Music & Liturgy
Music & Liturgy is the journal of the Society of St Gregory and is published three times a year.
Music & Liturgy is a pastoral resource for those who serve the Liturgy of the Church. It seeks to contain articles of interest to those who are beginners in ministry, as well as to those with more experience, whose interests may also be more academic or scholarly.
- Basic introductions to the liturgy
- Reflections on liturgical ministry and contemporary issues
- Liturgical news from the Church in the United Kingdom
- Reviews of books, articles, research, recordings, music and liturgical resources
- Planning the Liturgy – a resource for those who prepare the Liturgy, providing musical suggestions, intercessions and commentary on the Liturgy and the Scriptures for Sundays and major feasts in the Roman Catholic calendar.
Some articles are free to view. For others, you will need to become a member of the Society of St Gregory.
Music & Liturgy (Vol.50 No.3) October 2024
Summer School 2024 reports
The Worshipping Community at the Heart of Mission – David McLaughlin
A Christmas Night Vigil – Adrian Porter sj
New Music: When Christ was born of Mary free – Magnus Graham
Sound Reflections: Lectionary Changes and Resources – Paul Inwood
Translating the Bible – Nicholas King sj
Marking Time: the Liturgy of Cremation – Kevin McGinnell
If It Itches – Allen Morris
Review: Bible Translation and the Making of the ESV Catholic Edition (Mark Giszczak) – Adrian Porter sj
Review: Shaping the Assembly: How Our Buildings Form Us in Worship (ed. Thomas O’Loughlin) – John Ainslie
Review: The Revised English Hymnal – John Kitchen
CD Review: The Season of Advent (Pluscarden Abbey) – Margaret Truran osb
CD Review: Sancte Paule Apostole (Old St Paul’s Episcopal Church) – Dan Divers
The Last Word – Gemma Simmonds cj
Annual Report and Accounts 2024
Preparing the Liturgy (Advent 2024 to Palm Sunday 2025)
Music & Liturgy (Vol.50 No.2) July 2024
Music & Liturgy Reader Survey
Mgr Kevin McGinnell – an appreciation – Mary Rouse
The cross our hope – Brian Ching csc
So great a work: Together in Christ – Allen Morris
Sound reflections: The role of music – Paul Inwood
In a word: De profundis – Matthew Conroy
Feeding the fig tree: Sharing ministries across communities – Sue Price
Marking time: the funeral rites – Kevin McGinnell
Reading at Mass – Kevin Hartley
Review: Lumen Christi (Westminster Cathedral Choir) – Dan Divers
Review: How to make your choir sound awesome (Lucy Hollins & Suzie Vango) – Kim Edgar
Review: Macmillan on chant (Sir James Macmillan) – Adrian Porter sj
Review: Do this in memory of me (Peter Coughlan) – Ann Blackett
SSG Composers’ Group – Alan Smith
Music & Liturgy (Vol.50 No.1) March 2024
Dei verbum: Revelation re-visited – David McLoughlin
Gaudium et spes: Joy and hope – Claire Ozanne
Enlarging the space of our tents – Avril Baigent
Liturgy is liminal – John Ainslie
Sound reflections: Using recorded music in church – Paul Inwood
So great a work: Making us blessing for the church – Allen Morris
Marking time: Cremation in the Catholic funeral rites – Kevin McGinnell
Review: Words without alloy, a biography of the Lectionary (Paul Turner) – Paul Moynihan
Review: Be renewed, a guide to the sacrament of reconciliation (Paul Turner) – Paul Moynihan
The last word: at Turvey, Good Friday 2023 – Ann Blackett
Music & Liturgy (Vol.49 No.3) November 2023
Summer school 2023 report
Roman memories – John Ainslie
The collects of advent – Adrian Porter sj
Desiderio desideravi and seminary formation – Timothy Menezes
So great a work: The instituted ministries of lector and acolyte – Allen Morris
Whither Our Lady of Walsingham? – Helen Murphy
Letting liturgy do the work – Sue Price
Revised lectionary 2024 – Ann Blackett
Marking time: a time to die – Kevin McGinnell
Sound reflections: to chant or not to chant? – Paul Inwood
The last word: liturgy and symbolism – Gemma Simmonds
SSG annual report and accounts 2023
Music & Liturgy (Vol.49 No.2) June 2023
Desiderio desideravi – Andrew Cameron-Mowat sj
The art of celebrating as the people of God – Paul Turner
Desiderio desideravi in parish formation – Allen Morris
Desiderio desideravi: Symbols in the liturgy – Martin Foster
Feeding the fig tree – Sue Price
William Byrd: an appreciation – Helen Murphy
Marking time: Sunday – Kevin McGinnell
Sound reflections: sixty years on – Paul Inwood
Obituary: Michael Hodgetts
Obituary: Sebastian Wolff osb
The last word: Signs of God’s presence – Gemma Simmonds
Music & Liturgy (Vol.49 No.1) February 2023
Taking liturgy seriously 2 – The Eucharist
In shape: the long and the short of it – Frances Novillo
Marking time: Lent – Kevin McGinnell
Sound reflections – Pitching it right – Paul Inwood
Crichton Lecture 2022: Interpreted by love – Liturgical formation and pariticpation in the light of Desiderio Desideravi – Cardinal Arthur Roche
Review: Lent in 50 Moments (Liam Kelly) – Kevin McGinnell
Music & Liturgy (Vol.48 No.3) October 2022
Summer school 2022 – Louise Wilkinson & Helen Jones
Liturgy and dialogue – Thomas O’Loughlin
Reflections: pilgrimage – Helen Murphy
When do we get the chalice back? – Allen Morris
In shape: liturgical time – Frances Novillo
So great a work: Responding to death and bereavement – Allen Morris
Sound reflections: Liturgical formation for liturgical musicians – Paul Inwood
Marking time: pilgrims through time – Kevin McGinnell
The last word: the passing of an era – Gemma Simmonds
Annual report and accounts 2022
Music & Liturgy (Vol.48 No.2) June 2022
The God who speaks through music – Bob Hurd
Reflections of a new Catholic – Helen Murphy
The season of creation – John Woodhouse & Rebekah O’Keeffe
So great a work: What to do when the rites just aren’t right – Allen Morris
Take note: the harmonic series – Allen Smith
Sound reflections: Cause for joy! – Paul Inwood
In shape: Liturgy in a secular context – Frances Novillo
Marking time: Holy days and holidays – Kevin McGinnell
Obituary: Pauline Clarke
In a word: S is for synod – Helen Murphy
The last word: the song of Mary – Gemma Simmonds
Music & Liturgy (Vol.48 No.1) January 2022
The institution of ministers (the Crichton Lecture 2021) – Paul Turner
So great a work: responding to sickness – Allen Morris
Sound reflections: varying standards, varying perceptions – Paul Inwood
In shape: threads and feeds, taking care of online ministry – Frances Novillo
Marking time: the challenges of the homily – Kevin McGinnell
In a word: Alleluia – Helen Murphy
Obituary: James Leachman osb
The last word: transcendance and meaning – Gemma Simmonds
Music & Liturgy (Vol.47 No.3) September 2021
Refresh, renew, re-engage: Rediscovering parish life in a post-pandemic world – Sarah Adams
Sensing the sacred and where we find it (the Crichton Lecture 2020) – Fleur Dorrell
Things forgotten and remembered – Alan Griffiths
Take note: the music of the spheres – Alan Smith
Sound reflections: Finding a balance – Paul Inwood
So great a work: the pastoral care of the sick – Allen Morris
In shape: space and distance – Frances Novillo
The last word: mysterium fidei – Alan Griffiths
Annual report and accounts 2021
Music & Liturgy (Vol.47 No.2) June 2021
Church and music: texts and contexts – Martin Barry
From lament to praise – Kathryn Turner
History of a liturgical blog – Allen Morris
Let us dream: inspiring, challenging, changing – Lynne Baron
Taking liturgy seriously: course outline
So great a work: the sacrament of reconciliation – Allen Morris
Review: Sing the Psalms Festively (John Ainslie) – Peter Ollis
Sound reflections: new adjustments – Paul Inwood
In shape: household – Frances Novillo
Marking time: the universal prayer – Kevin McGinnell
Obituary: Eugenio Costa sj
The last word: managing the Mass – Alan Griffiths
Music & Liturgy (Vol.47 No.1) January 2021
Fratelli tutti – Alan Griffiths
London Jesuit Centre: a new beginning for an old apostolate – Adrian Porter sj
Liturgy in lockdown – Julie-Ann Gylaitis, Jo Shepherd, John Kelly, Mary Ryan and Patricia Rumsey
So great a work: confirming baptism – Allen Morris
Antisemitism and the reproaches – Allen Morris
Sound reflections: hope in the future – Paul Inwood
In shape: time passes – Frances Novillo
Marking time: votive Masses and Masses for various needs – Kevin McGinnell
Reflections on beauty – Helen Murphy
Review: Eating Together, Becoming One (Thomas O’Loughlin) – Peter Harrison
Review: Beyond the Altar (John Ainslie) – Alan Griffiths
The last word: statues, protest, the past and its presences – Alan Griffiths
Music & Liturgy (Vol.46 No.3) September 2020
Hidden treasures of an ordinary Sunday – Paul Turner
Is there antisemitism in the new testament? – Allen Morris
A reflection on Benedict XVI’s Verbum Domini (2010) – Kevin Hartley
Resources for disconnected times – Kathryn Turner
Sound reflections: the new normal – Paul Inwood
In shape: remembrance, reconciliation and recovery – Frances Novillo
Reflection on ministry – Andrew Elliott
Take note: aspects of musical notation – Alan Smith
Marking time: the disruption of covid – Kevin McGinnell
So great a work: supporting families and baptising infants – Allen Morris
The last word: statues, protest, the past and its presences – Alan Griffiths
SSG Annual report and accounts 2020
Music & Liturgy (Vol.46 No.2) May 2020
Don’t let’s start again too quickly! – Paul Inwood
Joy in the liturgy – Paul Turner
Liturgy in isolation – Frances Novillo
On the feast of the assumption – Kevin McGinnell
The God who speaks through song – David McLoughlin
In shape: legacy – Frances Novillo
Antisemitism in the old testament – Allen Morris
Sound reflections: ministry means first of all listening – Paul Inwood
So great a word: living from Christ, living from the liturgy – Allen Morris
Marking time: the experience of livestreaming liturgy – Kevin McGinnell
In a word: alleluia
The last word: pandemic liturgy – Alan Griffiths
Music & Liturgy (Vol.46 No.1) February 2020
SSG 90th anniversary pilgrimage to Rome – Jeni Burridge
Quo vadis? (Crichton Lecture 2019) – Kevin McGinnell
Sound reflections: the chants between the readings (2) – Paul Inwood
In shape: spiritual vocabulary – Frances Novillo
Marking time: seasons and feasts – Kevin McGinnell
So great a work: initiating adults to Christian faith and life (2) – Allen Morris
Sunday Mass in Rio Maior, Portugal – Laura Marques
Obituary: Anthony Boylad
The last word: original sin – Alan Griffiths
Music & Liturgy (Vol.45 No.3) October 2019
Church and composers, words and sounds – Arthur Roche
Singing the psalm: common psalms – Martin Foster
Lead us not into translation – Martin Foster
Marked by the cross – Peter Brignall
Obituary: John Michael East – John Ainslie
Sunday Mass in Hobart Tasmania – Brian Nichols
In shape: am I allowed? – Frances Novillo
Singing the psalm: lyrical psalms vs. psalm tone – Martin Foster
Sound reflections: getting the right stress – Paul Inwood
Marking time: rogation and ember days – Kevin McGinnell
Psalms and their numbering – John Ainslie
So great a work: initiating adults to Christian faith and life (1) – Allen Morris
Review: The ABC of a Medieval Church (Martin Renshaw) – Helen Murphy
The last word: scriptures as liturgical conversation – Alan Griffiths
SSG Annual report and accounts 2019
Music & Liturgy (Vol.45 No.2) September 2019
A History of the Society of St Gregory in its 90th Year
Beginnings 1929-1939
War and after 1939-1951
Changing times 1951-1959
The council and after 1960-1969
Life and worship 1970-1979
Looking forward 1980-1989
Revision and renewal 1990-1999
A new century
Music & Liturgy (Vol.45 No.1) June 2019
Crichton Lecture 2018: Foundations of 20th century liturgical reform and future perspectives – Paul Gunter osb
Marked with the sign of faith – Peter Brignall
Sunday Mass in Kansas City Missouri – Paul Turner
In shape: coming and going – Frances Novillo
In a word: A is for Advent – Helen Murphy
Sound reflections: the chants between the readings – Paul Inwood
Marking time: resourcing the prayer of the people – Kevin McGinnell
In a word: M is for Mozzetta – Helen Murphy
So great a work: a pastor’s view – Allen Morris
The last word: present, past and future – Alan Griffiths