Society of Saint Gregory

Apologies for the poor spelling: in a school setting, we're too used to dealing with principals. Of course it should be "principles of good liturgy". To go back to zarlino's original post, we believe that this model is sustainable and do-able in most Catholic schools, particularly those wi...

It's particularly heartening to hear of Gregorian chant being sung at your school. Could you tell us a little more about that? God bless! The germ of the idea to set up a Schola came from a one-time surplus of teaching hours that our school had back in 2009. Sometimes these would be used for sport,...

I have been teaching RE and Music in Catholic schools in Ireland for nearly 20 years now - the past 11 years of which I've been in a great all-girls' secondary school with a strong tradition of music. I think what applies to church on Sunday morning applies right through the week too - and age shoul...

I think the concern is over whether Gregorian chant will become something like a museum piece in the history of Christian music, sung by the rare cathedral choir, or included as concert items by specialist medieval groups. Certainly much of it will go that way. But there are many gems in the Gregori...

No clapping, but when it said 'Sing a new song' I preached this: https://catholicpreacher.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/sing-a-new-song-to-the-lord/ Very apt, and a good link to Gareth Malone's work too! Too many people are put off singing by a single comment somewhere in their childhood. Regarding the ...

Rather than getting embroiled in the true/not true discussion on whether Gregorian Chant is easier than contemporary forms of church music, we really have to be looking at pieces on a case-by-case basis, along with their suitability to today's liturgy. A quick flick through (and sing through) the Li...

Our Vigil started at 9pm and finished close to 11pm. Three OT readings with their psalms; everything sung, including the preface, institution narrative and mass parts; three adult baptisms. There was a very good crowd there - numbers have been growing at our Easter Vigil recently (there seemed to ha...

The problem is that it seems to take so long before the congregation sees any distribution to them. There are eight Eucharistic ministers at each of seven masses and usually one priest and deacon and a few servers. GIRM insist that the Eucharistic ministers receive the vessels for distribution dire...

Other settings include the collection by Fintan O'Carroll (surprised Ephrem didn't mention this), and they are also in Music for Evening Prayer , originally published by Collins in 1978, now out of print but still available from the Stanbrook Abbey Bookshop ( http://stanbrookabbeybookshop.com/STANB...

Inwood's article is well-thought out. He states "Anyone who uses O Come, O Come, Emmanuel as a kind of signature tune on all four Sundays of Advent may be just as much mistaken as the priest who won’t let that hymn be used at all until December 17." Of course, the point is that this hymn w...

I understood that "O come, O come Emmanuel" was not to be sung so early in Advent. Am I mistaken? O Come Emmanuel is a metrical setting of the O Antiphons, which are sung at Vespers on the seven days preceding Christmas. However, the entire season of Advent is a time of preparation for Ch...

Yesterday morning, we had a short ceremony of blessing at the end of mass, designed by the PP. It tied in nicely with St Cecilia's Day, which was the day before. Here's the full text: Blessing of Parish Choirs, Musicians, Choir Directors and Organists Feast of St. Cecilia – Ashbourne-Donaghmore Pari...

Christmas Carol Service 2009.pdf Well, it's that time of year again when we are planning the carol service for the Catholic girls' secondary school where I teach. We've done some interesting formats in the past: one in particular told the story of the Nativity from the viewpoint of the Star of Beth...

How about "All Things Bright and Beautiful" as one of the hymns. Psalm 8 is also good, as is the Canticle of Daniel, which exhorts all creation to bless the Lord: "You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord. / All you birds of the air, bless the Lord. / All you beasts, wild ...

An excellent idea. We have been thinking of doing this in our own parish, as there are a large number of people who have been singing in choirs and music groups for years, and it would be fitting to have some form of recognition of service, as well as blessing the musicians in their work. There are ...