This page was last updated on Monday, May 4, 2009.
On August 8, 2008, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, announced a new Vatican directive regarding the use of the name of God in the sacred liturgy. Specifically, the word “Yahweh” may no longer be “used or pronounced” in songs and prayers during liturgical celebrations. This directive affects a few songs currently included in OCP’s various missals and hymnals (see below).
Unfortunately, at the time the directive was announced, the 2009 editions of our missals had already been printed and, in many cases, shipped. The 2010 editions will include revised versions of the songs with updated texts.
In the meantime, we are providing downloadable editions of the revised songs (use links below), along with free reprint permission through November 29, 2009. This permission is limited to private, non-commercial reprints (e.g. parish songsheets or worship programs). Missal subscribers will receive their 2010 books with the revised versions of the songs by November 29, 2009, and no further action will be necessary. Hymnal purchasers will be granted free reprint permissions—for revised songs only—for the life of their books.
Be assured that we will keep you up to date on any other OCP worship resources that may be affected by this directive. Please visit this page regularly as new titles might be added. If you have any questions or concerns, please call us at 1-800-LITURGY (548-8749).
Changes to Accompaniment Books
This PDF document contains instructions on how to implement all the changes in songs from the OCP Missals to conform to this directive.
Download document
Note: In many of the songs, only a simple substitution of text was required. For those songs in which rhythmic or notational changes are necessary, this guide will provide easy solutions for accompaniment until replacement pages are sent out in September 2009 with your 2010 accompaniment supplements.
Note for Sunday Bulletins
Use the text below in your Sunday bulletin to help communicate the change to your parishioners. Simply copy and paste the text in your bulletin.
Vatican Directive on Using the Name of God
The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship recently announced a new directive from the Vatican regarding the use of the name of God in the sacred liturgy. Specifically, the word "Yahweh" may no longer be "used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during liturgical celebrations. The decision was based on long-standing Jewish and Christian traditions of not pronouncing the divine name wherever it occurs in the biblical text. You may notice some small changes to a few songs that are sung during Mass from what is printed in your missals or hymnals.
Unfortunately, at the time the directive was announced, our 2009 missals had already been printed and, in many cases, shipped. The 2010 missal editions will include revised versions of the songs with updated texts. If you would like more information, please visit www.ocp.org/directive08.
