Here are some things that have been brought to my attention recently for one reason or another. bls is the source of a couple of them so thanks to her for those… The presence of an item here doesn’t mean I endorse it, it means I think it’s a good thing to know about. In no particular order, here are some liturgical resources online to be aware of:
Chad Wohler’s Books of Common Prayer. This one’s a no-brainer and I heartily endorse it. If you don’t know about this site, you should–I don’t care what denomination you are. Speaking of, I’d love to see other denominations do something like this with their worship books as well. [server problems today…GC related?]
Anglican Gradual and Sacramentary. This is a pretty massive project. I’m still trying to figure out what I think of this. Essentially, it’s an attempt by Affirming Catholicism folks to construct something like the Anglican Missal based on the American 1979 BCP and related uses (Lesser Feasts & Fasts/Occasional Services/etc.) In my opinion it falls short. Yes, it has extensive propers for a whole lot of days including lections, collects, secrets, postcommunions, etc. but it feels like a tack-on to the ’79 BCP rather than an organic whole. The propers are only a part of an Anglo-Catholic celebration. A larger part is the ceremonial and the prayers prayed privately by the priest. This is lacking that component as the Eucharistic liturgies are essentially from the BCP with only a few of the more standard Roman additions at innocuous points. Another thing that concerns me a bit is that so much of the additional material is from the 1974 Roman material. What’s the rationale for wanting to adopt modern Roman pratice? Anyway, there’s a lot here–some of it may be helpful.
Gregorian Liturgy. This is from a Tridentine Mass group in Bonn. Not for the faint of heart; you’ve got to know your psalm tones if you intend to try any of the Office material because they just give the traditional pattern–the incipit then the last few notes keyed to E U O U A E (from the last phrase of the Gloria Patria: …seculorum. Amen. If your totally hardcore you’ll be able to read their versions in traditional German notation (I can’t…). All in all, the main site is worth checking out even if your German is as rusty as mine. Many of the links go to the traditionalist English language Confraternity of Ss. Peter & Paul like this Breviary link which has parallel Latin and English.
The Anglican Breviary. Speaking of both Breviaries and people who want to be more Roman than the Romans, here’s the Anglican Breviary. The Breviary itself isn’t online, but the instructions for use are worth looking at.
Pointed Gospels. Here are Gospels pointed for singing. They are NRSV and (I believe) follow the BCP’s lectionary. Take the time to read the note; their tone varies a bit from that which is strictly traditional. They wanted theirs to have more musical interest which, frankly, isn’t the point of singing the Gospel. It should be sung to be better heard and understood, not so it can be performed. Annunciation and clarity ought to be paramount above all else. Actually, thy’ve got quite a lot of good links off this page but it has sound–so mute before you go there if you’re in a place where a chanting computer would be odd…
That’s all for now…