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Views from the Choir Loft

“Vatican II Hymnal” (1974) by Terry L. Haws

Jeff Ostrowski · August 20, 2018

87857 vatican ii hymnal ACK in 1974, the New Catholic Press of Seattle published a hymnal edited by Terry L. Haws. This book has a 1974 IMPRIMATUR by Most Rev’d Thomas A Connolly, Archbishop of Seattle.

The Vatican II Hymnal (Seattle, 1974) has absolutely nothing to do with the Vatican II Hymnal (Texas, 2011).

To avoid confusion, I will always refer to the 1974 book as the “Haws Hymnal.” Simply stated, the Haws Hymnal is one of the worst Catholic hymn books ever printed. It is so monstrous, I can’t resist sharing some excerpts.

(1)

The Haws Hymnal appears to be nothing more than xerox copies of other hymnals. Sometimes, I recognize the source—for example, page 287 was stolen from a 1940 Protestant hymnal:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Xerox Copy from Protestant Hymnal

I don’t know any other hymnal that xerox copies directly from other hymnals; do you?


(2)

The text underlay throughout the book is often grotesque. Consider Number 77, especially “Li-fe” in verse 2:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Truly Grotesque

Co-MING to Jeru-SA-lem. Yikes!


(3)

Mr. Haws often vandalized the texts. In the following hymn, he erased the original words, changing “Thee” and “Thy” to “You” and “Your.” If you look carefully at the first line, you’ll see that Your is in a slightly larger font. Pretty sneaky of him, right?

    * *  Haws 1974 • Sneaky Deletion by Haws

There was no reason to eliminate words like “thy”—Catholics pray those words with understanding every single day in prayers like the Our Father and Hail Mary. (Not even ICEL dared to eliminate the sacral language in those prayers.) Moreover, Mr. Haws destroyed the poet’s rhyme:

Blessèd Jesus, here are we,
Thy belovèd word obeying.
Now these children come to thee
As thou biddest in thy saying.

Did Mr. Haws forget that “we” doesn’t rhyme with “you”—or does he not care? 1


(4)

In the following example, Mr. Haws mixes register in a horrible way. He vandalizes the text by changing “thee” to “you”—yet does not alter words liked “piercèd.” Many hymnals published by GIA and OCP have (sadly) adopted this grave flaw.

    * *  Haws 1974 • Poor Register Mixture


(5)

The tune for “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” is married to a text by a Protestant—a pairing some may find offensive—and notice how Terry L. Haws seems not to care that his bowdlerization overlooked an instance of “thine.”

    * *  Haws 1974 • Using The Tune From “Holy God We Praise Thy Name”


(6)

Because Mr. Haws chose to xerox copy, look at the nasty white space he can’t eliminate:

    * *  Haws 1974 • White Space


(7)

Speaking of incongruous register, examine the font used for the word “folk” in the following example—is it not ridiculous? By the way, I am trained musician, but I find this notation almost impossible to read:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Wrong Font For “Folk”


(8)

A 1975 review by Fr. Joseph Roff said:

The printing is far from uniform. There are at least three different size types of music notation and text, from the Sebastian Temple folk songs (so large that they could be read by a near-blind person) to some spirituals (to read with a magnifying lense would be helpful).

You can see he’s absolutely correct:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Font Is Way Too Large


(9)

Whenever I see double sharps or double flats in a congregational hymnal, I get nervous:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Double Sharps

I also find notation such as this extremely difficult to sing:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Typesetting Issues


(10)

The next example has three horrific errors: (a) the words don’t fall under the notes properly; (b) the accents are added in a strange way; (c) the bottom appears to be a xerox copy from a 1920s hymnal:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Three Horrific Errors


(11)

In the following example, the alignment is terrible—one cannot tell which syllable goes under which note:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Alignment Off


(12)

Can you imagine singing an AGNUS DEI with these hideous words?

    * *  Haws 1974 • “People hatin’ people”


(13)

Regarding the following excerpt, I suspect the correct version would be “I got a robe” and “you got a robe.” I assume Mr. Haws changed it, but if so he should have said: “All of God’s children have a robe.” By the way, the juxtaposition of this piece with Number 160 (“Mother Dear, Oh Pray For Me!”) is bizarre:

    * *  Haws 1974 • “I Have A Robe”


(14)

The Haws Hymnal contains bizarre psalm settings:

    * *  Haws 1974 • One Note Refrain


(15)

Mr. Haws made sure to include an embarrassing setting of the Lord’s Prayer:

    * *  Haws 1974 • Goofy Setting of the “Our Father”

I was forced to sing that as a child, including hand gestures. How different it is from the 1937 setting by Mons. Van Nuffel, given at the top of Miss Phoebe’s article.


(16)

Number 158 contains heresy because it says we adore the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Or am I wrong?

87866-adore


(17)

In spite of the Imprimatur, is this not heresy? Do Catholics really believe that “what was once the Blood and Body” become bread and wine? Isn’t that reversed?

87862 HERESY - (1975) Terry L. Haws Hymnal (1974)


Sadly, this is not the first heretical hymn to receive approval by a USA bishops. Many GIA hymnals contain words by Marty Haugen which are heretical: “not in some heaven light-years away.”



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   In the St. Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal, the editors have occasionally eliminated language that is extremely archaic, but this choice is only made after extreme deliberation. Moreover, we have talented poets who are able to handle such cases. On the contrary, what Mr. Haws has done is pure bowdlerization.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Typo in the “Missale Romanum” (1962)
    The 1962 MISSALE ROMANUM was a transitional missal. It was on its way to becoming the 1970 version, but wasn’t there yet. It eliminated certain duplications, downplayed the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, expanded the role of laymen, minimized the Last Gospel, made many items optional, and so forth. Father Valentine Young spotted many typos in the 1962 MISSALE ROMANUM, especially incorrect accents. The Offertory Antiphon for this coming Sunday (OF kalendar) contains an error, citing the wrong verse from Psalm 118. It should be 118:107b, not 118:154. If you read verse 154, you’ll understand how that error crept in. [In this particular case, the error pre-dates the 1962 Missal, since the 1940s hand-missal by Father Lasance also gets it wrong.]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 30th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 26 October 2025, which is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the top-notch feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Little Encouragement?
    In the Gospel, our Savior tells about 10 lepers who were healed. Only one went back to give thanks. Precious few express gratitude, yet many have endless energy to complain. For that reason, I deeply appreciate receiving messages like the following, which arrived a few days ago (about the parish where I direct in Michigan): “Last Sunday, a couple I knew from Grand Rapids was at Mass at 10:00 a.m. I got a chance to talk to them after Mass. I wanted to let you know what they said about the choir. They were absolutely floored by our sound!!!!! They both said they could continuously listen to our choir and the beauty of it. They asked me: “Do you always sound like that?” And they were also very surprised at how packed the church was. They said it was nice for them to be in such a full church. I just thought you would be interested to know their thoughts about our choir.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Our Father” • Musical Setting?
    Looking through a Roman Catholic Hymnal published in 1859 by Father Guido Maria Dreves (d. 1909), I stumbled upon this very beautiful tune (PDF file). I feel it would be absolutely perfect to set the “Our Father” in German to music. Thoughts?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Every experienced choirmaster’s work is founded on the following three axioms: (1) Few boys have a really good natural voice; (2) No boy is able to control his voice and produce good tone without training; (3) Most boys have a good ear, and considerable imitative capacity. It is on the last of these axioms that the choirmaster must begin his work.”

— Sir Richard Runciman Terry (1912)

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