• Liturgy, as an official celebration of the Church, calls for full, active participation
Liturgy is a communal action, celebrated by all present. It is not a spectator or theatrical production. Awareness of this during your liturgical preparations will enable your celebration to be an authentic expression of our Christian faith.
• Only liturgical songs and music will be allowed before and during the wedding liturgy.
In all considerations, it is well to remember the sacredness of the occasion, that the sacrament celebrates a relationship between divine and human as well as between human and human, and the communal aspect of the celebration. Pop songs from the radio, even though they may speak of genuine love, are better suited for the wedding reception, as they don’t go far enough to express the divine nature of love. Also, it may be surprising to note that not all sacred music is appropriate in the context of liturgy.
• As of January 1, 2002, we require couples to use our own parish cantors, or a regularly scheduled cantor from our sub-cluster parishes of Star of the Sea or St. Ann for your wedding liturgy. Why? The role of the singer, first and foremost, is "cantor" (one who leads and enables the community’s song) and not "soloist." Music during liturgy is used to give glory to God, not ourselves. Liturgical music is not performance, and must foster prayer. Recent past, unpleasant experiences with outside singers have detracted from the prayer of the community. Our musicians have been trained to ensure a prayerful setting in which the priest can lead others in prayer. They can handle the unexpected during your wedding liturgy. Also, they are familiar with the parish’s instruments, sound system and acoustics, so important for proper leadership. From our experience, outside singers generally are not familiar with the liturgy in which they are to serve. This has lead to some awkward and embarrassing moments for both outside singers and the wedding party. We suggest that the reception may be a better venue for having your family/friends sing.
• Music during liturgy is an expression of the live prayer of the gathered assembly. Therefore, the use of pre-recorded music is not appropriate.
• Liturgical music is best selected with three criteria in mind:
- the liturgical judgment: is the music’s form, text, placement and style congruent with the nature of liturgy?
- the musical judgment: is the music technically, aesthetically and expressively good irrespective of musical idiom or style?
- the pastoral judgment: will it help this assembly to pray in this place, at this time?
• All selections of music must be cleared by the parish music director to assure that music proper for the Church is used.
• The following pages give some recommendations as to placement of acclamations and songs at the wedding liturgy. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. For the most part, the processional/recessional music is interchangeable, as are most of the song selections. An exception is the Responsorial Psalm, which as a Scripture proclamation, needs to be one of the 150 psalms.
• Hymn numbers can be found in the parish’s hymnal, Gather Comprehensive.