Pardon, but there ARE no "approved texts" for Matins and Vespers, as Jerry Jumba was pointing out in the early '90s. The materials prepared by the Cantor Institute are used in a number of parishes, as well as at the seminary. They used these texts in part because they are the ones we had from the Liturgical Commission which the bishops appointed to prepate translations. The MCI books for Vespers and Matins also corrected more than 130 errors we found in the Uniontown Vespers and Matins books (e.g. parts of the service omitted in the Uniontown books, typos, incorrect tone markings, and so on).

If the Liturgical Commission and/or the bishops decide to revise the translations, we will certainly make the corresponding changes in the MCI materials. (For that matter, several cantors using the MCI materials recommended changes last year, which were passed on to the IEMC; some were eventually accepted by the Commission.)

Yours in Christ,
Jeff

Nicholas, the matter of materials sometimes being from the proposed new service book has been discussed many times. Not everything in the book is being suppressed, because lots of the material exists already, but isn't currently available with music in some other book for purchase.

Of course, pastoral approval is needed for use of materials, but the fact that material may also appear in the new book does not necessarily make it impossible to use it- as long as we are not referring to unapproved language. I hope that makes the issue a little clearer. There are parishes where some things are not available, but could be, if the source material were accessible. That includes some, though not all, of the music in the new service book.

Even though I cannot attend the Cantor's Institute, the materials used for their sessions would be very helpful for me locally. Maybe they can make packets available FOR PURCHASE, or CDs or tapes of the sessions themselves, along with handouts. Jack Figel was able to provide lots of backup material that way at the Orientale Lumen conference in San Diego last month.

Jim, I will be looking into how this can be done - thanks for the suggestion.