Society of Saint Gregory

Our parish catechist runs the FHC preparation classes at 10am and Mass is at 11am. During the period of preparation it is compulsory for families to attend both.

Last week was the first Sunday since our FHC Mass and the church was about a third less full. It won't fill up again until next year's ...

Can you get through the whole thing before the priest is ready to carry on with the liturgy... But why would you want to? Just select the verses/section which (1) best fit the feast and (2) are the right length for the job.


Because who bothers to try and get the congregation to do verse 2, 3 ...

With the exception of a very select few in the parish, I find that a bit of French style, highly dissonant improvisation with the organ at full pelt puts pay to that sort of enthusiasm

My point is that people don't all have to be 'doing' all the time.

When there is a Sequence it is so unusual compared to the routine of Sunday to Sunday that it makes sense to me to retain the option of not feeling obliged to make the congregation do it.

On Easter Sunday I sang the sequence myself ...

If the text "belongs" to the congregation that doesn't mean they have to sing it to enter into it.

I can listen to certain passages of scripture and participate in it - without reading along out loud.

And surely collective congregational singing is more akin to what happens in karaoke bars?

MARYFA wrote: Wed May 17, 2017 4:46 pm Why do they have to?
Active participation does not mean that every body must sing every thing.

Spot on.

My only contribution to this topic is to consider the length of the Offertory hymn.

Can you get through the whole thing before the priest is ready to carry on with the liturgy or are you going to hold things up to fit in all 8 verses for the sake of it, thus making the liturgy the servant of the ...

We do it. I give the Priest the first two notes for each one to make sure we both move up a tone together and not me a tone and he a minor 3rd or whatever. C minor, D Minor, E Minor (which works going into the Easter Alleluia as the psalm response in G major)

Response was slightly hesitant tonight ...

We normally just have a 6:30pm Vigil Mass and an 11am Mass on a Sunday.

For Easter our Vigil is at 8pm and we are having TWO Sunday Masses - 9:30am and 11am. For some reason we have loads of people come on Easter Sunday.

My parish is in almost exactly the same situation as Alan - a smaller church in the town closed in September and became part of our parish, they had a music group of guitars, flutes, violins and sometimes a drum, and played music pretty much exclusively from the 1970s onward. They've taken over the ...

Well, we do it because we have the resources which allow us to make a decent job of it. As has been mentioned already, if the resources in the parish can't manage a particular piece of music (chant or not) then it's probably best not to do it.

Having said all that, the chant examples I've given ...

I meant the examples I outlined:

IncenseTom wrote: Alinslie 'English Proper Chants' ...
...the Mass setting in the Missal, the simple Latin setting and the Belmont Mass as well as chanting the psalm.

Collectively, "chant based music" if you're after a name.

Have a look on Chant Cafe or New Liturgical Movement blogs. They can be found on there.

Unsurprisingly, I though the declaration was bang on.

At my parish we make use of the Alinslie 'English Proper Chants' in addition to congregational hymns - Opening hymn followed by Entrance Song and Communion Song followed by post-Communion hymn.
We also regularly use the Mass setting in the ...

I've got some shockers.........

The sort which make me feel ill when I think of them years after the event.

The best thing I've found is to dust myself down and be that bit more prepared/on the ball next time. It's important to get back on the horse quickly and start 'banking' solid performances ...