Which seasonal missalettes do you recommend?

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I need some liturgical and musical help. I am looking for a new seasonal missal (“missalette”) for my parish. I would prefer to have hardbound Sunday missals, but it would be too expensive to purchase these plus weekday missals, and they have no printed Psalm tones.

We are currently using OCP’s “Today’s Missal.” What I like about these is the logical arrangement of the readings for Sundays and weekdays and their Psalm tones. What I don’t like are their hymns, many of which are theologically questionable or politically-reworded. Our OCP “Music Issue” hymnals are being replaced by the hardbound St. Michael Hymnal, but presently they do not print a missal.

In the past, I have used “We Celebrate” (J.S. Paluch) and “Celebrating the Eucharist” (Collegeville Press). The latter had a rather confusing layout at the time. However, as with all such publications, these are not the same today as they were twenty years ago. What other pew missals are available which are easy to follow, have well-written Psalm tones, and if they have music, hymns that are theologically orthodox and easy to sing?
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
I need some liturgical and musical help. I am looking for a new seasonal missal (“missalette”) for my parish. I would prefer to have hardbound Sunday missals, but it would be too expensive to purchase these plus weekday missals, and they have no printed Psalm tones.

We are currently using OCP’s “Today’s Missal.” What I like about these is the logical arrangement of the readings for Sundays and weekdays and their Psalm tones. What I don’t like are their hymns, many of which are theologically questionable or politically-reworded. Our OCP “Music Issue” hymnals are being replaced by the hardbound St. Michael Hymnal, but presently they do not print a missal.

In the past, I have used “We Celebrate” (J.S. Paluch) and “Celebrating the Eucharist” (Collegeville Press). The latter had a rather confusing layout at the time. However, as with all such publications, these are not the same today as they were twenty years ago. What other pew missals are available which are easy to follow, have well-written Psalm tones, and if they have music, hymns that are theologically orthodox and easy to sing?
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I’m not sure where you live, but you might be cautious about “buying” missalettes at present, due to the substantial changes coming in the English language version of the Novus Ordo, along with th necessary changes to music (for the Gloria, etc.).

For the time being, you could do what our parish does, and print the necessary hymns and prayer (responses) for each weekend…taking care to fulfill the necessary copyright considerations.
 
for bilingual parishes I prefer Celebremos because the Spanish and English are side by side, much easier to follow especially for bilingual celebrations such as holy days, or for parishioners who attend a Mass in other than their usual language. It also has more of the hymns we use here, that might not be true for your parish. The type size is also a bit larger than the same missalette by that company (Paluch, I think).

I think OP is looking for disposable seasonal books, not permanent hard bound versions.
 
I am looking for disposable missals at the moment, and we don’t have a Spanish-speaking community in my parish. Any seasonal missals will have the changes for their Advent issues, plus our hardbound hymnals, which will be ready this summer, will have updated Mass parts. We are a very small parish and printing weekly programs isn’t economically feasible.
 
I would go with the one that consistently prints the hymns your parish uses, the psalm responses and try to bundle the purchase with other resources from the same company to save money. The other content is going to be pretty much the same. Some missalettes have the antiphons for the daily propers, some don’t so look for that, too. The Paluch versions seem to have more traditional hymns including even a few latin ones.
 
I would recommend the Vatican II hymnal, instead of the seasonal misslettes.

The VII hymnal will be released very soon.
 
Without question, the WLP/JS Paluch are the best choice. They have many traditional hymns and contemporary songs. They are very carefully selected for singability and for appropriate lyrics. There are many new hymns that are beautiful, both musically and lyrically/theologically. They are also less expensive than OCP, which tends to cater to a more multicultural and popular-style music audience. WLP’s Seasonal Missalette comes out five times a year. While it is a great resource, you may want more songs than the ones provided there. Your St. Michael Hymnal will probably work well with it. The difference between *Seasonal Missalette *and the *We Celebrate *missal is basically the amount of music. Seasonal Missalette is a standalone missal/hymnal; We Celebrate has separate hymnal and missal. So We Celebrate missal would have newer hymns and music for seasonal services in it; not much in terms of basic hymns and songs. Seasonal Missalette would give you a larger breadth of music; you’d need to determine whether your St. Michael Hymnal has enough contemporary-style music in it to satisfy your parish. WLP also publishes Word and Song, an annual missal/hymnal, but it will be worn out by year’s end. If you are looking for multicultural music from WLP, they also offer Cerebremos! (bilingual) as well as the Missalito Parroquial insert for the We Celebrate missal.
 
Seasonal Missalettes were meant to be a temporary fix when the language of the mass changed to the vernacular. They’ve now become a cash cow for publishers, and–as another poster mentioned–a part of the inclusivity & political-correctness machine, tampering with the language of the Trinity & watering down the theology contained in sacred music.

My best recommendation would be the hymnal from ILP - the Saint Augustine Hymnal. It has the best music, the soundest theology, and the best price. They have hardcover and softcover hymnals, with or without readings. Even the softcover (subscription) one is good for three years. A missalette ships 12 times in three years. Ouch.

That’s my two cents!
 
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