"All for the Worship Aid!" by Mary Ellen Haupert
July 25, 2015
Worship Aid or Hymnal?
When I was hired seventeen years ago, I was told that Roncalli Newman Parish had always used a worship aid, so there was no avoiding the weekly duties of generating one for Sunday Mass. I was encouraged to explore repertoire from all the major Catholic publishing houses, which included selections from GIA Publications, Oregon Catholic Press, and World Library Publications. Because I had the liberty to choose from a variety of different publishers, our repertoire has grown considerably over the years. Even so, the question of “Why don’t we save a few trees?” (and purchase hymnals) comes up every now and then.
The Case for the Hymnal
If Newman were to choose hymnals over worship aids, we would probably purchase the GATHER - 3rd Edition (GIA) or the updated JOURNEYSONGS (OCP), mainly because they contain 70% popular-style music and 30% traditional hymns. Both of these hymnals are $15.00/each and contain Mass settings, a psalter, and general music for worship. The scaled-down pew versions (without readings) are between 800-1000 pages and hard-bound, having a church life of about ten years (if we take good care of them). Most churches have two hymnals to broaden their repertoire choices, but still don’t use all the music that each hymnal has to offer. (I currently use about 25% of the repertoire in GATHER and JOURNEYSONGS.) The cost for 350 hymnals would be $5,250.00; both GATHER and JOURNEYSONGS would be $10,500.00 up front. We wouldn’t have to generate worship aids each week, but we would have to announce hymns, display hymn numbers, and/or make small worship aids with hymn numbers, etc.
The Case for the Worship Aid
The raw numbers for worship aids might initially put them into the loser’s category, but closer analysis will reveal the hidden value of our long-lived custom. On average, it costs the parish about $1,500.00 annually, which includes paper, copier expense, and copyright permission for about 350 worship aids/weekend. That means that over the course of ten years, the parish probably pays $15,000.00 for worship aids that are recycled (because they’re used for all the Masses each weekend), encourage people to sing (because they’re not looking up music in the hymnal), and use 100% of what’s printed (because each is designed for a specific liturgy)! Furthermore, we don’t have storage issues and have far more creative license in our seasonal planning than churches with hymnals.
Final Thoughts
If we were to switch over to hymnals, we would lose access to some of our favorite music, need to build hymnal holders on the backs of pews, and lose the voices of worshippers who don’t want to be bothered looking up music. The difference in cost between the two options over the course of ten years is about $5,000.00 – begging the question, “Would a savings of about $10.00/weekend be worth a drastic change in our style of worship?” When we had this discussion about ten years ago, the study committee unanimously voted to keep the worship aids. They wanted to stay current and flexible regarding repertoire, as well as continue helping people to focus on the liturgy. After all, isn’t that the real purpose of a WORSHIP AID??
I invite your comments and questions: [email protected][email protected]!
When I was hired seventeen years ago, I was told that Roncalli Newman Parish had always used a worship aid, so there was no avoiding the weekly duties of generating one for Sunday Mass. I was encouraged to explore repertoire from all the major Catholic publishing houses, which included selections from GIA Publications, Oregon Catholic Press, and World Library Publications. Because I had the liberty to choose from a variety of different publishers, our repertoire has grown considerably over the years. Even so, the question of “Why don’t we save a few trees?” (and purchase hymnals) comes up every now and then.
The Case for the Hymnal
If Newman were to choose hymnals over worship aids, we would probably purchase the GATHER - 3rd Edition (GIA) or the updated JOURNEYSONGS (OCP), mainly because they contain 70% popular-style music and 30% traditional hymns. Both of these hymnals are $15.00/each and contain Mass settings, a psalter, and general music for worship. The scaled-down pew versions (without readings) are between 800-1000 pages and hard-bound, having a church life of about ten years (if we take good care of them). Most churches have two hymnals to broaden their repertoire choices, but still don’t use all the music that each hymnal has to offer. (I currently use about 25% of the repertoire in GATHER and JOURNEYSONGS.) The cost for 350 hymnals would be $5,250.00; both GATHER and JOURNEYSONGS would be $10,500.00 up front. We wouldn’t have to generate worship aids each week, but we would have to announce hymns, display hymn numbers, and/or make small worship aids with hymn numbers, etc.
The Case for the Worship Aid
The raw numbers for worship aids might initially put them into the loser’s category, but closer analysis will reveal the hidden value of our long-lived custom. On average, it costs the parish about $1,500.00 annually, which includes paper, copier expense, and copyright permission for about 350 worship aids/weekend. That means that over the course of ten years, the parish probably pays $15,000.00 for worship aids that are recycled (because they’re used for all the Masses each weekend), encourage people to sing (because they’re not looking up music in the hymnal), and use 100% of what’s printed (because each is designed for a specific liturgy)! Furthermore, we don’t have storage issues and have far more creative license in our seasonal planning than churches with hymnals.
Final Thoughts
If we were to switch over to hymnals, we would lose access to some of our favorite music, need to build hymnal holders on the backs of pews, and lose the voices of worshippers who don’t want to be bothered looking up music. The difference in cost between the two options over the course of ten years is about $5,000.00 – begging the question, “Would a savings of about $10.00/weekend be worth a drastic change in our style of worship?” When we had this discussion about ten years ago, the study committee unanimously voted to keep the worship aids. They wanted to stay current and flexible regarding repertoire, as well as continue helping people to focus on the liturgy. After all, isn’t that the real purpose of a WORSHIP AID??
I invite your comments and questions: [email protected][email protected]!
RESPONSES from PARISHIONERS (August 9, 2015)
“Keep the worship aids!”
In addition to the cut-and-paste emails below, I was pleased to chat with several people after each of our Sunday Masses this past weekend, as well as to read cards that parishioners took the time to send. Your responses were (and are) a testimony to how much you care about participating fully at Mass…and that the worship aids help you to focus on prayer. You can ease our budget by considering a donation of RECYCLED 11 x 17 paper to the Newman Center. I found nearly white paper online that is made from 100% post-consumer waste and color varieties that are composed of 30% PCW (…still quite good). If you’re interested in donating paper, consider colors that pertain to our liturgical seasons: green/yellow/tan for ORDINARY TIME, blue for ADVENT, violet/purple for LENT, pink for MARIAN FEASTS, and white/tan/ivory for CHRISTMAS and EASTER seasons. You might want to call the office for suggestions first, however!
Thanks again for your responses:
“Thank you for the opportunity to weigh in on the subject of Worship Aids vs. Hymnals. I personally dislike (‘deplore’ would be more accurate) fumbling for song pages in hymnals. I also think it is off-putting for guests who are handed a hymnal instead of a ‘created for our parish worship aid’ (sort of a ‘canned’ vs. ‘home-made’ situation, if you will). The bottom line for both of us is that it sounds as if a hymnal would lock us into a set selection of songs for 10 years. We would like to be open to the best in new music that would come along during that decade.”
“I am very much in favor of keeping the system we have with one suggestion. Up until about 5 years ago the words to the verses of the psalms (between the first two readings) were included. I found that useful because the wording is often difficult to pick up during the cantor's singing.”
“I love what we do for liturgy. Please don't change a thing. John [music director son of parishioner] says to all those who complain about trees, ‘What a waste for all those pages you don't use!’ He would love to do what you are doing. If you didn't hand people the program, they wouldn't participate as well.”
“My husband and I want to let you know we would like to see the worship aid continue. They add a great deal to our celebration of Mass. We enjoy the variety of the music, the fact that the music ranges from ancient to current, and how we can see the message of the day's readings right there in front of us, all in one place. For those reasons, and the one's you state in your article, the price is definitely worth it.”
“I think the hymnals, although nice, are very expensive and unnecessary. I have often thought it was such a shame to throw the printed programs away every week. I believe a generic program for each week of the church calendar could be printed and then recycled for use every year during that same week. This would be a lot less expensive than the weekly printing costs and the triple folded program in use now.”
“My husband and I were talking after reading the piece in the bulletin about music alternatives. Both of us do like the sheets that are pertaining to the Sunday readings or events and are opposed to getting hymnals. My husband even stated he would help pay the $10.00 difference to have the very personal touch to our Parish as the music is so wonderful at Newman.”
In addition to the cut-and-paste emails below, I was pleased to chat with several people after each of our Sunday Masses this past weekend, as well as to read cards that parishioners took the time to send. Your responses were (and are) a testimony to how much you care about participating fully at Mass…and that the worship aids help you to focus on prayer. You can ease our budget by considering a donation of RECYCLED 11 x 17 paper to the Newman Center. I found nearly white paper online that is made from 100% post-consumer waste and color varieties that are composed of 30% PCW (…still quite good). If you’re interested in donating paper, consider colors that pertain to our liturgical seasons: green/yellow/tan for ORDINARY TIME, blue for ADVENT, violet/purple for LENT, pink for MARIAN FEASTS, and white/tan/ivory for CHRISTMAS and EASTER seasons. You might want to call the office for suggestions first, however!
Thanks again for your responses:
“Thank you for the opportunity to weigh in on the subject of Worship Aids vs. Hymnals. I personally dislike (‘deplore’ would be more accurate) fumbling for song pages in hymnals. I also think it is off-putting for guests who are handed a hymnal instead of a ‘created for our parish worship aid’ (sort of a ‘canned’ vs. ‘home-made’ situation, if you will). The bottom line for both of us is that it sounds as if a hymnal would lock us into a set selection of songs for 10 years. We would like to be open to the best in new music that would come along during that decade.”
“I am very much in favor of keeping the system we have with one suggestion. Up until about 5 years ago the words to the verses of the psalms (between the first two readings) were included. I found that useful because the wording is often difficult to pick up during the cantor's singing.”
“I love what we do for liturgy. Please don't change a thing. John [music director son of parishioner] says to all those who complain about trees, ‘What a waste for all those pages you don't use!’ He would love to do what you are doing. If you didn't hand people the program, they wouldn't participate as well.”
“My husband and I want to let you know we would like to see the worship aid continue. They add a great deal to our celebration of Mass. We enjoy the variety of the music, the fact that the music ranges from ancient to current, and how we can see the message of the day's readings right there in front of us, all in one place. For those reasons, and the one's you state in your article, the price is definitely worth it.”
“I think the hymnals, although nice, are very expensive and unnecessary. I have often thought it was such a shame to throw the printed programs away every week. I believe a generic program for each week of the church calendar could be printed and then recycled for use every year during that same week. This would be a lot less expensive than the weekly printing costs and the triple folded program in use now.”
“My husband and I were talking after reading the piece in the bulletin about music alternatives. Both of us do like the sheets that are pertaining to the Sunday readings or events and are opposed to getting hymnals. My husband even stated he would help pay the $10.00 difference to have the very personal touch to our Parish as the music is so wonderful at Newman.”
