We’ve all seen it before – teens with their arms folded, staring out into space (if their eyes are even open at all). They’re whispering to their friends, giggling, and just plain not engaged in the liturgy. During the songs or homilies, all they hear is the teacher’s voice from the old Charlie Brown cartoons, “womp, womp, womp . . . womp, womp, womp, womp.”

If this at all describes your church on Sundays – then “Houston, we have a problem!” The question we need to ask ourselves is: How we can get our young people engaged in the liturgy, the highest point of prayer we have as a Church? I think to answer this question we need to return to some basic keys of youth ministry.

Build Relationships

We can’t forget that youth ministry is all about relationships. Jesus himself spent time building relationships with his apostles and we need to follow his example. If the teens don’t know you as the music minister, you’re just some guy or some lady with a guitar or who sits behind a piano.

I always tell musicians to consider it part of their ministry to be at most or every Life Night and retreat. If we spend time introducing ourselves to the teens and getting to know them and finding out what their interests are, we begin to build relationships. We may even discover that our parish has some teens with amazing musical gifts and talents.

A retreat is a great time to bring up the Life Teen band and not only provide Praise and Worship for the weekend, but have a jam session at free time and invite teens who play instruments to simply “jam.” Teens will often jump at the opportunity and you can use these moments as a time to begin dialogue with them. Now you’re not just the guy or girl with an instrument. You’re an actual person who they have begun to build a relationship with.

Now, when you invite them to sing at Mass, they know you and may just give it a try. Always remember that we are not drawing teens to ourselves or our own talent, rather to Christ through the gifts and talents he has given us.

Be Hospitable and Welcoming

Maybe your schedule prohibits you from attending retreats and/or Life Nights. Take some time before and after Mass to put down your instrument and go out and introduce yourself to a few of the teens. Tell them that you’re so glad they came to Mass tonight and begin a simple conversation with them. It can be as simple as, “What school do you go to?” or “What year in school are you?”

Again, this will help them to get to know you and be more apt to listen to what you have to say before Mass begins and participate with you. If this extra time conflicts with your pre-Mass music rehearsal, start practice 15 minutes earlier and make the time.

Invite, Don’t Scold

Before Mass, many parishes will take some time to “warm up” the congregation. When beginning this time, work with your Core Team prior to the Mass so that they know when they hear you begin to talk over the microphone they need to get the teens who may still be talking outside or in the vestibule in to their seats. Hopefully, they can work towards getting the teens to their pews five or ten minutes before the hour so that they have some time to pray before Mass.

When going over songs, make sure you have the attention of the congregation first. Don’t just start talking over them when no one is listening. Welcome everyone to the Mass and invite them to quiet down if their is still chatter going on.

One of the keys to inviting people to sing is simply that – to invite. Don’t scold the congregation and don’t show your frustration and start saying how you come here week after week to lead them in song and no one sings! This is the wrong approach! Simply invite and affirm them. Remind them that our role at the Liturgy is to practice full, active, conscious, participation as Vatican II tells us. Tell them that it sounds so beautiful to hear their voices singing God’s praise together.

Pick Songs They Know

Song selection is key.

The liturgical documents of our Church talk about the “pastoral decision” in selecting music. That pastoral decision encompasses many factors. First of all, how many new songs will you be using at a particular Liturgy? It may be easy for you or your group to pick up and learn a new song, but it’s not as easy for a congregation.

Avoid picking more than one new song per week. Sing the songs they know to get them accustomed to singing. Be creative and of course, plan music that ties in with the readings and the focus your priest will be preaching about. Maybe you take a song your congregation knows and change the arrangement or instrumentation to make it sound a little fresher. Maybe the song stands great on its own and you don’t need to do that. That’s where the pastoral decision comes in.

Another question you need to ask is what key is the song in? Many musicians just sing songs that are too high for a congregation to sing. Try not to go above a “d” on the staff and occasionally an “e” but anything above those notes that you are expecting the assembly to sing is just too high, in my opinion. People will just put down the song sheet and listen.

Use the Life Teen Liturgy Guide as a tool to pick songs, but don’t think that just because there are songs recommended in the guide that you have to know them or use them. We try to give a variety of selections so that parishes who are in all different places and know all different kinds of music can benefit from them. Don’t just try to find the newest song on christian radio and think that you have to sing that song at your Mass.

The Mass deserves our highest focus and attention. We have a duty and a obligation to create an environment for our young people and our entire community to enable them to lift their voices to the Lord in song and praise.

2012 is here! If we look back on 2011 I think we can all say it was a busy year.

Most of us spent this last year preparing for the implementation of the New Roman Missal that we received on November 27th of 2011. Now that the Missal has been implemented and our Christmas preparation has come to an end, we can focus on the things that we may need to change in our personal lives or our ministries.

Prayer

Some of us may feel that we have let our prayer lives go by the wayside and we need to become refocused on Christ in our daily prayer. If we are leading people in prayer, then we ourselves need to be people of prayer.

Organization

For others, maybe our organization needs to be re-examined as we begin this new year. I have said many times that it is so important for us as ministers to be organized in what we do. Obviously, we can’t always do this on our own, so we need to seek out people to help us. In my experience, putting an ad in the bulletin for an office helper has always done the trick. Finding someone to come in and pull music, file or even put it in books for your musicians can be an absolute lifesaver.

Forgiveness

Another area we may need to refocus on in this new year is possibly mending some relationships that may be strained. Perhaps there is someone on our staff or in our ministry that we have hurt this year or even someone that has hurt us.

If we claim that we are a people of forgiveness then we need to practice it in our own lives. Seek out reconciliation in a positive way and be a peacemaker. It is so important that our new years resolutions not only be about keeping our bodies healthy, but our spirits as well.

Retreats

The final resolution I would like to suggest is that we all plan ahead to make a retreat this year. Maybe it’s a silent retreat or even one of the men’s or women’s retreats that Life Teen offers. It is so important for us to take care of ourselves. Often times we look at our calendars and say that there’s not a good time to go on a retreat, but we must make the time to renew ourselves at least once a year.

May this new year be filled with many graces and blessings and may we celebrate this new year with radiant joy!

Well, you guessed it … I grew up in the era of big hair and glam rock bands. One of my favorites was the band “Europe.” In high school, I would constantly rock out on the drums to their hit song “The Final Countdown” until my Mom busted open the door to my room and screamed, “That’s enough!” If you have no idea what I’m talking about than my suspicion is true that yes, I really am getting old.

Well there is a countdown going on today and it has nothing to do with 80’s rock bands, but everything to do with the third edition of the Roman Missal. We are only 19 days away from this new translation of the current Sacramentary we use at Mass. So here’s the question … are you ready?! I hope the answer is: “Yes!” If you are worried that you may have forgotten something, let’s start with the obvious.

Has your parish bought a Missal? I have this vision of people running to the nearest Catholic Bookstore on Friday, November 25th only to find out they are all gone. I hope that’s not a vision that comes true and everyone either has the Missal already in their possession or has ordered it to be shipped in time. Almost every major Catholic Publisher is offering a version of the Missal, so if you haven’t ordered one yet, now is definitely the time.

Have you begun singing the new Mass settings yet? Have you implemented all the settings that are going to be changing? (ie…the Gloria, Holy and Memorial Acclamation) If not, you may want to start introducing one new setting a week for the next few weeks if you have approval from the Bishop in your Diocese to do so.

Do you have something for your congregation to follow along with? It could be a pew card or maybe you are printing all of the assembly responses on your worship aide or using a power point. If you are using power point, have the prayers been typed in already and are people lined up to run the projection? Have those people practiced yet to make sure their timing is accurate? This will be a delicate time for people to respond correctly, so having the responses up in a timely manner will really count.

Now here are a few things you may not have thought of:

Do you have permanent hymnals in your church that have the old responses in them? If so, will you be announcing to people to not use them for the responses or will you be removing them from the Church? I’ve noticed many people at my parish picking up the hymnals during Mass (even though we rarely use them) to follow along with the new Glory to God and especially the Creed. They will need to know that these prayers will now be incorrect in those hymnals.

Will your priest(s) be singing any new response that the musicians will need to rehearse with them? Since the priests have been encouraged to sing more of the Liturgy, they may want to sing the introduction to the Memorial Acclamation or the Doxology to The Great Amen for instance. Take the time to meet with your presiders ahead of time to help them to sing the responses. It is also a good idea to give them a recording and/or sheet music to what they will be singing and give them some time to practice and get comfortable with the melodies and the new text. This new translation will be a big change for our priests and we need to support them as much as we can.

Finally, have you thought about how you will educate the people who will show up at Mass for Christmas? A recent study shows that a very small percentage of people who consider themselves Catholic, and don’t normally attend weekly Liturgy, have little or no idea about any changes that will occur on the First Sunday of Advent, 2011. We need to do our best to educate them as they arrive for Masses about the changes and why they have changed. Perhaps consider showing one of the videos in the “Word for Word” resource from Life Teen that will do a good job explaining the changes to people who will join us this Christmas.

May God continue to bless our Church in this time of transition and may we all be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our own lives and in the lives of those in our parish, most especially our young people. Veni Sancte Spiritus.

I recently attended the Life Teen Musicians retreat in Tiger, GA at Life Teen Camp Covecrest. The weather was absolutely fantastic. Being from Phoenix, I enjoyed the rain showers that trickled down on us a few times during the four days I was there. It was a great week of sharing the gift of music, praising our God and enjoying fellowship with musicians, missionaries and the Covecrest staff who provided amazing hospitality!

Several times over the course of the retreat I was asked about different resources available for musicians looking for music suitable for the Liturgy and other youth focused events. I thought I would take the time now to share some of the resources that I use.

The first resource, that I believe is a “must have,” is the Life Teen Liturgy Planning Guide. This book comes with a regular Life Teen subscription and is essential, in my opinion, in planning a successful youth Liturgy that engages young people in the culture they live in. Each week the guide provides the readings for that Sunday, key words from the readings, sample prayers of the faithful, a synopsis of the readings from a teen’s perspective, as well as homily ideas for youth and other adults. It also has several musical suggestions for each part of the Liturgy and contains a worksheet to do your planning on. Each of the song suggestions, which range from contemporary to more traditional, contain the copyright information for that song as well as the publisher and what collection or website to find it on.

Once you have planned the music that you will use at your liturgy you need to obtain the sheet music for the song. A few websites I would recommend to obtain the music are www.spiritandsong.com, www.wlpmusic.com, www.ccli.com and www.worshiptogether.com. All of these websites contain downloadable sheet music and links to hymnals, CD’s, MP3’s and other instrument parts. It is important to remember that to print or project on a screen music that is copy-written you need to obtain a reprint license from the publisher of the music. This license can be obtained from the publisher by contacting customer service at any one of these companies. It is also important to remember that not all of the music on these sites will be appropriate for the Liturgy. Use the Church’s Liturgical documents as well as your own pastoral judgment to decide if a song is worthy of the Liturgy and reflects our beliefs as Catholics.

Another idea that can help in getting the music out to your musicians is to copy and paste listening links from the above-mentioned websites into an email each week to send out to your music ministry. I have found this very helpful with the musicians in my parish. They can just click and listen to a professional recording of the song we will be singing that week and hear how the composer intended it to sound. Sometimes you may want to do a different arrangement than the recording, so you can let them know that in the email. However, they still get a feel of the tune. Another website that is helpful in sending links and purchasing music is www.mycatholicvoice.com. Many of the links on this site are full-length recordings that are streamed. Many songs can be found on YouTube or GodTube.com as well and links from these sites can also be pasted into an email.

If you have a scanner at your church or office, another way to help your musicians is to simply make a scan each week of the music you will be using for that week’s Mass. That scan can be sent along with the email that contains the links each week so your ministers can actually have the melodies and words in front of them when reviewing music before your rehearsal or Mass. This will hopefully cut down on your rehearsal time and improve the quality of your ensemble.

Musicians, we are not always known as the most organized people in the world. My challenge to you is to plan ahead and take advantage of the many amazing resources that are available to you in this new age of technology. Use it all for the greater glory of God who is worthy of our praise.

Although I’ve only been alive a short period of time compared to how long the Church has existed, it is clear to me through studying history that the debate over what music is suitable for Liturgy has been going on for a long, long time. In recent years this musical debate has taken to a new highway, the Internet. Countless bloggers have been writing articles and posting Church documents to prove their point. Some bloggers have even going so far as to author their own quotes ‘written’ by John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Jesus himself, pointed out by Fr. Bob Schreiner in his video from his presentation at the 2010 Life Teen Liturgy and Music conference. It saddens me that some would go so far as to try to put words in the mouths of Church leaders that they wished they would say, but never have.

A recent blog has caused much confusion in Liturgical circles in regards to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM). The GIRM that we received in 2002 will be the GIRM that is in the 3rd edition of the Roman Missal, except that some of the language has been revised just as some of the texts have been revised in the Missal we will receive this coming November. The line that has caused confusion is in GIRM #48 where the four options for gathering songs are given. The fourth option used to read “some other suitable liturgical song.” In the New Missal, this line will read “some other Liturgical chant.” This change was written to be more faithful to the Latin word “Cantus” which more formally translates to the word “chant.” Many people however have taken this change out of context to mean that the Church is saying we can only use chant for the music at Mass. Fr. Richard Hilgartner, the head of the USCCB Committee on Liturgy has weighed in on this controversy stating that the word change is “really talking about what texts are sung, not the musical form.” You can read the full article here:

While reflecting on this idea of Sacred Music and what is appropriate and what is not appropriate, I was drawn to watch Fr. Bob Schreiner’s video once again from the September 2010 Life Teen Liturgy and Music Conference we had in Phoenix. Fr. Bob is an expert on the writings of John Paul II and I was reassured by the words of our late Pope when he stated the following:

“Sacred music is the beauty that invites prayer.”
“Sacred music must have holiness as its reference point.”
“Sacred music must adapt to the legitimate demands of inculturation.”

Yes, of course, chant is a big part of Sacred Music and we can and should expose our young people to it, but we also must ask ourselves: Do teens have a culture of their own or not? I think most of us will agree that yes they do, and we need to do what we can, within the mind of the Church, to reach out to them and meet them where they are at. We all need to ask ourselves if the music that we use and the way we present it invites prayer. If it doesn’t invite prayer, than we need to change, but we need to be open different styles of music that help speak to a culture that so desperately needs to hear the voice of Jesus. We must judge each musical piece we use Liturgically, musically and pastorally and always let the voice of God guide us as we pray the Liturgy of the Church.

I recently met to plan music for a funeral with a family who has been away from the Church for a long time. Unfortunately, they view the Church as a dictatorship full of rules and regulations they do not understand.

Their Mother passed away and she was the only member of the family who remained Catholic. I do have to say that it was noble of them to honor her wishes and celebrate a funeral for her in her own Church and faith tradition since she had held close to her heart. We did not celebrate a Mass, but we had a Scripture Service with music to pray for the repose of the soul of their Mother.

All of her children are involved in other denominations and all seemed to have their own ideas about what the celebration should be. We tried to be as pastoral as possible to their wishes and desires while not sacrificing Catholic beliefs and traditions. Although they were pleasant, a few things they said really upset me in the meeting and got me thinking that we need to do so much more to share our faith than we do.

There are so many misconceptions out there about what the Church teaches and professes to be true. I am not however naïve, and I do know that there have been many people in the Church who have not practiced what they preached and have let many down and sadly even hurt others in the process. I think if we are honest we can all admit that this sort of thing exists everywhere, in every organization. Most have us have met people who when they find out we are Catholic, they have some story to share about something negative that happened with a Priest or a Nun at a Catholic Church or School they attended in the past. When I hear these sorts of things, I want to say, “Wait! Things have changed! This has not been my experience at all!”

What I really think we can do is be knowledgeable enough about our faith to be able to share what it means to us and why we believe it’s true. Over the next few months we will be implementing the Third Edition of the Roman Missal and we have an amazing opportunity to share our faith, beliefs, and teachings about the the Mass! It is SO misunderstood and we have an unprecedented opportunity to seize the day and witness to everyone about why we do what we do. We’ve talked a lot about education and being prepared, but now’s the time when the rubber meets the road. There are many people who will hear some of the new language in the Liturgy and be critical of it. We’ve got to be prepared to explain it to the best of our ability and to help others pray through it. Non-Catholics will be hearing about it too through the media and possibly their own Churches since many of our prayers will again differ from those of different faiths.

There is a choice to be made here: Support these changes or work against them. We need to take this to prayer and do our part to spread the Good News of Christ to ALL the world and celebrate the greater meaning of the words we will soon speak and pray and why they are so important to us.

The Holy Spirit is moving and we need to not get in the way. Instead let’s allow ourselves to be instruments of hope and healing for those who don’t understand the greatest gift of all: the Eucharist.

The 2011 Life Teen Training Convention was four amazing days of prayer, praise, fellowship and community. Nearly 500 attendees, including Priests, Youth Ministers, Music Ministers and Core Team Members filled the convention hall at the Doubletree Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona last week. This year’s theme, Veni Sancte Spiritus, was truly prayed as we celebrated the feast of Pentecost to begin the conference. Fr. Leo Patalinghug was our celebrant and he was truly inspiring as he allowed the Spirit of the Lord to work through him both in his inspired words and authentic actions.

I had the privilege of leading the music for the Mass with fellow worship leaders Ike Ndolo Band and Audrey Assad. It was so beautiful to see the Church come together as one from all over the country as well as different parts of the world. We truly lived out the first reading from Acts that speaks of all the different people of God coming together being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Each one of the Masses throughout the week was beautiful and moving in its own unique way, each refocusing us all on the Source and Summit of our faith, the Eucharist. We were even privileged enough to celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy on Tuesday with our own Bishop of Phoenix, the Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted.

Life Teen’s focus has always been leading teens closer to Christ through the Sacraments of the Church from its humble beginnings over 25 years ago. It has always sought to draw young people to Christ in the Eucharist. It is our hope is that all the attendees at the Convention were inspired either for the first time or once again to make the Mass and the Eucharist the centerpiece of quality youth ministry.

We received many requests for a list of the music used at the Convention Liturgies – so here it is! At the end of this blog, you can download a list of the music used at the four Masses we celebrated at the 2011 Life Teen Training Convention. Hopefully, you will notice a mix of contemporary as well as traditional music that was done in a more contemporary style. It has been our experience that young people can be drawn in deeply to the Liturgy through both types of music. May God continue to bless us all and send us His Spirit as we seek to draw teens closer to the Sacraments, most especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Sunday, June 12 – Pentecost

Presider: Fr. Leo Patlinghug

Gathering:
Send Your Glory Down – Thomson, Booth

Kyrie:
Mass of St. Ann – Bolduc

Gloria:
Mass of Creation – Haugen

Psalm Response:
Psalm 104: Lord, Send Out Your Spirit – Colson

Sequence:
Veni Sancte Spiritus – Colson

Gospel Acclamation:
Easter Alleluia – Haugen

Preparation of the Gifts:
Our God – Tomlin

Holy:
Mass of Life – Booth

Memorial Acclamation:
Mass of Life – Booth

Great Amen:
Mass of Life – Booth

Our Father:
Chant

Lamb of God:
Mass of St. Timothy – Maher

Communion:
We Belong to You – Thomson
Holy Spirit Come Now – Manibusan
All Who Are Thirsty – Brown

Sending:
Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down) – Seay

Monday, June 13 – Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua

Presider: Fr. John Montejano

Gathering:
Might to Save – Morgan

Kyrie:
Mass of Renewal – Stephan

Psalm:
Psalm 98: The Lord Has Made Known His Salvation – Ndolo

Gospel Acclamation:
Alleluia – Angrisano

Preparation of the Gifts:
For Your Glory – Maher

Holy:
Sanctus – Latin Chant

Memorial Acclamation:
Mass of Creation – Haugen

Great Amen:
Mass of Creation – Haugen

Our Father:
Chris Muglia

Lamb of God:
Agnus Dei – Latin Chant

Communion 1:
Bread of Life: – Poirier

Communion 2:
Awake O Sleeper – Ndolo

Sending:
Everlasting God – Brown, Riley

Tuesday, June 14

Presider: Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted

Gathering:
All Creatures of Our God and King – Crowder

Kyrie:
Mass of St. Jerome – Colson

Psalm:
Psalm 146: Praise the Lord, My Soul – Colson

Gospel Acclamation:
Easter Alleluia – Haugen

Preparation of the Gifts:
Can We Love? – Booth

Holy:
Sanctus – Latin Chant

Memorial Acclamation:
Mass of Creation – Haugen

Great Amen:
Mass of Creation – Haugen

Our Father:
Chris Muglia

Lamb of God:
Agnus Dei – Latin Chant

Communion 1:
One Bread, One Body – Foley

Communion 2:
O Salutaris Hostia / O Saving Lamb – Booth

Sending:
At the Sound – Ndolo

Wednesday, July 15

Presider: Fr. Fred Gaglia

Gathering:
Holy is the Lord – Tomlin

Psalm:
Psalm 112: Blessed the Man Who Fears the Lord – Colson

Gospel Acclamation:
Alleluia – Angrisano

Preparation of the Gifts:
Give Us Clean Hands – Hall

Holy:
Mass of Life – Booth

Memorial Acclamation:
Mass of Life – Booth

Great Amen:
Mass of Life – Booth

Our Father:
Chris Muglia

Lamb of God:
Mass of St. Timothy – Maher

Communion 1:
We Come to You – Blakesley

Communion 2:
Revelation Song – Riddle

Sending:
Every Day – Villalobos, Leon

As many of you know, this coming Advent we will be given a new Roman Missal that will replace the current Sacramentary we now use for our Liturgies. If you haven’t heard about these changes yet you can find out more here: www.usccb.org/romanmissal. One of the changes that will occur with this new Missal is that several parts we sing at Liturgy will be changing. The parts that will be changing are the Gloria, the Memorial Acclamations and the Holy, Holy.

These changes to the Mass settings were slated to go into effect on the same Sunday all the other changes to the Mass were to take place on the First Sunday in Advent of 2011. Much concern has been expressed, however, over starting too many new responses all at once. After all, the first time we would actually sing the Gloria would be on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the second time on Christmas when many people fill our Churches who don’t normally attend Mass. Special requests have been made by Priests and Bishops alike to begin to implement some of the changes before the November 27th implementation date. Up until now, those requests were not approved.

This past week on June 17, 2011, the president of the USCCB authorized the gradual implementation of the new Mass settings and left the final decision up to the Bishop of each Diocese. This however does not mean we can implement any other changes in September, just the sung Mass settings. This is good news as it will allow us all to teach these new settings as we normally would and not have to worry about teaching new responses at the same time. Hopefully this will give our assemblies a better grasp on learning new melodies to sing fully, consciously and actively.

If you haven’t found a new Mass setting yet, here are some links to some that you may like that we feel work with young people.

Mass of St. Ann by Ed Bolduc:
www.singthenewmass.com

Mass of Renewal by Curtis Stephan:
www.ocp.org

Mass of St. Jerome by Craig & Kristen Colson:
www.newmassmusic.com

Please remember that the decision of whether or not you can begin to implement the changes in the United States lies with your Diocesan Bishop, so please be sure to check with your Diocesan Office of Worship or Bishop’s office before beginning to use these settings at Mass in September. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide the Church through this process of implementation and may many be drawn deeper into the prayer of the Mass through this new Liturgical Language.

Here is a link to the USCCB announcement:
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2011/11-126.shtml

The days are passing. Now is the time to get started.

Well the Triduum has ended, Jesus has risen from the dead and our churches are probably a bit quieter than they were on Easter Sunday. Although many of us are still busy with graduations, Confirmations and First Holy Communions, all the busyness of the spring is coming to a close and we should all be able to take a deep breath…right? Well, not exactly.

The New Roman Missal is right around the corner and if you haven’t already begun planning ahead for its implementation, there’s no better time than the present. Many parishes have already introduced their Liturgical Ministers to the new changes. If you haven’t done so at your parish, it’s time to make sure it’s at least on the calendar and the planning has begun.

Many times in parishes, the fall is a time to focus on recruiting volunteers for upcoming programs as well as stewardship campaigns, but this year, the priority really needs to be given to educating our parishioners about the new changes to the Liturgy as well as making sure our priests and musicians are practicing and learning the new texts and getting comfortable with their meaning and execution. Planning should also take place with our priests to talk about which parts of the missal will be discussed on which Sundays to possibly bookend them with publications in the bulletin or on parish web sites and newsletters. Will the education in your parish be done mostly during Sunday Mass in the homilies or are a few nights of general education the direction you will go? These are all things to be discussed with your Liturgy Committee if you have one or whoever is responsible for planning Liturgies in your parish.

If you yourself or your priests or Liturgist doesn’t feel knowledgable enough about the changes to be able to present them, you may want to consider studying the changes with someone who is well versed in the Liturgy or possibly even bringing in someone from outside the parish to introduce the changes to the community. If you are bringing in a presenter to speak about the changes, many presenters are booking up fast so you want to act quickly. If you need help finding a presenter, you can contact the Office of Worship at your Diocese or check with the Catholic Music publishers such as Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) and World Library Publications (WLP).

The USCCB also has many resources and videos available on their website to help with the education process. If budget is a concern for resources or presenters you may consider teaming up with one or two other parishes in your area to share the cost and make it more affordable. If you need more ideas of implementation, we have provided an implementation guide for parishes and especially with young people to help guide the process.

Download: New Roman Missal Planning Guide

Many blessings to you and your parish as we all enter in to furthering our education on the Liturgy so we can be more aware what we do, say and pray at our highest form of worship.

Is it okay if some of the new language of the Mass seams foreign?

At a recent Roman Missal workshop I attended, several people asked about some of the language we will be using when we adopt the new Missal this coming November of 2011. Some in attendance said that the language was foreign to them and that the words we will be saying are not the words we use when speaking to someone at the grocery store. The presenter responded by quickly saying, “yes, but Father doesn’t dress like that at the grocery store either!”

It’s true, this new language we will use at Mass is somewhat foreign to us, but it will cause us to develop a “Liturgical Language” that we will reserve solely for the celebration of the Mass. Although we may not know the meaning of the word consubstantial, or for that matter, maybe never heard it before, we can begin to ask the question why it’s changing from “one in being” and understand the deeper meaning. We don’t normally analyze the words we use in everyday language this much, but hopefully we will begin to see the greater importance of what we say and believe to be true. This new Liturgical Language will also connect the words that we pray at the Mass more closely to Sacred Scripture. For instance, when we begin to say “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,” we are reminded of the Centurion servant who spoke these very words to Christ himself, reminding us that it is the same human flesh of Christ that we encounter in the Eucharist at the holy Mass.

At first, this new language of sorts may seem awkward to some, but I think over time it will become as natural as the prayers we pray today. Many may wonder why there needs to be any changes at all and it is really up to us to help our assemblies understand the reasons for the changes and the importance of them. Hopefully these changes will cause us to think a little more about what we pray and why we pray them. It may also help us to realize the importance of the words we sing to express our praise of our God and make us think a little more about the texts we choose, making sure that they don’t contradict what we believe as Catholics and that they truly represent Catholic Theology.

Our young people may struggle more with the changes in the Liturgy than some older adults who may actually remember some of these responses from before the Second Vatican Council when they were closer to the meaning in Latin. Talk to your teens about the changes and help them to better understand the meaning of the words we pray together. Don’t underestimate their power to comprehend the meanings of these words and don’t doubt that they will embrace the changes. As we come closer to the Third Edition of the Roman Missal, let us all pray that we will better understand what we believe and embrace the Liturgy with more passion and zeal than ever.