Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church | How do you pick the music? - The Liturgical Documents and What the Church Permits (2 of 5)

by Jeffry Kuznicki, Jr., Director of Music and Liturgy

Last week I began to break open the music of the Mass to better answer the question of how I choose the music for Sunday. Now that it is a little more clear which parts of the Mass are sung, and to what degree they can be changed from week to week, we will shift focus to “How do you pick the music for Sunday Mass?”.

For me, the first factor in the music I choose for Sunday Mass is my familiarity with the documents governing music and Sacred Liturgy in the Church. The primary documents I have to be familiar with as a Director of Music and Liturgy, to do my best work, are:

Sacrosanctum Concilium “The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” 1963 (SC)
Musicam Sacram “Instruction on Music in the Liturgy” 1967 (MS)
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2^nd ed. [current adapt. 2016] (CCC)
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal [current adapt. 2011] (GIRM)
Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship 2008 (STTL)

These five texts are by no means an exhaustive list of the Church’s teachings and guidance on music and liturgy. There are numerous teachings to be found in the writings of the Popes, the documents of the Second Vatican Council (those which came of it, and which came after in order to clarify it or explain it more granularly), and so on. However, the texts I have listed provide a solid baseline for the first step in choosing music for Sunday Mass. To clarify the capacity in which these documents inform me to make liturgical musical choices, I’ll include links at the bottom of the article.

Being formed by these documents, my first concerns in choosing music are:

That it is permissible by the Church in her wisdom.
That I have referenced the texts of the Mass to begin planning musical selections (namely the Roman Missal and Lectionary).
That the music fosters the active participation of the people in the Sacred Liturgy as is their privilege and duty.

Because of this, I cannot choose music that is heretical or unsound in its theology, that is not beautiful in its composition, or that is so complicated or, conversely, uninspired that it discourages the singing of the congregation. One easy solution to the concerns of theology, worthiness, and beauty, is to pick music from a Catholic music resource, from a Catholic publisher. These publications (such as hymnals, responsorial psalm collections, and Mass Settings) are reviewed and approved by either individual diocesan Bishops or by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee for Divine Worship before they are published.

Next week, join me as I unpack the first and most common method for choosing the Hymns for Mass after the considerations already outlined last week and today, which is the combined consideration of – Scriptural Quotation, Catechesis, and Mystagogy.

Links to Church Documents on Liturgy and Music:
Sacrosanctum Concilium (English) (especially Chapter I, No. 3; and Chapter VI)
Musicam Sacram (English)
General Instruction of the Roman Missal (especially Chapters II-IV, and VII)
Catechism of the Catholic Church (especially paragraphs 1066-1075)

Sing to the Lord is still only available for purchase. Please reach out to me if interested at ollmusic@ourladyofthelakes.org