Simony in the 21st century?

[quaeritor]

I thought I might buy the dvd introducing the new missal - but if I do it will be the most expensive dvd I have ever bought! - admittedly I don't buy many, so perhaps I am out of touch, but at £14.99 it seems to me to be clearly in the league of commercial-for-profit offerings where the "performers" have to be paid, along with everyone involved with the production while still leaving room for profit, and a bit steep for a "training" or "promotional" video.

Perhaps it's a misprint?

Just asking.

Q

[musicus]

Have you tried Amazon?

But seriously, that is very inexpensive for a training video (promotional discs are something quite different). I would have thought that it was intended for parishes or deaneries to buy and use, not individuals.

[Nick Baty]

Not on Amazon yet – I tried!

[musicus]

I was joking. I don't expect we'll see it on Amazon anytime soon.

[Nick Baty]

And why not?
They can undercut every other supplier – why not the bishops?

[JW]

The Church and ICEL seem to have a blind spot on this issue. Many layfolk minister in their churches for nothing and they have to pay for all this stuff? Unacceptable. Perhaps we all ought to charge the Church for our time. As an organist, at £40 per Sunday Mass, I'm saving my parish about £2,000 per annum, AND I contribute to the collection via bankers order. These folk have to be kidding.

[presbyter]

I would have thought that it was intended for parishes or deaneries to buy and use, not individuals.

It is so intended..... but that's not to say individuals should not buy a copy. See how it's used in your parish formation sessions first, perhaps, before deciding whether or not you would like a personal copy. The DVD in itself is not a structured formation course but a resource for such a course.

[Nick Baty]

AND I contribute to the collection via bankers order. These folk have to be kidding.

This is all to do with choices, JW, and we all make them.

I will be totally honest and admit I contribute nothing, financially, to the parish. However parish music takes up many hours which I used to use earning a crust. On the other hand, the PP nags me for not claiming the mileage, phonecalls, paper, printer toner etc.

Having said that, I disagree with myself here (oh, it's that Piccini Chianti again) as I think we really ought to claim such expenses: almost every piece of music we sing pops out of this laser printer on my desk and cartridges are around £40.

While, as Presbyter says, it's probably for the parish/deanery/pastoral area to provide such things, there's no shame in putting in a claim for a copy!

[JW]

This is all to do with choices, JW, and we all make them.

Nick, I entirely agree with you and am very happy to make those choices. I was trying and failing to make the point the the Church/ICEL don't appear to be as generous. I also sometimes wonder if the attitude of 'if it's done for free it's not very good' is out there sometimes.

On the subject of printing, paper, time spent etc, if parishes were to pay the full cost of everything, then that doesn't half push up the cost of music - possibly as much as buying the books?

[Nick Baty]

I was trying and failing to make the point the the Church/ICEL don't appear to be as generous.

ICEL has always been very good in the past. In fact, they've never charged me a penny as long a I guaranteed a print run of less than 1000. And ICET used to practically give the stuff away – very relaxed.

Remember, this is a resource disc and you don't have to buy it. While I've no idea what's on it, I recently bought such a disc for an Edexcel diploma course and it was £160. Couldn't wait to pop it in the Mac and explore – turned out be a stack of fairly boring Word docs and pdfs.

Having said that, I think this is one of those times when the Church in England & Wales wants us to have information and should, therefore, be producing something at minimal cost and passing it around. Even cheaper, the resources could have been simply uploaded to t'Internet.

[Mithras]

While, as Presbyter says, it's probably for the parish/deanery/pastoral area to provide such things, there's no shame in putting in a claim for a copy!

I have never had problems with asking - within reason - for expenses - for example, I write quite a lot of music for use in the parish - pslams, acclamations and so on and I have asked the PP to pay for my attending the study day on music for the new translation in London which he was more than happy to do. He even said that "this is where the money should be spent"! In addition I persuaded the parish priest a few years ago to invest in a music origination programme and its annual augrades, and more recently I was given money for a series of refesher lessons on the organ which have proved very valuable.