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Views from the Choir Loft

Catastrophic Results of USCCB “Interpretation”

Jeff Ostrowski · September 20, 2016

HEN YOU ENCOUNTER something surprising, it’s only natural to investigate further. For example, if I told you the chief of staff for RONALD REAGAN was someone named DONALD REGAN, you’d check it out for yourself—and that’s just fine. The internet has made it possible for every Tom, Dick, or Harry to become a “journalist.” 1 Bloggers spend hours creating sensationalist titles used as click-bait. After a while, the notion of “truth” becomes blurred—and not all liturgical blogs are immune, sadly.

What you’re about to hear may shock you, but it’s 100% accurate.

SEVERAL DECADES AGO, the USCCB decided on a fateful “interpretation” of the GIRM. The GIRM has always said that Propers can be replaced with a text approved by the local bishop. The same holds true for variants of the Responsorial Psalm. But the USCCB created an interpretation saying the “local bishop” actually means “the bishop of some other diocese.”

Composers discovered this and began using their own translations—copyrighting them to assure more royalties—even though they had zero training in Sacred Scripture translation. We now have thousands of “variant texts,” which are fully approved and can never be revoked. If one accepts the USCCB notion of tacit approval, the number increases exponentially.

Consider this “variant translation” written and copyrighted by Dan Schutte, for a Responsorial Psalm. It is fully approved for liturgical use in the USA:

Translation by Dan Schutte
I can count on your mercy
to feed my hungry heart,
for when I lift my hands in need
a banquet you will provide.

Official Text
Quóniam mélior est misericórdia tua super vitas,
lábia mea laudábunt te.
Sic benedícam te in vita mea,
et in nómine tuo levábo manus meas.

The USCCB has also approved many “variant texts” for the Mass Ordinary. Consider the following, whose text and music (©1983) are by Mike Anderson:

Peace, peace, peace on earth;
peace to God’s people, all people on earth.

There was discussion about eliminating Mass Ordinary variants when MR3 came out, but Jeffrey Tucker has demonstrated that the USCCB is still doing this sort of thing. (I’m told only certain composers receive this treatment.) On the CMAA forum, Richard R. recently wrote as follows:

Along with this textual instability goes the proprietary nature of the English, with copyright spread among several groups, and reproduction (for profit or otherwise) requiring excessively hoop-jumping permissions—and, in the case of for-profit, the resulting fees. […] This leads inevitably to the marketplace stranglehold enjoyed by a few Catholic publishers (who can afford the hoop-jumping) that has perpetuated musical banality for decades. How can composers hope to improve upon the status quo without the sort of openness that would make meaningful competition possible?

I know several people who publish with major Catholic corporations, including the so-called “big three.” Without exception, all have described the way the USCCB handles liturgical texts (which are sold by them) using one word: ruthless. Some publishers were even threatened when they requested permission to correct glaring errors. They were told to print the errors or all permissions would be withdrawn. When I say “glaring errors,” I’m speaking of incidents like the Second Responsorial Psalm at the Easter Vigil:

Current Lectionary
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Official Text
R. Consérva me, Deus, quóniam sperávi in te.

There are many such errors—as the official edition illustrates—and it’s difficult to understand why keeping them was considered crucial. Moreover, when publishers wanted to make corrections, the standard response was the same answer given for why liturgical texts are under copyright in the first place: to maintain the integrity of our rites.

But how does it “maintain the integrity of our rites” when we have thousands of variant texts? Indeed, there are so many Responsorial Psalm variant texts, I’m told the USCCB doesn’t even have a current list!

 

113 Reagan Pope

 


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   To be fair, such people are frequently an improvement over the “real” journalists we have in our times.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Graduale Romanum Roman Gradual Propers, Hymns Replacing Propers, Sung Vs Spoken Propers Novus Ordo, Traditionis Custodes Vernacular, USCCB approval Last Updated: April 13, 2022

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK

From a reader: “I wasn’t looking for it. But, I stumbled across your hand-dandy arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon. Jeff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I had to play a wedding on Saturday. The bride requested the Canon. There were 11 bridesmaids! The organ loft is a football field away from the communion rail. It’s so difficult to play and keep checking the mirror. Your arrangement is absolutely genius. One can skip and choose which variations to use. The chord names are handy so that when my eyes are off the music, I always know where I am at. A thousand times thank you for sharing this arrangement!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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“To speak the language of God’s beauty, we must first begin to listen. And to listen, we must have silence in our lives. I pray that God will open our eyes and ears to beauty, and help us use it in the service of the Truth.”

— Bishop James D. Conley (10/4/2013)

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