Your Favorite Modern Mass Setting?

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What’s your favorite modern Mass setting?

One of my favorites is Stephen Janco’s Mass of the Angels and Saints.
 
Mass of the Angels and Saints is the one that they use at my parish, It sounds really cool with brass and tympani, so I’d say that’s also my favorite MODERN Mass setting,
 
It would have to be “A Community Mass”. The words are unchanged and the setting can be sung with or without the organ. Of course, all of this will be moot now that the new translations have been approved. No more Mass of Creation and no more poetic license with the actual texts of the Mass. Thank God for Liturgiam Authenticam.
 
Mass of Reconciliation --which at my parish is the Ordinary Time setting we use at every mass except for the Agnus Dei which is Jubilate Deo.

Jubilate Deo (in Latin) – which at my parish is the Advent/Christmas Season and Lent/Easter Season setting.
 
Somerville’s (New) Good Shepherd Mass

Easy to learn, easy to sing, no paraphrasing.
 
benedictgal said:
It would have to be “A Community Mass”. The words are unchanged and the setting can be sung with or without the organ. Of course, all of this will be moot now that the new translations have been approved. No more Mass of Creation and no more poetic license with the actual texts of the Mass. Thank God for Liturgiam Authenticam.
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From what I heard, Haugen is reworking the Mass of Creation to fit with the new translations.
 
Joannm said:
From what I heard, Haugen is reworking the Mass of Creation to fit with the new translations.
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Please God no… :gopray2: Lord, have mercy on us all…

The mere thought of the “Mass of Creation” still existing in five years time makes me want to cut my own head off with a rusty spoon. :bighanky:

Still, perhaps Mr. Haugen can do a better job of *sticking to the actual texts *this time round so the setting is at least licitly awful rather than awfully illicit. Considering he’s a member of the United Church of Christ, though, I’m not particularly hopeful about this.
 
Joannm said:
From what I heard, Haugen is reworking the Mass of Creation to fit with the new translations.
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That is a scary thought. However, I do not think that this will work out since he has to stick to the text. Liturgiam Authenticam does not allow for deviation of the text. Even Cardinal Arinze noted as much in the letter he sent accompanying the new translations.

I am curious as to what Bob Hurd is going to do. He has a double whamy since he is not even following Liturgiam Authenticam for the Spanish versions of the parts of the Mass. Why don’t people call OCP and GIA to task for their failure in obeying LA?
 
benedictgal said:
Why don’t people call OCP and GIA to task for their failure in obeying LA?
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Plenty of PEOPLE are critical of both the abuses and the bad taste of the Kumbaya Publishers. The question is, why do so many pastors buy their garbage, and why do so many bishops allow it? The answer of course is that the dying vestiges of the 60s still govern much of the land.

The best music is in the public domain.
 
Good ol’ Marty Haugen. He sure takes his share of abuse for his works. Whenever we do a funeral or a wedding where we know there are people who don’t attend mass often we resort to his Mass of Creation. At least the people know it.
I attended one of his workshops a few years ago and he said that the church had so many conditions on text that he just could not write much anymore for the Catholic church. Too bad he couldn’t obey our Church’s wisdom. That’s the trouble with composers; their egos usually get the better of them. Now he writes mostly protestant stuff.
We’ve been using Bernadette Ferrell’s Mass of Hope. I’ve tried others in the Journeysongs hymnal that our Church has but it really has to be something that the people can sing from memory. It’s impossible to announce “our Eucharist Prayer song can be found on page ###…” when the Presider has just cued the song. Too awkward. I think that’s why so many just keep using MOC and other familiar Holy’s etc. At least the people will sing.
We just have to find one that satisfies the Church’s guidlines and stick to it until the assembly gets it.
Peace,
Terry
Song leader since 1972
 
One “modern” English-language Mass music setting I’ve used is the Deutsche Messe, based on works of Schubert. The Agnus Dei, however, is unusable as written because of deviations from the approved text, but it could be easily corrected. I grew up in a parish that used J.S. Paluch’s “We Celebrate” hymnals, so the Mass parts we most often used were David Kraehenbuehl’s monotonous “Danish Amen Mass,” Fr. Jan Michael Joncas’ “Sing Praise and Thanksgiving Mass,” and Edward Connor’s “Mass in Honor of Pope Paul VI.” All of these stuck to the approved texts and were fairly easy for a typical congregation to master. Pity that Paluch decided to go the inclusive language route taken by the others.
 
JPUSC said:
What’s your favorite modern Mass setting?

One of my favorites is Stephen Janco’s Mass of the Angels and Saints.
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I think we use this one for Mass on campus at college, and use the Mass of Creation at the cathedral. I will be attending Mass in my home town this evening, so it will be interesting to see which one they use.

How many Mass settings are there, and is there a way to listen to all of them online?
 
hosea said:
Good ol’ Marty Haugen. He sure takes his share of abuse for his works. Whenever we do a funeral or a wedding where we know there are people who don’t attend mass often we resort to his Mass of Creation. At least the people know it.
I attended one of his workshops a few years ago and he said that the church had so many conditions on text that he just could not write much anymore for the Catholic church. Too bad he couldn’t obey our Church’s wisdom. That’s the trouble with composers; their egos usually get the better of them. Now he writes mostly protestant stuff.
We’ve been using Bernadette Ferrell’s Mass of Hope. I’ve tried others in the Journeysongs hymnal that our Church has but it really has to be something that the people can sing from memory. It’s impossible to announce “our Eucharist Prayer song can be found on page ###…” when the Presider has just cued the song. Too awkward. I think that’s why so many just keep using MOC and other familiar Holy’s etc. At least the people will sing.
We just have to find one that satisfies the Church’s guidlines and stick to it until the assembly gets it.
Peace,
Terry
Song leader since 1972
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However, both Ferrell and Haugen are notorious for taking liberties with the text. Have you read Liturgiam Authenticam? You can find it by following this link:

adoremus.org/liturgiamauthenticam.html

Just because the faithful may know a setting, that does not justify its use if it runs contrary to the official and authoritative documents of the Holy See. Proulx’s “A Community Mass” (found in the GIA Worship III hymnal–I think you can also order it by itself) setting is faithful to the text and it has an alternative Memorial Acclamation, in this case “When we eat this bread”. In other words, you need to match up what is in the setting with the official text of the Roman Missal. If it is not there, then we should not use it.
 
Oh man. Here we go again. I’m not saying that I use Ferrell’s holy or Marty’s settings to somehow disobey the authority you site. These settings are provided in the hymnal which the music director suggested and the Pastor and Church council agreed upon. I trust the direction of my Pastor and his subordinates to provide music to us that is faithful to the authority that governs them. I am a lowly song leader. It is not my place to site links and documents that appear to expose the leaders of my parish as bad liturgists.
Are Marty and Bernadette “notorious” in *your *opinion or can you site a link or document stating that the church denounces the use of their settings? It is one thing to say we are bored with singing MOC for so long. It is quite another to accuse those composers of some sort of defiance of the Holy See.
I have even worked at Catholic Churches where the Pastor himself uses Mr. Haugen’s Mass of Creation intonations for his part in the Eucharistic prayer.
 
hosea said:
Oh man. Here we go again. I’m not saying that I use Ferrell’s holy or Marty’s settings to somehow disobey the authority you site. These settings are provided in the hymnal which the music director suggested and the Pastor and Church council agreed upon. I trust the direction of my Pastor and his subordinates to provide music to us that is faithful to the authority that governs them. I am a lowly song leader. It is not my place to site links and documents that appear to expose the leaders of my parish as bad liturgists.
Are Marty and Bernadette “notorious” in *your *opinion or can you site a link or document stating that the church denounces the use of their settings? It is one thing to say we are bored with singing MOC for so long. It is quite another to accuse those composers of some sort of defiance of the Holy See.
I have even worked at Catholic Churches where the Pastor himself uses Mr. Haugen’s Mass of Creation intonations for his part in the Eucharistic prayer.
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I am not accusing you of being disobedient, but, please look at the link I posted. Liturgiam Authenticam is an authoritative document of the Holy See. The reason this document came about was precisely because too many things in the Roman Missal have been paraphrased. Composers do not have the right to change the words of the texts of the prayers. That is why the CDWDS released the Ordinary part of the newly translated Roman Missal so that the composers can get it right this time. In fact, the CDWDS specifically stated in its letter that paraphrasing was not allowed. How much clearer can they get than that?

Hosea, if you look at the compositions of the Mass settings, they should have a copywright from ICEL for the text. I looked at Ferrel’s settings and her Sanctus and Agnus Dei do not have the ICEL copywright. Thus, the texts are hers and not ICEL’s. That should give you a good indication that someting is amiss. Haugen’s don’t have it either. By the way, Haugen is not Catholic.

What Church council are you referring to?

Incidentally, even an official at the Archdiocese of Portland, the home of OCP, agreed with me that the settings need to match the official texts of the Church. I called their divine worship office to question a badly written paraphrase of the Exultet and was told that this should not have been used in the first place.

While you say that you are a lowly songleader, you certainly do have an obligation to ensure that what is being sung at your parish meets the parameters set forth by the Church. Simply bringing this matter up to the attention of those in charge is not insubordination. It is simply being faithful to what the Church asks us to do. St. Catherine of Sienna certainly did not have any qualms about making sure that things were done correctly (even to the point of telling the Pope that he needed to get back to
Rome and that the Curia needed to start behaving), and, she was certainly not a member of the hierarchy. All too often, pastors and music leaders assume that the publishing houses have it right when, in reality, they do not. They need to do their research and not become slaves to the publishing houses. They need to do their own thinking and not let OCP or GIA do it for them.

When I have planned Masses, I never look at what the publishing houses suggest. I prefer to do my own research and follow what the Church suggests and not the whims or the trends of the publishing houses.
 
While you were posting to my reply I was reading the document. Wow. The directions are definately there. I have always felt uncomfortable using settings outside the Hymnal provided by the Church that entrusted me with song leadership. I always figured that if I use the Hymnal that was approved, paid for, and maintained by the Church which employed me, I would be safe using the settings included.
The council I was referring to is the parish council. The lay people who, under the guidance and direction of the Pastor, decide the financial decisions for the parish.
I have worked in many Churches where the music director wrote his own “Mass parts” and strongly encouraged all of the other Mass music leaders to use their settings. It has been cause for much discord in those parishes.
So I will revisit my Church’s Hymnal, Journeysongs and look for that copyright symbol you mentioned. I hope the ones with that symbol are musically pleasing. After all, music is what moves me. And as long as the words are pleasing to God and the Church (in that order of course) I hope He allows me to enjoy the music.

Thank you for the link. I hope the composers follow the excellent instructions and leave their egos behind. I hope they lose themselves and give their talents to Him Who made them.

Peace to you, my friend,
and good night,
Terry
 
The problem, as I see it, is not only the publishers but the priests, bishops and conferences who pay no attention to Liturgicam Authenticam.

The Canadian “Catholic Book or Worship III”, our official Hymnal from the CCCB, has the MOC (that Gospel Acclamation is the worst!) and nothing has ever been said against using parts of it.

Our choir recently dug out and started using the Gloria from Carey Landry’s “Young People’s Mass”. Now talk about messing with the text of the Ordinary!!
The pastor bristled when we suggested that it was inappropriate to use that.
“Are you saying that what we sang at the seminary was ‘inappropriate’?”
“Well, in a word, YES.”

This is a pastor who never genuflects, gives out Communion to EMHCs and altar servers before he consumes and everyone then consumes at the same time. The man who skips the “Prayer after Communion” on a semi-regular basis; who with the liturgy committee coordinator joked about burning my ‘Church Documents’ binder; who got angry when we referred to “Paschale Solemnitatis” for our Triduum preparation and made us ignore what it said, including “Communion at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper & on Good Friday is only from the Hosts consecrated at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper”; who saw nothing wrong with 4 of the 9 children receiving their First Communion last night from the EMHC, etc., etc., etc…

Another thing: If the choir director replies to ‘we’re not supposed to use this’ with “I’m sure God doesn’t mind what we sing” once more, I think I’ll vomit.

They see no problem with using improper text now so I doubt very much that that will change with the appearance of a new translation. No, I suspect we’ll simply continue to use the hymnal we have now, with every excuse under the sun used to justify it. After all, “God doesn’t care what we sing.”:mad:
 
benedictgal said:
I am not accusing you of being disobedient, but, please look at the link I posted. Liturgiam Authenticam is an authoritative document of the Holy See. The reason this document came about was precisely because too many things in the Roman Missal have been paraphrased. Composers do not have the right to change the words of the texts of the prayers. That is why the CDWDS released the Ordinary part of the newly translated Roman Missal so that the composers can get it right this time. In fact, the CDWDS specifically stated in its letter that paraphrasing was not allowed. How much clearer can they get than that?

Hosea, if you look at the compositions of the Mass settings, they should have a copywright from ICEL for the text. I looked at Ferrel’s settings and her Sanctus and Agnus Dei do not have the ICEL copywright. Thus, the texts are hers and not ICEL’s. That should give you a good indication that someting is amiss. Haugen’s don’t have it either. By the way, Haugen is not Catholic.

What Church council are you referring to?

Incidentally, even an official at the Archdiocese of Portland, the home of OCP, agreed with me that the settings need to match the official texts of the Church. I called their divine worship office to question a badly written paraphrase of the Exultet and was told that this should not have been used in the first place.

While you say that you are a lowly songleader, you certainly do have an obligation to ensure that what is being sung at your parish meets the parameters set forth by the Church. Simply bringing this matter up to the attention of those in charge is not insubordination. It is simply being faithful to what the Church asks us to do. St. Catherine of Sienna certainly did not have any qualms about making sure that things were done correctly (even to the point of telling the Pope that he needed to get back to
Rome and that the Curia needed to start behaving), and, she was certainly not a member of the hierarchy. All too often, pastors and music leaders assume that the publishing houses have it right when, in reality, they do not. They need to do their research and not become slaves to the publishing houses. They need to do their own thinking and not let OCP or GIA do it for them.

When I have planned Masses, I never look at what the publishing houses suggest. I prefer to do my own research and follow what the Church suggests and not the whims or the trends of the publishing houses.
Click to expand...
I just looked at all the mass settings in Journeysongs. There are eight Mass settings, none of which have the ICEL copyright for the Holy. Yet the other parts, memorial acclamation etc. do have the ICEL acceptance with few exceptions. We use Ferrell’s Mass of Hope. No ICEL on her Holy but the memorial acclamation and Great Amen do have the label. We do not use her Agnus Dei which incidentally is not included in Journeysongs. Since I do not have a single Holy that has the ICEL label I do not know what the acceptable text is. All the ones in Journeysongs seem to say the same things. Ferrell does repeat in hers: Lord God of Power, Lord God of Might, Lord God of Power and might. So I’m a bit confused (as always) as to what happened. Does the ICEL renounce the redundancy or do they just not get credited with the copyright they established back in '73? I understand that the Holy See must recognize the ICEL as the preeminent author of the accepted text but does the Holy See also condemn the redundancies (not paraphrases) of ICEL’s copyrighted material?
I’m kinda stumped because I am uncomfortable using music that is not in the hymnal provided by my parish. I do not like making copies of music and handing them out at mass. I prefer to teach the assembly from the hymnals. Worship aids, as they are called, just annoy the poo out of me. Why spend thousands on hardbacked hymnals and then make 500 copies of other music each week. Seems pretty wasteful to me. I want to do what is right by the Holy See but I’m not sure how to satisfy their direction in the case of the Holy Holy Holy.
So, Benedictgal, can you give me a link that will take me to the ICEL/Holy See accepted texts for Eucharistic Prayers. I guess I could just Google it but I am coming to respect your knowledge and amazingly well-worded answers here. And what do I do if the Holy’s in my hymnal match the ICEL but just don’t have the symbol?
Thanks,
Peace,
Terry
 
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