In another thread, Kathy (Pluth) pointed out that on the PrayTell thread noted earlier, someone mentioned that the GIRM for England and Wales has no provision for some other vernacular song to replace Mass propers. I’ve never heard this before, and had my doubts that this was true. But looking it up just now, it turns out to be true. Compare E&W GIRM to U.S. GIRM, appearing with E&W first followed by US GIRM:
Note also that The E & W GIRM makes no reference to the Missal antiphons, only those from the Gradual.
In practice in E & W the term a song from another collection of psalms and antiphons is permitted to cover the same ground as a suitable liturgical song. The bishops of England and Wales haven't thus far exercised their right to approve a repertoire of texts for singing, but they were mandated to do so (if memory serves) by Liturgiam Authenticam, and the project is in progress. It wouldn't surprise me if the resulting repertoire of texts were to include items more aptly called liturgical songs than psalms and antiphons.
How is it done in original Latin text? #4 option of US GIRM is a made-up by US bishops?
Yes, I agree with Copernicus. It also anecdotally seems (from threads at the St. Greg. Society in the UK and from Ship of Fools) that things across the pond are actually are in a more exacerbated state of decay than here in the states. YMMV.
So I gather from what Copernicus points out, it does not matter what the GIRM says: those in charge will continue to do what they want despite what the official documents state they are required to do. However, I wonder if the E&W practice is not being affected by the American practice: "If they can do it why can't we?".
@Charles: yes, sadly I agree with you. There are places as yet untouched by civilisation. It's practically unheard of for a parish to have paid musicians other than sometimes an organist; there are parishes trapped in the Low-Mass-with-junk-70s-hymns slum culture; the biggest Catholic publisher puts out substandard hymnals with asinine metrical paraphrases of the Mass Ordinary. But there are beacons of light too, from Cathedrals that preserve heritage and tradition, to ordinary parishes with something vibrant going; and organisations of every liturgical hue working hard to raise levels of formation. It's the resources question which is the insurmountable problem – it would be unthinkable for a parish to invest in a musical programme in the way that seems to be fairly common in the US.
@Ted K: those in charge includes the bishops, who have a healthy openness to diversity of practice. Their Celebrating the Mass offers a pastorally sensitive refraction of the General Instruction.
Copernicus:
It seems that all the 3 possibilities for E&W refer to Biblical texts for singing. There is no indication of substituting extra-Biblical texts as there is in the US GIRM. It does not seem pastoral to either go ahead with the American way of Biblical substitution with composed hymns nor ignore the specific mandate in any GIRM, in this case the E&W GIRM.
Since when is "Be Not Afraid" a liturgical song? I would think "liturgical" would mean "drawing its text from the liturgy." With few exceptions (sequences, office hymns) liturgical songs ARE psalms and antiphons. When "liturgical" is taken to mean "anything sung while the liturgy is simultaneously happening," then anything we choose to sing at Mass becomes liturgical. Clearly, that cannot be the case.