Church Music

This is a moving funeral song from Sarah Hart and Francesca LaRosa with inspiration from In Paridisum. It would be suitable as a solo during the ceremony – OCP suggests the Procession out of the church. It was selected for Breaking Bread in 2026 by OCP.

OCP will sell you the sheet music and the text is in their preview. This song is only from 2023 and there are a lot of YouTube clips already, which usually means a song is a hit.

Everything sounds a little bit country to me these days and my backing leaned that way too.

I love this from the blessing that is Chris Brunelle.

Sarah Hart: Behind the Mic.

This is a choral song for the Holy Family and Christmas from OCP, that they have added to Breaking Bread for 2026. It was written by Angela Birkhead-Flight who suggests it as a wedding song.

It’s a simple text and should be singable enough.

The sheet music is available at OCP where they provide the text in their preview.

In my backing I used the lower melody line in the second verse as indicated in the sheet music, but in general you wouldn’t except for a choir.

This is another new song for 2026 in OCP’s Breaking Bread with a text by Owen Alstott and a setting by Rick Modlin.

OCP describe it thusly:

This new text by Alstott is full of social justice concerns and the call to service. Its four verses and memorable refrain cover a wide range of topics including discipleship, evangelization, charity, unity, and love for others making it appropriate for use throughout the liturgical year. Musically reflected by Modlin’s strong, rugged setting, featuring striking harmonic shifts and an assertive foursquare rhythmic profile, it is scored for SATB choir with descant, keyboard, guitar, and trumpet in C.

The first verse suggests a problem, the second Jesus as the answer and the third and fourth the preferred outcome. With such a structure the whole song needs to be sung and the chorus is pretty short so that should work.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP (at least 7 copies) and the text is there in their preview.

I resorted to fake BIAB organ yet again and aimed for “vigorous” as suggested:

Tom Booth has written a song for Gifts and Eucharist that has been added to Breaking Bread by OCP for 2026.

It is a simple song with an impressive bridge.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.

Chris Brunelle has made wonderful versions of most of these new songs.

This is another Dan Schutte song that has made OCP’s list for Breaking Bread in 2026.

It is a song imagining the vigil of Mary Magdalene at Christ’s tomb. It is a conversation between the Magdalene and Jesus so I suppose it for a duet and choir. It has some of his usual flourishes with tempo variations and a 4/4 bar thrown into the verse.

The sheet music is at OCP who provide the text in their preview.

This is a setting of Horatius Bonar‘s venerable text using THE MOREEN a traditional Irish tune. It has been added to OCP’s Breaking Bread for 2026.

Growing up a Presbyterian I sang a lot of this Scotsman’s words but not to nice Irish tunes and that makes a difference. I must admit he struck me as the William McGonagall of hymns that went on forever with dreary tunes – in my defence I was a dreadful child.

OCP has stuck with some archaic language (eg “thy”) but has an uplifting arrangement by Paul A. Tate and Justin Wedgewood, which you can purchase at OCP.

Hymnary notes 104 tunes that have been used for this text including KINGSFOLD.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one, lay down your head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, weary, worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s Light;”
Look unto Me, your morn shall rise, and all your day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found in Him my star, my sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk till traveling days are done.

After putting up a Worship Now psalm by Gabriel Wanous yesterday I recalled that they also had a free offer on this psalm for The Presentation of the Lord earlier in the year. Alas that has expired but it is still available for $US3 at their site.

It appears they are doing exactly the kind of music OCP isn’t, so maybe they have seen a niche for their style of liturgical music. If anyone wants to let me know more about Worship Now, I’m all ears.

They use ICEL for the response and CCD for the verses so they would need to be rewritten for Australia – what a mess psalms are in the English speaking world.

I must admit there is a lot to like with this upbeat song matching the praise in the psalm. I love the instructions:

1st time: Cantor, acoustic guitar, piano, synth pad.

2nd time: full band and choir.

I wish (insert envy here). You just know they have a Nord keyboard doing the synth pad. He even goes on to specify the drum style for each verse.

I paid attention to a few, but not all, of their instructions for my backing:

Back to the 2026 Breaking Bread selections from OCP for 2026.

This is by Dan Schutte and is described as a “stirring, patriotic tune”.

If it meant to be about the USA, as an outsider looking from across the Pacific from a very imperfect country, the words about hope for immigrants, truth, freedom and justice seem beyond the hope of prayer. Maybe that’s why they are needed, who knows, but I would ban anything patriotic from a Catholic church anyway.

I love Schutte’s music but this one is not very stirring on a first listen.

The sheet music is available at OCP who provide the text in their preview.

Perhaps it should be sung as a lament (and maybe OCP misunderstands Schutte’s intent and he didn’t mean it to be a stirring patriotic song in any case):

Maybe lament is what Chris Brunelle is aiming for too:

I used a free offer from Worship Now for the sheet music of the Psalm for this week, the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Worship Now have modern American Catholic music and if you go there now this psalm is still free. (and may not be later). I’m not sure how much Worship Now music is used but at least they are not GIA and OCP. I thought about getting their hymnal but they wouldn’t ship a hard copy to Australia.

The text is the ICEL responses and the CCD verses, so can’t be used in Australia in any case.

The music is by Gabriel Wanous.

It is set for full band: piano, electric and acoustic guitars and drums with specific drum instructions for different verses. I look at this as I would arrangements requiring two choirs, brass and pipe organ – nice if you’ve got the artillery. I suppose the chorus would be memorable enough after a couple of listens but how often do we do the Lateran liturgy anyway.

At least I have all the instruments on BIAB and I made a quick backing:

Somehow it appears I have never blogged this Frank Andersen folk classic that we are singing tomorrow. How is this possible?

You can buy the sheet music at the MSC site.

I lazily imported an ancient MIDI of mine into BIAB and changed the style a little, rather than making a new backing. The original MIDI file would have been made with BIAB v.1 for Win 3.1 in the 1990s I guess.

Chorus
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation:
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.

1 You are the God of my salvation;
I trust in you and have no fear.
You are the God of all my singing,
the one foundation of my life.

Chorus

2 I will proclaim to all your people
the wonders you have done for me.
You are indeed a God of Goodness,
You draw me gently to your heart.

Chorus

3 Let all who live upon God’s mountain
sing out in gladness and in joy.
The Lord of all is living with you,
The Holy one who calls to you.

Chorus