purchased a literal Spanish translation of the Office hymns. Could anybody tell me what the name of this source is, and how I could acquire it?