Responsorial Substitutions

[bigdaddyfatback]

Does anyone know how much leeway is granted for the responsorial psalms?

My own parish often uses a modified translation for singing. That bothers me as it is. Sometimes the meanings are completely changed.

But when the responsorial psalm is not in the the hymn bok at all, they just do another one that is in the book. Sometimes it doesn’t even fit with the themes of the other readings.

Isn’t this like deciding that we don’t want to do this week’s gospel reading so we are going to do another one we like better. It seems to me that the this is part of the Liturgy of the Word and it is set by a liturgical calendar. I like the idea of getting the same Scriptures proclaimed in every Catholic Church in the world on any given day. That is one of the things that makes the Church seem so catholic.

But I don’t know. Does the priest have the authority to substitute one responsorial psalm for another.

Thanks,
Chad

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Chad,

There is a little leeway, but not a lot. It must be a psalm (although some “musical license” is permitted in terms of working the passages to fit the music). The psalm of the day or a seasonal psalm must be used. Seasonal psalms are designed to reflect the spirit of the season as opposed to specifically responding to the readings of the day. Such choices may be made by the priest or, usually, are made by the music director in conjunction with the priest.

Deacon Ed

 

[puzzleannie]

there are several seasonal psalm responses that can be used, so the congregation just learns one or two, instead of a new one each week, but the lectionary itself cannot be changed (except in cases where a shorter version of a reading is permitted). New pastor in our previous parish held training for all those in service to the liturgy (trying to remedy past abuses) and made the point that those 70s & 80s folk type songs based on the psalms are okay to use as hymns but may not take the place of the responsorial psalm.