Another type of mass

[Holy Cow]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

SC - have selected a few Glorias for my group to listen to including Joncas and the others suggested, and thank you for the UL info.

Organist - will have a look at Mission praise. Some are a bit gibberish, agree, and would need to be checked carefully!

Oopsrganist - French batons made me laugh! But you're spot on about 'making/keeping people happy. When I first took over the group, I did a little mini survey (drop your fave into the swing bin'). Top hymns included hail redeemer and hail queen of heaven!

JW - It is the Mass of St Luke (Mike Stanley) and we do sing it at a fair speed. I try other things at slightly quicker pace and the choir complain they cant get the words out quick enough! I will be doing another worship 'drop your fave in the bin'. It'll be interesting to see what comes out based on the last survey.

IT - We do sing THE mass. That, I always (try my best) to maintain a standard on. But I am discovering that hymns are what people also identify attending mass with as much as the mass itself. We have an ever increasing change in our nationalities so not only am I having to consider extending our English repertoire, the international side of things are also coming into play!

[justMary]

But I am discovering that hymns are what people also identify attending mass with as much as the mass itself.

Indeed. I think that this is something with most liturgy-geeks seem to miss: no matter what the theological back-story is, people like singing hymns, for all sorts of reasons connected to their own spirituality. If Catholicism had some other mechanism for addressing this spiritual need, then we would not have it loaded onto the Mass. But we don't anymore - in the Western world, the days of many people attending Mass and other devotions at a different time are gone for most.



Returning to your original question, I'm not sure that there's any one alternative hymnal. As much as anything, that's due to the rapidly-changing nature of the music / publications industry.

But you may find it useful to browse the suggestions on the Voices as One website: http://voicesasone.com/category/staff-picks/

It is American so there will be certain cultural leanings to ignore. But it has an interesting range of newer materials, and does come from a liturgical perspective. And it suggest some alternative settings or arrangements of older material, which can make the old seem like the new.

Remember, to kids, teens and even young 20-somethings now, there's little difference in age between "Be Not Afraid", "City of God", "Here I Am Lord" and "Praise to the Lord the Almighty", "Holy God we Praise Thy Name", "Hail Redeemer King Divine", "How Great Thou Art". etc. The astute will pick up differences in the language - but to many they're all just old hymns.

Your increasing ethnic communities brings some interesting challenges in itself. It looks to me like the Polish teens and young adults are almost experiencing now the sense of freedom and possibility that Western ones did in the 1980s.

[High Peak]

Indeed. I think that this is something with most liturgy-geeks seem to miss: no matter what the theological back-story is, people like singing hymns, for all sorts of reasons connected to their own spirituality. If Catholicism had some other mechanism for addressing this spiritual need, then we would not have it loaded onto the Mass. But we don't anymore - in the Western world, the days of many people attending Mass and other devotions at a different time are gone for most.

I can't disagree with you. But I see part of my role as being educative. I try to meet the assembly "where they are at" but also try to broaden their horizons - move them forward. In truth, I am moving myself forward, as well.

For example, we recently introduced processionals using John Ainslie's commendable work. We started with the Entrance Processional on Laetare Sunday, since the incipit of the Antiphon lends its name to the Day, but more commonly use the Communion Processional. At present we use it only every second Mass that we play; ie once a month. The response from the congregation can be characterised as, "Well, it's different, but it's rather nice." This from a group comprised of guitars, flutes and a mandolin - though the other Mass, which has an organist, has done the same with a similar reception from the congregation.

I've only been in my ministry for three years or so, but I have come to the conclusion that we have to challenge some of the preconceptions of those that we serve; that our role as liturgists can very much be catechetical.

[JW]

I have come to the conclusion that we have to challenge some of the preconceptions of those that we serve; that our role as liturgists can very much be catechetical.

We need to be careful about how we 'educate' others. What is good practice now may not be good practice in 20 year's time. When I was a lad, Latin introits and Missa de Angelis were all the rage at Mass, with set hymns for Benediction and a Marian hymn to end a Rosary. By the 70's it was the so-called 'folk masses', which were basically hymn sandwiches with dodgy fillings. In 80's it was the Peruvian Gloria and other paraphrased Mass Settings, plus hymns from the St Louis Jesuits and others. In the 90's and 00's it was Mass Settings like 'Celtic', Mass of Creation, with Laudate as the hymnbook of choice. Now we have Mass settings for the New Translation and some parishes introducing antiphons instead of hymns. Of course, change is necessary and inevitable. And therefore we have to be aware that some of what we are doing now will be considered inappropriate in a generation's time.

I played at a Mass & Anointing of the Sick last Saturday and deliberately kept to old favourite hymns (Come Holy Ghost, In bread we bring you, Soul of my Saviour and Hail Queen of Heaven). The singing by these extremely frail and elderly folk was far more robust than we get at most Sunday Masses!

The problem with antiphonal chants, as with the Responsorial Psalm, is that people are reluctant to sing unless they are very familiar with the tune. If people do not sing at Mass, then as music ministers we are not serving them. We ignore this at our peril. I have known people move to another Mass time, others to another parish, because they don't like the music. It might even be one of several reasons they stop attending altogether.

There is a more lengthy and quite balanced discussion of these issues here: http://www.hprweb.com/2015/08/the-great-catholic-music-debate/