I know several churches that manage to use a page or so of the announcement bulletin as the music/liturgy bulletin. It takes some doing and is far from ideal, but there may be some negotiating room on all sides here.

You should argue strongly that purchasing any (semi-) permanent liturgical book for the pews during the next two years would be a waste of money because of the impending change in the English translation of the Mass.

The Saint Michael Hymnal is the only published hymnal which has original, non-PCed texts, chant, and composed Mass settings alongside the top twenty or more contemporary hymns. It obviously puts off answering a crucial question: should Catholics should really be singing hymns instead of the propers?

OCP and GIA hymnals are simply not acceptable for Catholic liturgy if for no other reason than their theologically subversive and sociologically driven bastardization of the hymn texts.

....and I second Daniel Page's question about the Propers. Maybe the best solution is to buy enough Graduals for your choir and be done with it!

This suggestion was made in another conversation here last week. Here it is again. Look into The Catholic Hymnbook, edited by the London Oratory and published by Gracewing in 1998 & 2006 (ISBN 0 85244 359 5). The full music ed. is L25 (+- $50), and a pew edition (melody only) is available for about half that. Unlike ANY American Catholic hymnal of which I am aware, this book offers specific hymns for every solemnity & major feast, and many saint's days, in addition to thematic, seasonal, & general fare. It also has a section of Gregorian hymnody and masses (unfortunately, and unlike The English Hymnal, in 'modern' notation) in both Latin and English. It is a true Catholic hymnbook. Both hymns & their tunes are of impeccable quality; there is no dross.

Several people mentioned above the question of propers vs. hymns. I believe that there is an unnecessary and mistaken dichotomy here. First, I would aver that the propers should be done at every mass. And, if it is an English mass they should translated and set to fitting music or chant, if necessary, by the choirmaster. Secondly, use of the propers does not rule out well chosen ('proper') hymns. Contrary to what naysayers both Catholic & Protestant would have us believe, hymns have been sung at mass by the faithful for centuries, even unto the Middle Ages. They are not sui generis 'Protestant', and have, in fact, been around far longer than Protestants have. The challenge here is 'well chosen' when there is no American Catholic hymnal which has been compiled with the object of providing hymns of fitting quality which may be 'proper' to almost any liturgical day or lectionary theme. Hymns and propers can, and often should, exist side by side and may compliment one another in quite edifying ways. And, there is entirely too much superb hymnody in our heritage for it to be eschewed because it may, or may not, have been written by a non-Catholic, Catholic though its sentiments and theology may be. This is incredibly narrow and mean.

Lastly, about your imminent problem of funding the Service Folder, or Mass Leaflet... Use of such is about the only way of celebrating mass (as only is proper) without having to make announcements of hymns during mass, or otherwise 'messing it up' with commentary. So, I hope you win out in here. When faced with the question of money over such things, my usual custom is to point out that the treasure that we spend on worship and liturgy is not unlike the precious ointment that was spilled out on our Lord's feet. His disciples were distraught at the waste. But, he thought it most appropriate!

Jackson - Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston

Thank you all for your input.

Here's my situation. (Deep breath.)

I've been director at this small, Southern parish for some sixteen years. When I first started, I was not long out of graduate school, and I knew NOTHING about what Mass was really supposed to be. I went through the usual foolishness of choosing hymns "that the people could sing" for every Mass. The Church had Worship III and a subscription to the Breaking Bread/Music Issue, which came from the Withywindle of Catholic music -- the center from which all the queerness comes (Tolkien geek reference).

The choir sang lots and lots of a capella music, and we continued to grow musically. We were stuck in the Siberia of the early Mass, which few people under 60 attended. I tried to make the music as good as possible -- we did a lot of classical (including Renaissance) repertory. Eventually the folkie for whom the church had bought the Music Issue etc. passed away, and they replaced him with someone who directs a local gospel choir and isn't even Catholic rather than turn it over to me. Yes, they said they were afraid I would "scare the children" -- probably by teaching what the Church actually says the music is supposed to be. Well, don't get me started on that. My title of "Director of Music" became meaningless at that point as far as I'm concerned, and I've just been trying to salvage my little corner of the liturgy -- the early, early Mass. My choir have been pretty faithful, but even they felt the schiaffo when the parish passed me over for direction of the shepherdless sheep of the 'high" Mass.

However, a new wrinkle in the program was that I got involved with "those Latin nuts" who not only sing Gregorian chant, but actually love it. Fortunately I had learned to read the neumes in music school, so I wasn't completely lost; but this put a major crimp in their appreciation of the parish music program. This all came to a head when my little schola sang a couple of months ago. We sang the Introit, Communion and Offertory, and also sang an alternatim treatment of the Offertory antiphon with a polyphonic component by Josquin. After Mass, I told the pastor we would sing again for Assumption. He said, "No, that's way too soon. I don't want any more of this stuff. Maybe twice a year."

But why, Father?

"Because I'll get E-mails."

(Oh, the HORROR! He might actually have to explain something.)

I knew then that our efforts had been in vain, but I decided to shoot the moon with this year's budget. I requested (and solicited funds from certain parishioners for) scholarships to entice solo-quality singers to join the program. I asked for money to go to the Colloquium and the St. Cecilia Chant Workshop. And I requested money to buy copies of the Graduale Romanum and the Graduale Simplex for the Schola. I was going to make the Schola the main musical group in the Parish.

Next week I have to defend said budget before the richest (and least musically astute) man in town. He's been head of the PFC for thirty years or more, and the parishioners bow and scrape in front of him as if he were the Tsar of All The Russias. So they tell me they want a hymnal. The richest man in the city, for whom the bulletin budget is less than pocket change, is tired of spending the money for "something that gets thrown away." They tell me they don't want any more Latin. And they tell me I'm asking for too much money -- although it's less for me to attend the Colloquium than it was for the folk group guy to attend the NPM hootenanny every other year.

I can't rescue the parish from her lay leaders. They not only don't think there is a problem with sacro-pop, they regard it as "traditional" music. So I am just an inconvenience -- a gadfly who has organized the program, produced the music bulletins, whipped up a choir from unprepossessing material, and so on and so on. And while I don't intend to die on Budget Hill, so to speak, I'm going to make sure they know why they should not buy a hardcover hymnal. Now, if they make me go back to the Withywindle Pulp Hymnal, I'll deal with it. I'll choke back the gag reflex when I encounter the neutered and bowdlerized glosses in the hymns. But I will also continue to teach the choir and cantors what is supposed to be, and maybe the next pastor will be more courageous.

My apologies for the vituperation. I'm so done with them! It makes me ill to think of the coming season. As is the case for many of you, however, I can't afford to quit my job. We are poorer than church mice after some of the health issues we've had to deal with the last few years. So I'll do what I have to do, even if it means an early grave. At least then I'd be good for insurance money.

Ah, back to work. Thanks for listening. I'll try to make sure they at least pick a decent hymnal if they decide they can't wait for the new translations to go into effect. And thanks again for the input; now I feel better armed for facing down Dives next week.

Now, where did I leave that corkscrew . . . . ?

Oh, Yurodivi, I am so sorry, I feel churlish for having complained about my situation, (not that that will stop my threnody...)
When all the money I'd saved our music program by searching out public domain works, laboriously setting gospel acclamations, etc. to psalm tones note by note for cantors and children who couldn't get the hang of pointed texts, searching out, buying and repairing used music books, hymnals and octavos, went into a boatload of Spirit & Songs.... well, I realized I was never going to change the hearts of TPTB.
St Cecilia, pray for us!
(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

The London Oratory hymnal is a wonderful book but would only work well in a handful of parishes in the US: perhaps a few places in NYC and in Anglican Use parishes. It is very much a British hymnal and includes a large number of (excellent) hymns completely unknown in this country outside Episcopal/Anglican churches. Further, it lacks some good hymns that one would hope and expect to find in a book for the Church in this country. The choir/full harmony edition also follows the British practice of not putting the full text with the music: choirs there are expected to do this at sight without complaint. I would love it if this were the case here, but it largely isn't. Despite all this, the LO book sits on my ready-reference shelf over my desk and I mine it constantly for texts, etc.

Michael O'Connor -
Thanks for the question. I'll have to look up chapter & verse on this and get back to you. It may take a while because I am very busy today. I'm thinking Apel, Harrison, Reese & cet., plus several liturgical histories. It may be this evening before I can renew theses references in my mind. Carols, for instance, have a very ancient pedigree, as does their use along with both vernacular & Latin verse at mass by the faithful. More on this later.

Hymns were not an official part of the Mass liturgy in the West after the recension of the primary Gregorian repertory. (Not a cause and effect, just an approximate dileneation of time.) They were, however, part of other corporate religious ceremonies, including processions, para-liturgical prayer, and the Office. At various times and places it was probably the practice of the congregation to sing venacular, Latin, or macoronic hymns which the priest said/sang the actual liturgy of the Mass. Some of these almost certainly became de-facto propers for those who sang them. The one place where sung metrical poetry did enter the Mass was in the shape of Sequences and, to a much lesser extent, tropes of the Mass Ordinary. The late Middle Ages saw a veritable explosion of Sequences proper to almost every saint and commemoration. Most of these circulated only locally/regionally. They mark a wonderful flowering of Latin poetry in the context of the so-called Devotio Moderna. Some are beautiful, while others are quaint at best. This beautiful but unruly repertory was pared down to the small number of Sequences standardized at the council of Trent.

Dear Daniel,

Is this the hymnal you are talking about?

http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Hymn-Book-London-Oratory/dp/0852443595/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218200155&sr=8-15

One thing I don't see on the Amazon description is whether this is the choir or accompaniment book.

Amazon.co.uk calls it a Melody Edition (£10); I don't see any evidence of a text-only edition for this one. Incidentally, the Harmony Edition's currently out of stock at amazon.com but in stock at amazon.co.uk. At today's exchange rate it's about $1.50 cheaper in England, but of course the shipping will be higher. My experience with Stainer & Bell anyway, however, is that the airmail surcharge is only about 50 pence, so the time elapse before receipt may be less than waiting for Amazon.com to restock. So depending on how much of a hurry you're in... looks like six of one… to me.

Leland

Whatever they want to spend their money on, I guess. But the new translation is coming -- doesn't seem like a good time to buy books.

If you all have a chance to remember me tomorrow around 1900 EDT, I would appreciate it. Of course, that's the hour most of you will be in rehearsal . . . that's the time for me to face the committee.

Thanks! And I'll post as soon as I know anything.

Okay, it has really descended now. The money people are determined to spend a fortune to buy hymnals because they are also buying new pews, and the new pews have room in the rack for a hardcover hymnal. Father says it will be "years" before they finish the translations. I told them i had to relieve my conscience and tell them that the translation issue might force them to buy new hymnals in two years' time, and they were willing to go ahead regardless.

It looks like we are going to be stuck with Journeysongs II. It could be worse -- at least there is an actual book available with it, rather than the thirty-pound pile of onionskin that you get with the Music Issue and Breaking Bread.

Sigh.

I see at least two sides of the coin here.

One is the significant reduction in my workload -- I have spent hundred and hundreds of hours on scanning, licensing, etc. etc. etc. and doing layout on these things.

Another side is that it is a giant step backwards in terms of having to accept neutered language and liturgically inappropriate music.

Yet a third side is that it means that the choices for chant in the future are severely limited; and the work we have done the last few years in getting people familiar with some of the more basic chants appears to be for naught.

The lesson learned: it's time to polish up my résumé and look for someplace else, or even not work in the church for a while. I think maybe I need to be somewhere that I don't have to be in charge of the program, or even in charge of the ensemble. I am tired, and it's time for a rest. I'll be back here to keep up, but to be honest I am feeling pretty discouraged right now. Thanks for all your support and the invaluable information this forum has provided me.

Yurodivi,

Hang in there. I used JS2 for a parish and was able to work around the stuff I didn't like. It does have a decent number of traditional hymns. More than most big-publisher hymnals. Just wait, though. You start hearing complaints about how heavy they are! Here's a suggestion. Try to get the Parish Book of Chant too while they are in spending mode. If they don't go for that, have a small chant booklet printed at the local printer to put in the pews too. Try selling the idea as a great way to compliment the JS2.

Yurodivi--

So sorry to hear about your trials. But yes, as Michael says, if they're willing to spend, get them to buy PBC in addition.

I will pray for you.

Mary

I see that I have not been sufficiently clear.

The problem, as I see it, is that they want to jettison the chant altogether. The chant and the non-neutered hymn texts have been possible the last five years or so because I did the weekly music bulletins. I don't know how much chant is in JS2, but i bet they don't have the Agnus from Mass XII, or the Kyrie (option "B") from Mass XVII.

And the idea of teaching these people the Ordinary in Latin? You have to be kidding me. They would sooner learn to recite Proust in French. Some of them, of course, know better, but the ones who complain the loudest are the ones whose hair catches fire if you use the "L-word" in their presence. So that's it. Father said he didn't want "any more of that stuff" any time soon -- "maybe twice a year." And without the bulletins, we are making bricks without straw, and also without mud. In fact, if you had some ham, and I had some bread, we could teach them all the Ordinaries AND the propers. But that is so far beyond the realm of current possibility that I dare not even dream it.

In a not-so-small victory, however, I am coming to the Colloquium next summer on their dime. The tradeoff? I have to let the gospel guy go to NPM again.

Oh well. In my retirement, all I can say is, Oh-dark-thirty Sunday Mass without music, here I come . . . and I know it will help my blood pressure. Not to mention relieving my Sisyphus complex . . .

Regards,
Yurodivi

I am so sorry -- maybe we should all "retire" near each other so that we can muster enough voices on a parish committee to bring about a palace revolution and then be able to implement it...

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

Mary Jane - I think you've given some excellent advice in pointing to chant outside of the Mass. The local schola ran into brick wall opposition from the pastor about singing at Mass. But a lay ministry First Friday Vespers program at the same church opened the door. Now they have been asked to sing a series of Morning Prayer liturgies at the diocesan cathedral. Next, the one church in town that does a NO Latin Mass has called to see about a monthly visit. (They don't have a Latin choir themselves.)

And now, suddenly the pastor has begun to thaw. The schola will be singing at an upcoming 9/11 memorial Mass. Tentatively a prelude (aka Introit), ordinary and communion. Regular music lineup for Entry, Offertory and Communion, but it's a tremendous leap forward.

Do hang in there Yuodivi et al.

The Brompton Oratory has a book shop.

Dr. Mahrt, thank you for your kindness. I look forward to talking with you in Pittsburgh.

When I started this thread nearly three years ago, things looked very dark indeed. They actually did buy "JourneySongs 2" against my better judgment, but I persisted (foolishly, some said) in singing the chant. If Father "get[s] E-mails," they must be relatively positive ones, because I haven't been fired yet, nor have I been told to shut up.

And at Confirmation this week, the men of my choir (all four of them, counting the organist), plus two female tenors-by-necessity, sang the Alleluia: Veni Sancte Spiritus, and the Bishop didn't bat an eye. I had advised Father and also worked with the DRE and the "director" of Confirmation. Afterward, at the reception, the DRE and a number of others told me how much they had appreciated the Latin, especially the solo Offertory (Confirma Hoc Deus) and the Perosi "Sacerdos et Pontifex" to greet the Bishop. So apparently those pesky E-mailers are coming around.

As Chris Allen put it, we aren't called to be successful, but to be faithful, not successful. However, being both would be pretty sweet.