Our repertoire is about 7 inches of paper at this point, so I'm not sure where to start. Anything more specific?

Favourite bell pieces:
Dinner bell, end of school bell.
Least favourite: Fire alarm bell, though it does move me profoundly.
;-)

Carillon!

Speaking of change ringing: you who have handbells might look into doing change ringing with them as part of your repertory. There is literature to be had, and it is a challenging exercise of precision team work: this means that however many bells you have you simply ring them in successive patterns until you have gone through the entire mathematical permutations of the number of bells you have. There are numerous classical ways of going about this. Unfamiliar with this? Look up change ringing on youtube and hear some examples, and get in touch with some real change ringing societies. It is a national passtime in England, where handbells originated as a means of practicing change ringing without going into the tower and practicing on the whole town.

Still, I don't think of handbells as a liturgical instrument. They always seem to be there just for their own sake.

I always loved the sound of change-ringing; It's a pitty that where I am (New England) most churches have either two bells (that don't get rung) or a clangatron. If anyone would like to donate so my parish could get an eight-bell ring in the tower, let me know! ;)

The best use of handbells I've seen/heard was during a rosary procession, when the Lourde's 'Ave' was sung between the decades: the choirmistress used the D & G bells to give the pitch.

So no one really uses handbells at their parish?? Should I consider removing them for our choirs?

In this area, I know only one Catholic parish offhand with a bell program. On the other hand, they're more common among Protestant parishes: a single UCC church in this area has several bell groups and a large music room devoted just to the bellringers and their gear. You can make use of them, for sure: they're popular at Christmas concerts, but you may need to look around on the net to find more discussion of handbells.

Handbells are not traditional in Catholic churches - keep in mind this is coming from a DM who was in a college handbell group. The expense is another factor. Good handbells are expensive. If I had the funds available, there are many more pressing things I could use the money for.

I was part of a large parish many years ago that had a handbell choir. They only played on major feast days, most notably (and appropriately) Christmas.

I have a hard time imagining appropriate use of handbells outside Christmas and (PERHAPS) Easter. Even in a Protestant setting.

I'll keep that in mind.

I actually inherited a very nice set from one of my predecessors who apparently had an Anglican background. Bottom line is I can't seem to assemble enough people to ring them. I have used single bells to give pitches to the choir. I guess I don't see any apparent flaw in having a bell choir though if the parish wants to put their efforts/resources into one. Are they necessary--certainly not, and a choir of singers and an organ should certainly take precedence. While they don't rank high on my list of priorities, I'd still take a bell choir over a "folk group" any day.

That flowchart made my day.