Advent Update: New Books in the Pews

As we begin Advent this year, you may notice another change beyond the usual change of seasons and the beginning of a new liturgical year (Cycle C): the books in our pews.

It’s not unusual to see the books get swapped out each year at this time to get us the next cycle of readings and a few new songs, but this time the book itself is changing too.

As Fr. Brad mentioned a couple of years ago, we need a physical missal in our pews because the USCCB has stated that projecting the readings on screens is no longer allowed. (If you’re curious why, see this page on their website: https://www.usccb.org/offices/new-american-bible/permissions.)

Having the Choose Christ Missal (CCM) books in our pews satisfied that requirement, and the books also had some of the songs we sing at Mass which was a nice bonus.

Those books have been discontinued after the 2024 edition, however, so we needed to make a change.

We looked at a few options including just doing a plain missal (no music) with the screens.

However, when I first came to OLP a couple of years ago, a common request I heard my first month on the job was to get music in the pews for at least some of the songs we sing.

Some folks wanted it to help them learn new songs faster. Others just like the “visual aid” of looking at the music while they sing.

In general, I strive for about 2/3 or so of the music we do to be available in sheet music form to the congregation. Most people may never use it, but for those who want it, they’ve told me how much they appreciate it being there.

With that in mind, we chose to replace CCM with Breaking Bread (from the same publisher) and an eventual self-published “OLP Music Supplement” that will focus on more contemporary songs and a few we’re losing with CCM going away (that didn’t get pulled into Breaking Bread like some other songs did).

Our goal is to have the first edition of the supplement in the pews by Lent. The plan is to refresh it occasionally, maybe seasonally, depending what works best and how much use it gets.

If you have questions or would like to help with creating the new supplement (formatting it, etc.), please reach out to Bart McDonough, our Director of Liturgical Music, at [email protected].