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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Here’s How the Mass Will Change

Fr. David Friel · October 4, 2020

UST recently, I struck upon The Catholic News Archive, a valuable and fully searchable online collection of newspapers from various cities and periods. While looking for a particular article in an early issue of the National Catholic Reporter, I stumbled upon something else that caught my eye. The headline that usurped my attention was this: “Here’s How the Mass Will Change.” Curious, I decided to read the brief piece, and I’m glad I did. It offers a fascinating glimpse into a moment when the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council were just beginning to take shape.

To put the article in context, it’s important to know that this was a front-page news story (below the fold) in the very first issue of the Reporter ever published. It appeared in vol. 1, no. 1 on 28 October 1964. The article originated with the news service of the bishops’ conference, so it may also have been published in other outlets.

The purpose of the short article is to describe what the Mass might look like after implementation of the reforms mandated by Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC). At the time the article ran, the Sacred Congregation of Rites had just published Inter Oecumenici (26 September 1964), the first of five instructions on the right application of SC. The other four instructions include:

Tres abhinc annos (4 May 1967)
Liturgicae instaurationes (5 September 1970)
Vicesimus quintus annus (4 December 1988)
Liturgiam authenticam (28 March 2001)

At the time of the article’s publication, the work of the “Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia” was still in its infancy.

The article is available from The Catholic News Archives, and a digital “clipping” of the article is pictured below. Click the thumbnail to expand the image.

NCR, 28 October 1964

Many aspects of what the article describes are interesting. It reflects twentieth-century liturgical reform at a very specific moment in time. Following are some unsystematic observations, following the order of the article:

1. “Four or five hymns” of congregational singing were envisioned at a Sunday low Mass. This is the continuation of an impoverished view of liturgical music, which the Liturgical Movement sought eagerly to remedy.

2. The manner of reciting the Gloria is particularly interesting. According to the article, it would begin as a dialogue between priest and people, then shift to a corporate recitation.

3. The description of the homily is noteworthy because it does not exclusively focus on the biblical readings. It admits, rather, the possibility of focusing on the ordinary or proper of the Mass.

4. The article mentions the Prayer of the Faithful, but it still envisions that this would be an official text (i.e., not something composed freely).

5. I am very intrigued that the editors of the brand new National Catholic Reporter presumed a readership that would have enough familiarity with the Mass and its parts in order to understand the content of this article. Could any Catholic publication presume so much today?

The gap between what was first envisioned and what ultimately was promulgated is wide. Taking a close look at the liturgical reform in media res is worthwhile and instructive.

St. Roch Church, Indianapolis (February 1964)
Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 31, 2021

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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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President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    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

Random Quote

If then Dom Pothier has sometimes adapted authentic melodies found elsewhere in the manuscripts to texts of the Mass it is not, as Mr. X. maintains, because he has “composed them from scratch and declared them as traditional.”

— Most Rev’d Henri Laurent Janssens (25 November 1905)

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