Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Readings and Propers Only, for Sundays

I've been on a long hunt for a parish resource that provides only readings, propers, and Psalms for Sundays for an entire liturgical year. The idea is to save money by not publishing hymns (royalties drive up costs) and other extraneous material that are not used anyway if you have something like the Parish Book of Chant or print up liturgy programs each week. Many people are seeking only a book with readings plus ordo and that's it, at a rock bottom price.

Well, how does $2.25 per copy sound, for a book good for the entire year? Sounds good to me. An annual budget of, say, $1,000, for disposable pew resources: not too bad. Then you spend the extra on either musicians or on permanent books with music of the ages. That resource is Living Liturgy published by the Liturgical Press. I'm not wild for the Psalms in here and I think they could have left the music out of the Psalms completely but still, this book comes closest to what I had hoped to find. And no, I don't like the art that much, but it is serviceable, accurate, and the price is right.

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