In NPM’s latest issue of Pastoral Music Notebook, Ginny Miller asks about this preparation tack for the new missal:
How might the various dialogues and new settings of the memorial acclamation be used in other parish gatherings as we prepare for the missal (for example, as opening of parish meetings, blessings, and similar uses)?
You know, the implementation of the Mysterium Fidei (and the rest of the Missal) is still over a year away, but the texts themselves are solid liturgical pieces. Nothing’s preventing using music for these texts at parish meetings or blessings. I suppose there’s nothing preventing us from using the new acclamations as refrains of, say, a Communion song at Mass. I hadn’t really considered getting a jump on the texts-formerly-known-as-Memorial-Acclamations.
Sit in the purple chair and render a liturgist’s judgment. Worth working in these new texts, musical and otherwise, in advance? Would you consider it a violation of the spirit of implementation? How would you do it in your parish?
4 January 2011 at 11:28 pm
I don’t think it hurts to implement some of the new texts slowly, especially those that are sung – unless there is some directive that specifically prohibits that.
Slowly could mean taking advantage of changes in the liturgical seasons. For example, the second Sunday in Ordinary Time may be perfect for changing the Memorial Acclamation from 1 (Christ has died…) to the new version of 2 (We proclaim your death…) or 3. A new Sanctus could be introduced for the first Sunday of Lent, as nearly two months separate Ordinary Sunday 2 from Lent 1.