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Views from the Choir Loft

Celebrating Parish Weddings

Fr. David Friel · February 9, 2014

OR ALMOST TEN YEARS, I have belonged to a local group called the Association of Church Musicians in Philadelphia (ACMP). This group offers many wonderful things throughout the year: skills sessions, annual pastor/musician banquet, member directory, quarterly newsletter, networking opportunities, scholarships for high schools students involved with parish music programs, and an end-of-year Vespers and awards ceremony. The ACMP has been a terrific blessing to our archdiocese.

The Association also offers an annual winter workshop, which I attended yesterday. Last year’s topic was “Celebrating Parish Funerals,” while this year’s focus was “Celebrating Parish Weddings.” The keynote speaker was Msgr. Richard Hilgartner, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship. Among the many topics discussed were the present Rite of Marriage, the forthcoming second edition of the Order of Christian Matrimony, and best practices for providing music during nuptial Masses.

One of the issues that received a lot of attention during the question & answer sessions was the Gloria. The rubrics of the third edition of the Roman Missal introduced a change that continues to confuse many parish musicians and priests. Because of the evident confusion among the workshop attendees, I thought it would be worthwhile to address the topic here.

Under the new rubrics, the nuptial Mass is treated like a Feast, which means that the Gloria is to be sung. The matter is treated in an article appearing in the NewsLetter of the Secretariat (Volume XVLIII, January 2012):

3. What are the new rubrics in the Missal regarding the Gloria? In the Roman Missal, Third Edition, the rubrics call for the Gloria more frequently than before. Nine out of the ten Ritual Masses prescribe the Gloria, the only exception being the Mass for the Institution of Lectors and Acolytes. These Masses are all treated as if they were Feasts, and the Gloria is used for them even when celebrated during Advent or Lent. Thus, for example, Masses for Confirmation, Holy Orders, or Marriage would include the Gloria even when they occur during Advent or Lent. (It should be noted, though, that Ritual Masses are prohibited on Sundays of Advent and Lent.)

So, in summary, the Gloria is to be sung at every nuptial Mass, regardless of the season, but it is never used at a wedding ceremony outside of Mass.

Additionally, the rubrics now make clear that the Act of Penitence is omitted. This creates what can seem a rather awkward progression: entrance chant, Sign of the Cross, greeting, Gloria, collect. It doesn’t seem to be the natural flow of our Catholic ritual. Msgr. Hilgartner explained, however, that the forthcoming second edition will include an introductory passage to be read after the greeting, which will ease the transition a bit. He read the draft of the introduction to us, and it impressed me as a beautiful and understandable précis on the theology of Holy Matrimony.

Incidentally, if you are responsible for providing wedding music regularly and you are looking for solid options, check out this complete package resource and these Responsorial Psalms.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Nuptial Mass, Roman Missal Third Edition, USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

In the ’60s, I thought this emphasis on congregational singing was to encourage good Catholic hymns like “Immaculate Mary” and so forth … but after the Council, they threw them out, too!

— ‘Fr. Valentine Young, OFM (2007)’

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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