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No, not every Mass. But at those “in English”….
I don’t know about you, but it was at a busy time for me, and I’ve never paid much mind to World Youth Days, and any time I did happen to turn on EWTN it sounded like a pop concert or a county fair was going on. It can be depressing. And being depressed by Catholic liturgies makes being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh [me] a reason of that hope which is in [me] more difficult, you know?
But I had forgotten reading this last spring.
Fr David Friel, (whom many of you will know from Colloquium,) has a report over at Corpus Christi Watershed to gladden the heart.

It was revolutionary. I am speaking about the music used at the major English-speaking catechesis sessions…. During the days leading up to the main weekend events with the Holy Father, WYD pilgrims attend morning & afternoon catechesis sessions…. Not surprisingly, one of the largest groups of pilgrims at every WYD comes from the English-speaking world, so there is typically one very large English catechesis center. 
Typically, these Masses feature pop concert-style praise & worship led by an on-stage band. This year, however, the preparations for these large-scale liturgies were entrusted to the Dominican Liturgical Centre in Kraków. Fr. Lukasz Misko, OP was invited to serve as Director of Music for the English-language liturgies, and he, in turn, invited fellow-blogger Christopher Mueller to serve as conductor for all of these liturgies (as he announced here). The result was an experience very different from the norm.
Notably, not a single hymn was sung during Mass. Praise & worship songs were used throughout the day at the arena, before and after Mass, but no garden variety metrical hymns or songs were sung during Mass, from the Sign of the Cross to the Final Blessing. This, in itself, is revolutionary. 
During the entrance procession, offertory, communion, and recessional, a variety of musical forms were used. Most of the music at these points were responsorial texts written in four parts. A Gregorian alleluia and the Pater noster were chanted each day, and the first piece during communion each day was in Gregorian plainsong. The polyphonic pieces included: Jesu, Rex admirabilis (G.P. Palestrina), Anima Christi (Stefan Stuligrosz), Lift Me Up, O Jesus (Jacek Sykulski), In Te, Domine, speravi (Hans Leo Hassler), Per Crucem Tuam (Piotr Palka), Salve, Mater Misericordiae (arr. Mueller), Adoremus in aeternum (Gregorio Allegri), and Totus tuus (Msgr. Marco Frisina).
The Mass setting used each day was the Missa Orientalis by Jacek Sykulski. This was sung in four parts, and the text (interestingly for the English-language catechesis center) was in Latin.
On the final day of catechesis, Chris and his wife, Constanza, led a breakout session entitled: “How to Promote Polyphony and Chant at Your Parish.” For many of the pilgrims, this was their first experience of chant and polyphony. One hopes that some of them have been energized to learn more and to bring the music of the Church back to their parishes….
This sea change is not insignificant. It means that the project of advocating truly sacred music within the present liturgical movement is bearing practical fruit. Even three years ago, at WYD 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, no one would have expected what transpired at the Mercy Centre in Kraków.
That the Dominican Liturgical Centre was placed in charge of the English-language liturgies is an enormously important step. That Christopher Mueller was selected to serve as conductor is equally important. These surprising choices would not have been possible some years ago. What graced decisions they turned out to be! 

Read the rest over there. Me, I’m going to go see what I can scare up on Youtube, etc.
Reason for our hope!

As the new parish year is about to begin, I thought I would mention again my recent booklet published by WLP, Hymn Tune Introits: Singing the Sundays of the Liturgical Year.

Many pastors are aware of the benefits of “singing the Mass,” as opposed to simply singing at Mass. The Church opens the Scriptures to us in many ways at the liturgy, not only through the lectigh onary, but with particular generosity through the Propers of the Mass.

Over the last decade the Church in the United States has experienced an historically important publishing explosion in English-language versions of the Propers for use at Mass for the benefit of the People of God. While the Graduale remains the gold standard for singing the Propers, composers such as Paul Ford, Richard Rice, Adam Bartlett, and many others have worked out ways to bring the Proper texts closer to the people, making these wonderfully rich texts available for choir and/or congregational singing. Ben Yanke maintains an enormous database with links of these resources for singing the Propers.

The Hymn Tune Introits go one step further, making the Entrance Antiphon of the day accessible to every congregation in the English-speaking world. 

Every congregation knows at least one Long Meter hymn tune. And every text in this entire book can be sung to that tune.

If a parish knows All People That on Earth Do Dwell, they can sing each of these texts to that tune. They work equally well with the tunes for Creator of the Stars of Night, or Jesus Shall Reign. Or On Jordan’s Bank, Lift Up Your Heads, O Sun of Justice, When I Survey–many others. A lack of musical resources is therefore no obstacle for any parish.

Experience shows that the introduction of Propers can be unsettling for congregations, for two reasons. First, it offers something new, which always causes some initial resistance. Secondly, and this is important, it takes away something the congregation is used to. Of course, the point is precisely the opposite: making the riches of the Mass available to the congregation–but it will not be perceived that way initially, and this is the pastoral problem that the Hymn Tune Introits are designed to solve. Congregations that are accustomed to singing a hymn to begin the Mass, and would be unsettled by any chanted Proper, may much more readily make that transition by singing something that sounds just like a familiar hymn.

Imagine it is Sunday morning, and time for Mass to begin. The organ begins to play, the Entrance Procession begins, and as the musical introduction reaches its conclusion, the people think, “Oh, I know that song!” They pick up their worship leaflets and find the Entrance Chant, and without any rehearsal or fumbling they sing it straight through. The ministers have reached the altar, the organist improvises as the altar is venerated, and the priest reaches his chair.

Alternatively, imagine that a parish that is poor, and between organists, is ready to begin Mass. Someone designated as cantor, or the priest, sings out the first line of the Hymn Tune Introit. Once again, everyone “knows this song,” and all join in.

A “contemporary ensemble” of guitar/piano would have equal success.

For too long, the People of God have been deprived of some of their rightful meditations: those provided for them in the Proper texts of the Mass. I’m happy to be involved in some small way in helping to spread this banquet of the Word of God for the nourishment of all.

The choir’s album Cantate Domino won in the category of Choral Recording of the Year.

From the Common of Pastors

Holy confessor of the Lord eternal,

whose feast the people through the earth are singing,

joyfully merits to ascend in triumph

to hidden heavens

Righteous and prudent, humble, chaste, and sober,

calm through the hours and days of earthly living,

such was his manner while the mortal spirit

livened his members.

So now our chorus on this day sings gladly,

chanting this hymn of praises in his honor,

that by his merits we may be supported

throughout the ages.

To Him be strength and honor and salvation

who dwells above the highest peaks of heaven,

God, one and triune, governing the vastness

Of the creation.

One of the very practical efforts that might be made during the Year of Mercy is providing resources for simply the mechanics of going to Confession. (A simple and good guide may be found here.)

Although fortunately many parishes already have thriving use of this wonderful sacrament, in many places it might not be used as frequently as possible. There are a number of possible reasons for this (I’ve written about some of them here and here).

But I think another reason that people don’t go is that they simply don’t know how.

We professional Catholic types can forget how important it feels to regular folks in the pews to just not do anything wrong at Mass. As an example, I remember my first time going to Mass at a Dominican priory that has wooden seats that flip up, and feeling very self-conscious about how loudly they would slam if I made a mistake about lifting or setting mine down. A lot of people are probably like that in church, just wanting to do “the right thing” without disturbing the peace.

Imagine having the weight of this kind of fear of making a mistake, when considering approaching the sacrament of Confession, in addition to the normal inertia having to do with admitting sins, and everyone’s busy weekend schedules, and everything else that impedes frequent reception. Months and even years might pass, with God’s people carrying needlessly heavy burdens.

Fortunately this particular issue is very easy to fix. Most parish priests have already coached people through the process of going to Confession, both with schoolchildren and with adults entering the Church through RCIA. It wouldn’t take much to adapt the written resources to be referred to parish-wide in the bulletin, or to make an RCIA discussion into a homily where the benefits of Confession are discussed and the steps of going to Confession are outlined.

It might even be nice to have an “open house” for the confessionals, so folks could see the placement of chairs and screens, before attempting to go on their own. And written resources for examinations of conscience and the order of the sacrament are highly useful to have available.

It would be wonderful if in the Year of Mercy every barrier that gets in the way of sacramental reconciliation were removed as much as possible, so that people could avail themselves of the beautiful graces of this sacrament of mercy.