Updated ICEL Chant Settings

I am happy to say that the ICEL chants which will appear in the revised Roman Missal next year have been updated. A hat tip is in order to Gotta Sing, Gotta Pray. The link to the page with the ICEL chants is here.

There were numerous complaints about changing the Order of Mass after recognitio had been granted in 2008. Even so, I believe that both those who are excited about the new translation, as well as those who are apprehensive, can take heart that the chants which will appear in the Missal itself have already been amended. I recommend taking a look at the setting based on Credo III. The changes from the 2008 version to the 2010 seemed rather seemless to me.

I respect those who are troubled by this new translation. Nevertheless, I hope that they can understand my joy in the reclamation of ancient melodies for use in the modern liturgy. I hope that soon, we may not only pray, but sing, the words of the Creed together.

Issues at RCIA: What are we Supposed to Say?

My wife went through RCIA last year. Given her recent experience making the jump (or plunge) into the Church, and given my being a Catholic geek, we figured that, between the two of us, we ought to be able to help anybody with any questions they might have. Hence we decided to join up with the team this year. There's a great group, and it's great to see the people who led Danielle along last year.

Last week, when we broke up from the large group into small groups, there were questions over how to know what responses one should make in the liturgy. I thought it would be best if the group was able to have a copy of the Order of Mass, and thought it would be wonderful if there was a pdf booklet online. As it turns out, there is indeed such a pdf booklet, which may be found here!

Of course, we are soon moving into a period where even those who have been Catholics for their whole lives will need to learn these responses again. Indeed, we are already fortunate enough to have the new translation of the Order of Mass. I for one find them to be quite beautiful and generally an improvement on the previous translation (even if there are some parts that could probably be smoothed out a bit). While the new translation is certainly easy to access, it seems like it would be a great idea to put it in a booklet form as well. If anyone has done this, I would love to know. Also, we can have a challenge to make such a booklet.

Support for New Translation of the Roman Missal

This November, our bishops, and all bishops in the English speaking world who had not aready done so, gave their support to the new translation of the Roman Missal. This book contains the text of the prayers which are used during the Holy Mass.

The Latin text of the Missal was revised in 2002. Since then there have been significant delays to implementing a faithful translation of the these prayers. Some have protested implementing the new translation, even starting a petition to further obstruct the mind of the Church. It has come to my petition from Fr. Z's post, found here, that there is also a petition to avoid any further delaying tactics.

I strongly urge anyone and everyone to join in this endeavor to demand faithful translations of the Roman Missal. It is time to speak up for having our sacred patrimony revealed in all its splendor. The petition may be found here.