Category: Lumen Christi Missal

It’s that time of year again.

Parishes all across the country are faced with the annual decision of whether to cancel their disposable missal subscriptions, or to renew it again “for just one more year”. 

Almost everyone knows that these subscription missals are not only of extremely poor quality – often getting beaten up, dogeared, and virtually torn apart by regular use in a matter of months – but that they are also at least 75% more costly to their parishes than permanent, dignified, long-lasting books for the pews.

Why do 3 out of 4 parishes continue to participate in this cycle of waste, degradation of the liturgy, and disrespect for the Word of God and the liturgical texts? The latest mailer from the leading disposable missal publisher makes the case very compellingly for why the majority of parishes today choose disposable liturgy.

Firstly, one of the most striking and utterly ironic features of this mailer – recently sent out to every parish in the country – is that it is very attractive: It is glossy, in full color, and printed on heavyweight paper. It is eight pages long and has very little text on each page, featuring instead a substantial amount of beautifully printed photography. The irony in this brochure is that the quality of this advertisement, which is instantly bound for parish trash cans after a single glance, is ten times the quality of the annual newsprint publications which it is promoting. Perhaps it is not ironic at all, but instead is a clever bit of marketing. Holding this beautiful, heavyweight promotional booklet certainly creates the illusion of quality products.

Next, we find the most important selling point, seemingly seeking to instill fear into the minds and souls of pastors: What if your needs change? How will you respond?

The pitch continues with the repetition of several key words and points that highlight the benefits of disposable missal programs: diversity, confidence, changing needs, fresh, flexibility, versatile, evolving, etc., etc. 

Let us ask ourselves for a moment – are these the words that should be used to describe the liturgy of Catholic Church? 

For each of them we can find a counterpart that better describes the true nature of the Church’s liturgical worship: universality, stability, catechesis and formation, timelessness, tradition, common to all, constant, etc.

Which words better describe the authentic nature of the liturgy to you?

Continuing on, the main selling point in this pamphlet couldn’t be more clear than the narrative found on the first page:

“Having a missal program that adapts to your changing needs, celebrates faith with an unmatched repertoire, and keeps you confident – knowing you always have the latest approved texts and music in hand – is invaluable.” (Emphasis as in original).

“Invaluable” is perhaps one way to put it. “Exorbitantly expensive” is another.

What might be helpful to pastors and music directors in assessing the true value of these products is a simple cost analysis between the leading disposable missal program and the leading permanent missal for the pew. This is simply an objective, dollars-and-cents comparison, apart from any means of instilling emotional or psychological distress.

A typical parish might maintain a subscription of 500 copies of the leading disposable missal program. The hard, published cost of this is $3,775.00 per year plus an annual shipping charge of approximately $800 per year. The total cost for this parish per year for this subscription is $4575.00.

This price is certainly lower than the cost of virtually any hardbound book, and it surely can be an attractive number when considering only the limits of a strapped annual budget.

But it is not the first year that breaks the bank for parishes. It is the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth… the tenth, even more.

After just three years, this parish will have spent $13,725.00, and will nothing to show for it other than the necessity of having to renew a costly subscription for yet another year. After 10 years of this, the total cost will be at an astonishing $45,750.00!

Over at Corpus Christi Watershed, Richard Clark shares a reflection on a few recent Archdiocesan liturgies in Boston, one of which included singing the Propers of the Mass.

He wrote:

We sang the Introit, Offertory and Communion propers including settings by Adam Bartlett from the Lumen Christi Missal. These were included in the worship aids, so after a verse or two, the congregation began to sing, with more and more voices being added as the verses progressed. This was more than encouraging! In fact it was quite joyful to hear the scriptures being sung in this context.

(Emphasis as found in the original article)

I’m thrilled when I hear reports like this. Many have said that the Proper of the Mass cannot be sung by the people in the pews, or even perhaps that it shouldn’t be. My personal belief is that this is not an either/or, but a both/and situation. The schola or choir can fully exercise its role while still giving the liturgical assembly a vocal role in the singing of the proper with the right resources and the right approach to the problem.

The Lumen Christi Missal – the first installment of the Lumen Christi Series – was a solution to this problem in the case above, and many people in parishes across the nation are discovering this solution day by day.

The “Simple Gradual” of the Lumen Christi Missal can be sung by parish congregations. The settings are not merely psalm tone based. They are not “just add water”, instant gratification chants, but have enough substance to endure over time. A cantor needs to model then well, and there needs to be enough repetition for the people to learn them properly, but in a short amount of time they can be sung by everyone, young and old. Even on first hearing the people will begin to respond. Such was the case in Boston. This has been my experience, and the experience of so many others on the ground week after week.

The Lumen Christi Missal can be ordered here.

Download proper chant settings from the Lumen Christi Series for the Assumption and for the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time here.

More details will come soon on the forthcoming publications within the Lumen Christi Series. Sign up for the Illuminare Publications email list to receive updates on these new and exciting resources.

Parishes are sometimes cautious about switching from a disposable subscription missal program to a permanent one because they are confronted with an up-front price that is higher than what has been budgeted for in the current year. Additionally, pastors are sometimes concerned about saddling a parish with something for years, fearing that once the permanent resource has been purchased, it must be used for a decade or more to be worth the investment.

We are now in the final week of the Easter Season and are closing in on the great feast of Pentecost.

For Pentecost Sunday the Church gives us an optional but actual Saturday Vigil Mass (as opposed to the anticipated Mass that is often mistakenly called a “vigil”) which has a striking similarity to the Easter Vigil that took place some 50 days before.

Following is a free download of the English proper chants for the Vigil Mass of Pentecost, including the extended Responsorial Psalmody, in addition to the antiphons for the Entrance, Offertory and Communion that are proper to this liturgy:

Complete English propers for use with the Lumen Christi Missal, including the Easter Sequence in its approved English translation, set to the traditional Gregorian chant melody:

• The Lumen Christi chant in English and Latin
• The responses contained in the Exsultet
• All Responsorial Psalms for the Liturgy of the Word
• The Solemn “triple” Alleluia with sung verses from the Roman Missal
• The acclamation in the Baptismal liturgy, and English and Latin chants for the Sprinkling Rite
• Offertory and Communion antiphons with pointed Psalm verses

Cantor/Choir scores for use with the Lumen Christi Missal have been posted for Good Friday:

This score contains the following in simple English chant settings, according to the Roman Missal, Third Edition:

• Responsorial Psalm: “Father, into your hands”
• Verse Before the Gospel: (Christus factus est) with through-composed verse based upon the Gregorian original, yet simplified
• The acclamations for the Showing of the Cross from the Roman Missal
• The chants for the Adoration of the Holy Cross:
• “We adore your Cross, O Lord” (Crucem tuam), with verse
• The Reproaches in a simplified setting derived from the Graduale Romanum
• Crux Fidelis, in English, as found in the Roman Missal
• A setting of Psalm 22 (21) for use during Communion