Parish Resources

You may feel free to download and reproduce these materials in any form which you find meets the needs of your diocese or parish, provided that the materials are not sold in any form. If you reproduce any of the materials as they are, you include the citation: "2010, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. If you have altered the materials, please include the citation: Based upon Roman Missal Formational Materials provided by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "2010.

Musical Settings for Parish Use

Gradual Implementation of Musical Settings
of the Order of Mass from the Roman Missal, Third Edition
May Begin in September 2011

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, USCCB President, has authorized Diocesan Bishops to permit the gradual implementation of various musical settings of the Order of Mass from the Roman Missal, Third Edition, effective September 2011.  This permission applies only to the Glory to God, the Holy, Holy, Holy, and acclamations at the Mystery of Faith (Memorial Acclamations), which are contained in most musical settings.  New musical settings of the Amen and the Lamb of God, the texts of which are not changing, can be introduced at any time.

In explaining the decision, Archbishop Gregory Aymond, Committee Chairman, wrote to the body of Bishops, “This will allow for a pro-active approach to implementation and give time for communities to learn the various parts of the new translation in a timely fashion and an even pace.” 

The Committee on Divine Worship made this recommendation to Archbishop Dolan following a discussion during the Committee’s meeting on June 13 in Seattle, Washington.  When reconsidering the implementation all at once, Committee members were also acutely aware of the difficulties of introducing the new Glory to God.  Following the implementation date, it would have been sung only once (on the Immaculate Conception) before Christmas.  Numerous requests for this change in the implementation plan had come from Bishops and diocesan worship offices.

While the change will allow for the gradual introduction of the musical settings, the change does not apply to other parts or to the acclamations when they are spoken, which will rely more heavily on printed participation aids and effective catechesis.  The gradual introduction of musical settings of the acclamations, especially the chant settings contained in the Roman Missal, will allow the faithful primarily to learn the music itself, so that it will be familiar by the time the rest of the Missal is introduced on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.  In order to accomplish this, parishes will be left to furnish on their own the necessary participation aids, keeping in mind the requisite reprint regulations for published musical settings.

Many newly-composed and revised settings of the parts of the Order of Mass are already available from publishers, and those publications include reproducible people’s parts for use in participation aids.