Read Kate’s latest for The Tablet – Psalms stripped of poetry and impossible to sing.
The new lectionary has now been in force since the beginning of Advent last year. I say “in force” rather than a more neutral expression, because there was no question of parishes choosing to adopt it, or even vary the timing. It came to us out of nowhere and was presented as compulsory. Now we have sung our way through the joys of Christmas and Eastertide. We have experienced both the high points, the greatest feasts, of the Church’s year in this new format. How is it going for you?
My closest dealings with the New Lectionary are the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel Acclamation every week. I have been setting these to music for the last twelve years or so, for all the different anglophone lectionaries I can get hold of (the US, Australia/New Zealand, and Canada), often needing a different setting for each. So far only the UK Lectionary (not even the “and Eire” version) has chosen to make this change, but in England and Wales we have been doing our best with it from week to week. Other jurisdictions have been discussing it for years, because anyone can see that the old lectionaries are not perfect, but have not yet taken the plunge.
