I estimated once that my parish was once spending roughly $1,800 per year on OCP prior to . Obtaining hardbound hymnals (which they eventually did) could have been done for about $5,000. When put that way, "saving money" on throwaways suddenly doesn't seem so good.

I forgot to mention, but if you go to OCP's website and look under subscriptions, they'll tell you their prices. I thought they mentioned something about shipping, but I could be mistaken.

I've bought a harper-collins Sunday Missal, which contains the readings, psalms, missal antiphons, etc three-year cycle of Sundays.

They are $21 each from the book depository.

Then you can have a separate hymnal, such as the St Edmund Campion Missal/Hymnal, which costs about $26 per copy if you buy 100 or more. Then you have your missalettes for both OF and EF masses and hymns taken care of, for a one-off purchase of $4,700 plus shipping.

If you don't have EF masses in your parish then you cuold purchase the Vatican II Hymnal which is $19 each ($15@ for more than 100) plus shipping. You could have your Sunday readings and hymns taken care of for $3,600 plus shipping. And these will last you for at least 10 years.

(Prices assume purchasing 100 of each the missalettes and the hymnals - adjust according for the needs of your parish church.)

You could either have them in the pews, or have attendants (ushers/porters/greeters) at the doors handing them out as the congregation enters.

I also own a copy of the weekday missal. You can get away with fewer copies of these since there are usually much fewer people attending weekday masses than sunday masses.

Also, it would be quite common for special occasions such as Christmas and Easter to produce a liturgy booklet. This is helpful when you may have favourite hymns in the parish that don't appear in your hymnal.

Hi Adam,
We purchase the yearly disposable missal from OCP...

(disclaimer: Adam, I know you know my situation, but for others, this is not an issue I necessarily can change at this time, though I am campaigning for a hard-cover. The upfront cost is scaring some people, especially since last year we just put in the new organ console/rewired the pipes, and did a separate capital campaign for other parish issues).

Anyways, the cost this past year for 550 of these was $2915 and the shipping (one time) was $401.50. We may be ordering more next year, since we have over 600 people at each Mass. I have about $3600 budgeted.

We used to ALSO buy the "Seasonal Missalette", but then we switched to Breaking Bread with readings...at least it is only one thing to replace.

Here is one hidden cost I can think of: throughout the course of a year, with 3 packed Masses a weekend plus weekdays, the flimsy covers of these books means that they get ripped and folded and who knows what (I don't know why people have to play with them, grr). We had a woman donate $600 to buy clear plastic covers for the books that didn't have them. I had to supplement it with another $200 or $300 (can't find the figure at the moment) purchase of these covers. And some of those need to be replaced every year TOO. (Why people like to pull them apart is beyond me!!) We purchase the cheapest of these covers, you can get "nicer" ones, but they don't actually seem to last any longer (instead of clear plastic, so you can see the ahem lovely cover art, you can buy colored plastic, but you can't tuck both covers of the book into these, the spine breaks. I learned this at another parish.)

The upside to this subscription is that we get a set of accompaniments free when that book is revised (every 3 years I think), and some copies of the cantor book that goes with it (Respond and Acclaim). And any new accompaniments that come out (a supplement pack). There is also a guitar set that comes with it (please don't comment) and a solo instruments set (which is nice, we use with violins quite often). On the downside, you need to buy extra Respond and Acclaim if you want all 12 of your cantors to have one, and if you need extra accompaniment books you buy them.

There is also the issue of some of the songs in BB don't have the music for the verses in there...so if you want your choir or cantor to sing them, you need to buy that octavo, though they may be in the accompaniment book. We do own the newest edition of Choral Praise, so the verses are in there, for most things... Except that CP doesn't have parts for all the music in BB (even though I know choral settings exist! I don't get it!!) which is frustrating for both the choir and myself. So sometimes you would STILL have to buy a separate set of pieces, which at 25-30 choir members is not cheap! Which means you can't sing everything in a book you paid for to be in the pews.

I guess I have a strong opinion on this, since this particular book has been used at every parish I've worked at so far (wow).

Hope that helps!!!

You may also consider the option of making the hand missals available for purchase at the parish piety shop. $21 each is fairly cheap for a book, which contains the entire 3-year cycle of readings for Sundays.

Finding a good hymnal is always difficult. I've never found a single volume which has everything that I would want in a hymnal. Vatican II and St Edmund Campion are very good, as are the Adoremus and several other hymnals, but they never have all the repertoire that I want. I suppose the trouble is that hymnals have to try and cater for a wide variety of demands and are never perfect.

I've done that with congregational singing where I pulled the organ back to 8' stopped diapason and 4' flute. I was particularly glad, because I could hear the congregation all singing the hymn verse of "By All Your Saints Still Striving" that I wrote for St Francis Xavier.

Adam Wood - I agree completely with your comment about SATB.
That's what we do! It is wonderful. The choir sings almost the entire Mass in parts...and that's why they are in it. They like the challenge. If I ask them to "just" sing melody on a hymn, for example, they complain. It has made them all better singers and readers.

This may be of interest:

http://www.giamusic.com/sacred_music/hymnals_economical.cfm

Maybe Adam could use a similar cost-calculation page on his website.

(Hey, Melo, you're Gentile enough already, nu?)

The trouble with printing the hymns in a liturgy leaflet or bulletin is that after a while, people only provide the words. I know that 90% of the congregation probably can't read music anyway, but it would be far better that the hymns with melody lines were at least provided. Another problem is that quite often, people doing up the bulletins are not musicians, and simply google the hymn lyrics, and copy-and-paste them. Then we discover that the lyrics are different or the verses are in a different order to those found in the music sheets used by the organist... (has happened to me too many times).

Whilst 90% of congregations can't really read music, most of them will get the idea (long notes, short notes, high notes, low notes) before long.

It may also depend on the general music program and practices within your parish. On days when I know that there will not be an offertory procession and no incense (weekday masses) I will often just play an organ interlude on a eucharistic hymn.

However, I believe in the use of hymnals. If there are a number of hymns which are popular in your parish but not found in the hymnal, it may be possible to produce a suppliment booklet which is pasted into the endpapers, or a seperate booklet all together.

I've even considered producing in-house publications for some chapels/churches.

Good observations there, hcmusicguy. And "Celebrating the Eucharist" is pretty decent as these publications go, though one thing bugs me about them: when they do modify texts in hymns, they often don't admit it: they don't add an "alt." notation by the author's name. But prescinding from that. . .

Richard, I've been compared to many more obtuse origins than "gentile." Like the great Oakland Raider, Otis Sistrunk, I've been declared "from Mars." Others have likened me to Piltdown Man, a mutant from the 13th lost tribe of Israel, and other maternal origins that can't be printed here. Someone wrote a play about me, never read it: The Misanthrope. Is that "gentile?" Or "genteel?"

Speaking of financing...

http://www.giamusic.com/sacred_music/hymnals_financing.cfm

The trouble with printing the hymns in a liturgy leaflet or bulletin is that after a while, people only provide the words.

It is essential to print the entire hymn in 4 parts, in a weekly Mass Guide just as it appears in a quality hymnal. Otherwise musicians who can read can feel almost as insulted by the blind who do not have access to an order of the Mass in braille in not being truly welcome to fully participate in the true spirit of Vatican II.

The main objection is cost....the real reason for not doing it is laziness. Catholics for centuries HAD to go to Mass on Sunday. Protestants chipped away at the Catholic faith by being "easier" to be a Protestant than a Catholic...and by providing exactly what the complainers in the Catholic church wanted.

Devotional musical in the service instead of liuturgical, the local language instead of Latin, a bible in every house and every hand, a complete guide to each service handed to them when they entered the door....they invented full participation.

To save a few cents on copying and paper and using generic newsprint booklets with ink that comes off in your hands....is an insult and shows exactly how important most priests, bishops and cardinals think the average person in the pew is...

Someone mentioned to me that parishes with a large number of funerals can sometimes approach funeral homes who will buy "advertising" on one of the front pages of a hymnal and buy the hymnals for the parish.

Has this happened for anyone else before?

I'm making calls this week to see if we can get thousands of Lumen Christi Missals without paying a penny.

Put a little "advertisement" in the endpapers saying "Kindly Donated by XYZ Funerals" and have a little graphic or logo. This would be a little more tasteful than an obvious advertisement for the business - the sort that one would put in the parish bulletin.

We are looking for a permanent hymnal that has the 3 years of readings in it. The pastor is very interested in the St. Augustine Hymnal published in Nashville. We 've ruled out Worship, but I thought OCP's Journeysongs might work. Any ideas?

This book fits your criterion. It might be worth considering.