Catholic Worship Book II for Australia

I now have my paperback copy of the Full Music Edition of this two volume set. I waited to avoid the $300 price tag on the very pretty hardback. Mine is in Communist East German era green binding.

Considering the amazing effort that went into it and the backing of the Australian bishops I couldn’t find many reviews or any articles on its reception in parishes after two years of publication.  Morningstar note two reviews here.

This article from Liturgy Brisbane in support of the work notes some of the problems – expense and size in the main.  The stodgy repertoire is excused by alleging the absent music is somehow deficient, by which they probably mean published by Willow. There is no comment on the lack of anything composed recently.

That many parishes don’t use hymnbooks at all is a big issue, and for them it is hard to see what this collection is for, as the vast majority of the music is already available.

It is undoubtedly a fine liturgical manual and the work done by the team behind that is to be commended.

As a hymn book, however, it is pretty disastrous. It is completely impractical for parish musicians who cannot photocopy music to get something that will sit in a music stand. In the absence of a ring bound edition, you can only assume they wanted people to infringe copyright.

The biggest issue for me, apart from song selection, is that the “Full Music Edition” is only really for keyboard players. Chords are grudgingly provided for some songs as long as it is clear guitarists are not to be helped.  Don’t believe me:

Chord symbols are generally retained in contemporary repertoire where they have been supplied by the composer. They are intended to refer to keyboard (rather than guitar) accompaniment.   CWB II part 1 viii

You wonder if these people ever get out into parishes where the music is provided by a guitar or nothing. The Mass of St Francis, amazingly, has no chords in this hymn book.  Leo Watt’s “Go now, you are sent forth” has to be a guitar song yet it, too, has no chords. Bernadette Farrell’s “God has chosen me”, which is not meant to have chords – has chords!

The books are print on demand so you wonder why a guitar edition wasn’t contemplated.

At some stage I will look at songs that I have not already blogged, but I doubt there will be that many. Short of top down enforcement or heavy subsidy, I can’t see why any parish would get this for anything other than liturgy assistance. It is some sort of achievement to create a hymn book in 2016 that is more out of date than As One Voice published in 1992.