Oh, this is a fun topic. We've never found the right word or phrase. I tried "worship aid" but felt ridiculous saying it; it seems like goofy New Age cliche or something. "Liturgy aid" isn't any better. I think we finally settled on calling it no formal name at all, and instead just refer to the "program." This seems to work. Any other ideas?

Program, well --, sounds a bit p-r-ofane (everyday use?) I wish there was something else.

Why title it? Just put the parts on it and title it with the liturgical day. No one will look at it and wonder what it is!

I should be a better sport about this, but I must say that I'm ready tired of printing these things. What a fantastic waste of paper! I was just telling Arlene that if we had the Parish Book of Chant, none of this would be necessary. I hope for the day!

oh you mean the weekly kids' game called "Find the Typo." Yes, that is a sport in our parish.

I like that. 'Libellus'. I'm going with Libellus. Of course I have to explain to people what it is at first, like other things that people don't know. They will get it eventually.
(Because we sing on weekday Masses for now, we don't have a bulletin, and I need a name for it.)
Thanks,
Mia

I probably stole this from my brother, but I always just call it "the printed sheet" ("la feuille blanche," "la feuille verte"). It does not apologize for the physical reality, nor does it pretend to be something abstract which it is not.

Yes, I always think it is hilarious and pathetic to go into any local protestant church and pick up the hymnal. It is hardbound. Tons of great stuff. Beautifully laid out. One song per page, pretty much. Clear numbers. And written in 4 parts that are easy to sing.

Then you go to the Catholic parish just down the street. Throw-away junk, and this offensive melody line with no parts, like we are all stupid. Arlene pointed out a funny thing: if we are really too stupid to read parts of a hymn, why print music at all? Anyway, it is just incredible and embarrassing. The first time I ever entered a Catholic Church and found one of these missalettes I was really taken aback. My first uncharitable thought was: are these people all musically illiterate?

Anyway, this was one thing behind the production of the PBC. so many people have complained about those stapled red EF booklets, the photcopied sheets, the shabby material in the pews. We really need something that is beautiful and wonderful to hold, something as serious and substantial as the faith itself. That was part of the drive, in addition to just needing some resources that has chant plus translations.

"Worship aid" always makes me snicker because it reminds me of things that were advertised in the back pages of magazines when I was growing up. I always admire the beautiful tri-fold leaflets from places like St. Patrick's in NYC. Of course, there's an army of staff there to do the preparation, using the software that's out for that now.

I grew up with hardbound hymnals and spent several years working with them. Very relaxing. When I took a job in a Catholic church and starting flinging around OCP binders, GIA spiral bound accompaniment editions, etc., I thought I'd landed in liturgical music hell. And that was before I examined the contents! The one problem with hymnals is that if your attendance is good, you won't have enough to go around. (Of course, people could share in Christian charity....) And I remember that many hymnal-using churches I knew did use a leaflet program of some sort for Christmas and Easter to cover that problem.

Of course, we could stop trying to force the congregation to sing along on everything. They'd pick up what they needed as time went by if the Ordinary remained fairly stable within seasons. And besides - go sit in a pew. A huge number of Catholic churchgoers touch nothing - leaflet, hymnal, missalette, whatever. I take that back - if they can find the bulletin, they're reading that.

Or we could "line out" the verses like Primitive Baptists.

In Dutch we call it (in my parish at least) a "liturgieblaadje" or "liturgy sheet". I don't think it translates well into English though.

Actually Michael, it seems protestants are only now realizing that not only do people not sing in PARTS, but they're stopping singing altogether. Sound familiar?? Only thing is, they can't seem to figure out why yet. At least that's the impression I gather from blogs; I've seen a few asking why no one sings on the praise songs and conjectures that they just need new praise songs. They're just about 20 years behind Rome.

Yes, I just spoke to a visitor to old-time Baptist church in central Texas who said that in the last year, they have converted from 19th century hymns to praise music. Everyone just sits there like the living dead, not singing a note. So sad. So sad. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in the same town was making progress last year but this year has a new "director of liturgy" who was all over the sanctuary flapping her arms trying to get everyone to do goofy things. Meanwhile everyone saunter in and sauntered out again like the living dead. I wasn't there but this was the report I just received.

I guess we are just in an era where people don't sing together anymore. Singing is seen as a "solo" thing, thanks to American Idol and its spinoffs. When I've had the opportunity to attend praise band services, I hear people singing the choruses, when they know them, but for the most part, the band is "ministering" to the congregation. Oh, I should also say that the songs are generally very lightweight theologically.

Would "Kyriale" (or perhaps some variant) be appropriate at all — particularly for the multileaved "Mass booklets" as Hugh said — or must that exclusively refer to the published Kyriale?

I forgot to mention - there were some above comments about hymnals: here is an English Catholic hymnal which, as one might imagine, is outstanding. I recommend it to every American Catholic choirmaster and parish. Its title is 'The Catholic Hymnbook'; compiled and edited by the London Oratory, and published by Gracewing in 1998 & 2006; ISBN 0 85244 359 5 for the full music (SATB) edition at 25 pounds (roughly $50). There is a melody edition for about half that. Its only shortcoming is that the plainchant hymns are not (as in 'The English Hymnal') in square notation. There are multiple, outstanding, hymns for every major feast, major saint's day, and many lesser ones - something that no American Catholic hymnal of which I am aware can boast. (And, it includes the stanza of 'Ye Watchers & Ye Holy Ones' which is addressed to our Lady - which gets mysteriously left out of many of our Catholic hymnals over here.) This book is a Treasure!

Correction re. pewsheet - this Sunday being 12 Pentecost (not 13th), this is the relevant sheet:

http://members.iinet.com.au/~hugh2/public_html/12PentecostPewSheetForthInThyname.pdf
HH

My copy of THE CATHOLIC HYMN BOOK just arrived. I paid (new) EUR 40.22 which included EUR 8.78 to amazon.uk. (Sorry I didn't order
directly through publisher (Gracewing Publishing).

The hymn selections and arrangements are terrific (mostly english language). A section in the back includes the Gregorian Masses VIII, XI & XVIII plus a selection a latin hymns all in western notation.

The layout has the text separated from the music. Does anyone know the layout of the Melody Edition?