Society of Saint Gregory

Yes, VML, I complained about carols played on guitars. I didn't have Silent Night in mind, which we usually do give to the guitarist - the 'Folk Group' at our 2nd Mass of Christmas play O Come all ye Faithful and O Little Town of Bethlehem on guitars and I really think it's a horrible experience. Bl...

So oopsorganist's parish has two cribs but only one Jesus - how does that work? Does one crib remain vacant? As we enjoyed the third carol of our pre-night mass carol service the co-ordinator of readers snuck up behind me and said " you might have to stick an extra carol in, we've lost the baby...

[quote="pirate"]'a lady had phoned up saying she'd like to play the organ for the Christmas Day Mass'. Apparently she has played for 40 years and didn't want to break the tradition. So... I was a tad apprehensive, but made myself think of it as a possible gift; after all the person who was...

Is your P.P. kosher? Well, he'd probably rather we didn't have any music in church at all, ever! I may be slightly exaggerating, but certainly I have difficulty in persuading people in church to keep hold of the thought of Christmas for 12 days, however conscientious they are in not taking their ho...

So it begins on 17th December - perhaps. When does it end? Is my PP the only one who wonders why I still want to be singing carols on the Sunday after Christmas?

In my parish we have to suffer two versions of 'Midnight Mass', one at 6.30 pm and another at 9.00 - and the 9.00 is catered for by the Sunday Evening happy-clappy music group who actually do perform carols to guitars (I've heard tales, but wouldn't go if it was the only Mass taking place in the ent...

Lovely thought - but it would be a very poorly supported 2nd collection in my parish (and I'd have to do a lot more practising)

Some of the members of this forum are putting our feet up now after celebrating a Mass today at St Chad's Cathedral, for those involved Church Music from throughout the Archdiocese of Birmingham. 400+ parish musicians from south Oxfordshire to North Staffordshire came along, to hear encouragement a...

On balancing thick books, the ones I find a pain are the big Kevin Mayhew instrumental selections. I end up using a closed volume of Laudate each side to keep it open in the right place. For hymn books which open flat, a big blob of blu-tak either side is enough to stop the pages wafting over. A ki...

I usually play for about 15-20 minutes as people gather, pausing between pieces. I stop altogether two to three minutes before mass begins, the silence that follows is deepened as a result. I’m never completely at ease with organ voluntaries. They’re often obstructive of private devotion and ca...

To be sure, shaking hands with your wife/husband would seem strange - but for a few years in our church people hugged and kissed one another so abundantly that reserved types like myself had no alternative but to hide behind a pillar. Thank God it's toned down under the present PP, a much less chari...

Has anyone used ever As if you were not there? which is another one that is very challenging. Yes, we use that one as well - sparingly - and both get comments occasionally from the congregation (not known for any response at all, our congregation) I guess you'll find John Bell's shoes are 'fair tra...

We use it (sparingly) in our parish - and it always moves someone. In fact just this week we included it in a liturgy commissioning the Diocesan Youth Team for a mission in some of our high schools. But these are indeed words which give people problems; the first time I came across it, at a Summer S...