Not just about litigation: Singing Justly, Living Justly - copyright Law

A pastoral musician filled in for a vacationing pastoral minister for a funeral. The family asked for a hymn that the vacationing musician did not leave in the prepared portfolio on the organ for the visiting musician. The per diem musician opened the music file cabinet to search for the requested piece of music. The whole file cabinet was filled with copied music; the visiting musician could find not one copy of a piece of purchased music within its contents. The entire music program of the parish, which included several choirs and a fleet of cantors survived on illegally copied music. 

True story.What's wrong with this picture? 

Pastoral musicians and ecclesial ministers always want to do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing means taking the time to read the fine print in the contracts we sign so that we can stay within legal boundaries and continue our pastoral work on behalf of God’s people justly, with honesty and integrity. This issue is not only about possible litigation. We cannot sing about justice if we do not live justly. Period.  

Over the years, different questions regarding copyright law and music usages ricochet like a game of round robin. Practical information is always useful, particularly for pastoral leaders who lead others to live justly by example. This blog addresses copyright law with regard to annual musical worship aids and worship aids published by a parish or diocese.

Do I have to replace my annual music worship aids every year? Yes. When you pay for a subscription, the terms of use require that you disposal of the annual (key word) hymnals and renew with new ones each year. The subscription contributes to just royalty payments for composers and copyright holders for that one year of use only. Recycle the old; buy new.

My softcover yearly hymnals (missalettes) are in great shape. Can I get a license to use them for another year? No. Licenses may not be obtained to continue the use of outdated materials.

Suppose my parish cannot afford new hymnals each year? Consider no worship aid in the pews. Would your community notice the absence of their annual worship aids on Sunday morning or for major celebrations? Might they consider donating anything they could offer, great or small, to restore the worship aids into the pews? Does your community value musical worship?  

Can I print just the lyrics in a program? No. You must provide the entire piece of music, which includes the composer, copyright holder and title of the song. On line programs such as Print and Praise www.printandpraise.com (OCP), Hymnprint www.hymnprint.net (GIA) and Click and Print http://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/click_print.htm (WLP) all provide online and downloadable resources in Tif, Gif and PDF formats. You may subscribe yearly for access to any of these resources or purchase single editions for one time usage.  

Do I need to buy a license to print these songs in a worship aid in addition to the purchase of the piece? Yes. Copyright law requires a license to gain permission to publish your own worship aid. Licensing, OneLicense, World Library Reprint License (see websites below) all offer license assistance.

Do I report usage for the hymns I use in a worship aid? Yes. Under the terms of all licenses, Reporting hymn usage informs the companies so that composers and authors are compensated fairly. How can we sing justice if we do not live justly?

How can I find out more about copyright issues? For more information regarding copyright law and annual or self published worship aids, go to http://www.wlp.jspaluch.com/3396.htm, https://www.licensingonline.org/en-us,http://www.onelicense.net/how_it_works.cfm andhttp://www.denisemorencygannon.org/musician-and-copyright-info/. These websites offer valuable, practical information regarding copyright law, usage, permissions and pricing.

For inspiration, you might want to read my article If You Want to Sing Justice, Live Justly, published by The National Association of Pastoral Musician’s Pastoral Music Magazine, August-September 2003, Volume 27: 6. © 2003. Reprinted with Permission. http://www.denisemorencygannon.org/how-do-we-live-what_blog/     

How does your community pray The Lord's Prayer?

Virgin Orans, a Russian icon called The Great Panagia (All-hallowed). This image of Mary may be found at St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Russia.

How does your community pray The Lord's Prayer?

Do the people know one or more settings or a sung version of the prayer that they sing on Sundays and solemnities? If you've just arrived as the new pastoral musician in a parish that only recites The Lord's Prayer, consider introducing the chant from the Roman Missal as your first setting of that prayer.

The chant is easily sung by everyone and can be sung in the same time it takes to recite the prayer. After a year (or maybe two) of singing the prayer every Sunday, introduce a new setting so that you can alternate between them during different liturgical seasons. Make sure that you have notated copies in the pew for your people as a courtesy. Rehearse them before Mass begins; you may want to continue to rehearse the new setting for about a month until you're sure that everyone is familiar with the prayer.

Remember to tell your community why the sung prayer is preferable to the recited version. The way we celebrate liturgy identifies who we are as a community. Music unites people in body and soul. When a parish sings well together, that is to say with its whole heart and soul involved in the musical prayer at its disposal, prayer generates a corporate channel of grace beyond what the spoken word can do. A healthy, well-sung Lord's Prayer will ehance and heighten the prayer for the community through its own work. 

Need the music for the chanted Lord's Prayer? Click here.

What about the posture of the people throughout the Lord's Prayer? 

Some parishes throughout the United States hold hands as they sing or recite the prayer, often times reaching across the ailes of the church to form a kind of chain link fence. During the doxology (...for the kingdom, the power and glory are yours now and forever, Amen), hand-holding communties raise their connected hands toward the ceiling in somewhat of an emotional swell of voices as the prayer ends, followed by a warm-fuzzy squeeze before people release their hands when the prayer ends.

Fair warning: If you are a new pastor, associate pastor, pastoral associate, deacon, music minister, director of liturgies or the new DRE, change this practice-made-custom after a reasonable period of time passes after you arrive. Get to know your community and let them come to know you before you begin to catechize your parish on bodily postures within liturgical prayer. Changing long time, beloved practices can be very challenging for a community and for new pastoral leaders. You may want to set the orans prayer posture as one of your liturgical goals for your parish. Be sure to plan a strategy of how to reach the goal before you dive in. 

What is the Orans Prayer Posture? 

2nd century depiction of a woman praying in the orans posture. Found in The Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria in Rome, Italy, the depiction suggests that women led prayer for liturgical worship in early Christian times. Very ocassionally, the practice of the ancient orans prayer posture takes root within a parish community that's been substantially catechized in the postures of liturgical prayer. Orans, Latin for "praying" is a bodily attitude of prayer and adopted by the early Christian community as a posture that depicted Christ on the cross in an attitude of surrender to God. Around the 12th century, joined hands replaced the orans posture in liturgical and private prayer. Presiders alone retained the orans posture during worship until the 20th century, when the orans prayer posture made a comeback. 

In making a case for praying The Lord's Prayer with an entire community practicing the orans prayer posture, pastoral leaders may find that teaching children to pray with this posture a conducive approach. Liturgical catechesis can occur within Sunday Mass, school Masses, Children's Liturgy of the Word, during religious education classes and other prayer opportunities that the parish and/or the school may offer. Children are natural seekers when it comes to bodily worship. They learn best when their bodies are involved in activity. Create advocates for good liturgical posture out of their modeling of those postures. The orans prayer posture during The Lord's Prayer is a good place to start. When enough children in the parish are praying The Lord's Prayer in the orans prayer posture, which adult will refuse to follow their lead when properly catechized and asked to pray likewise?  

Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.” Luke 11: 1-2

Maybe we just need to get out of our own way

She waited in line behind another man in the triage area of the hospital emergency department. Her red, swollen face made her feel as though she was a walking tomato with eyes, nose and a mouth. Something had kicked off another histamine reaction; her faced itched and burned until she wanted to peel it off. "Who needs collagen?" she thought when she surveyed her swollen lips and puffed cheeks in the bathroom mirror. One tumescent eye impaired her vision. A partial crack gave her enough vision through the distended second eye to drive herself to a local hospital and be seen by its emergency department staff.  

"Thank God for sun glasses," she thought as she waited in line. The early morning hour and empty waiting room of the emergency department offered her a wiff of hope. Maybe triage would expedite her wait. She longed to escape into the privacy of a treatment bay, pull the curtains around the stretcher and hide before she saw someone that she knew. A migraine headache began to stake its claim between her temples and added to the persistent nausea that stemmed from a combination of post-op fatigue from her recent surgery and her growing list of complex health issues. Anxiety gnawed as she worried that yet another impending illness loomed in front of her. Random tears welled up behind her inflamed eyelids, their salt stinging the dry crevices at each of their outside corners and smarting almost as much as her own self pity.  "Will I ever be well?" she wondered and wished with whatever reserve of strength that was left within her that she could once and for all be done with illness. She was just plain sick of being sick. 

As she wallowed in her own misery, she gradually became aware that an unusual encounter seemed to be taking place between the man standing in line ahead of her at triage. The man was talking on the phone from a line located within the nurse's triage station. She could hear fragments of his dialogue and knew from his speech that he was a functional mentally impaired adult. As he talked, he wept openly, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "I didn't mean for it to happen but I couldn't help it. You'll come for me? Oh thank you, thank you. Yes, I'm all right. I'll wait for you right here. "I love you so much." When he finished his conversation, the man handed the phone receiver back to one of the nurses behind the glass partition of the triage desk. "Thank you so, so much," he said, repeating himself again and again as several of the triage staff soothed him. She surveyed the triage staff who were now all completely engaged in the welfare of this one man standing at the window. Several staff members smiled. A few bowed their heads in sheepish discomfort, perhaps unused to being privy to such unabashed guile. 

So engrossed in the unfolding drama at her disposal, she forgot about her own reason for her visit to the emergency department until she realized that a nurse beckoned for her to approach the second window beyond where the man was still talking to the rest of the staff.  

"What happened? Is he alright?" even while she knew that HIPAA violations may prohibit any of the staff from answering her question. In a low voice, a nurse answered her. "He was mugged on the street right around the corner from his group home." They stole his cell phone and he had no way to reach his supervisor. So he came to the hospital because he hoped that we would help him." 

Another nurse handed the man an envelope and put her fingers to her lips when she spoke directly to him. "Now remember, this is our secret," she said in a kind, firm voice. The man listened with the rapt attention a second grader would give to a beloved teacher. "You cannot tell anyone that we gave you this. You can wait for your ride right here," and the nurse indicated a seat in the nearby waiting area. "They're on their way to pick you up." 

Despite their exterior professional composure, the entire staff looked pleased that the man's deep pain had been turned to profound joy. "Oh, thank you, thank you," he repeated over and over again. "I love you so much. Thank you." The man continued to weep through a smile that spread like warm honey on toast. No one resisted smiling back. 

Someone called her name and the double doors to urgent care yawned wide open to admit her. The desire to know about the contents of the envelope far surpassed her previous desire to lay down on a stretcher and be seen by a physician. When she paused at the window to inquire about the envelope, the triage nurse did not wait for her to ask the question but volunteered the information to someone that had been admitted into a community of compassion, trust and confidentiality.

"We took up a collection so that he could buy a new cell phone and put the money in an unmarked envelope and made him promise not tell anyone what we did. We just don't want him to tell anyone what we did because we really don't want to give people the idea that the ED will buy them a new cell phone -- you know what I mean? But we could help him, so we did."

Christian hospitality offers disciples of Jesus the opportunity to participate as a sharer in the life that implies generosity in the act of giving rather than receiving in the same way that Martha and Mary offer their home to Jesus in today's gospel (Luke 10:38-42). Martha’s hospitality becomes obscured by her complaints, her task-oriented service and her mounting worry and anxiety prompted by her focus on everything else but the person in front of her - Jesus. Martha forgets that she needs to hear the Word in the person of Jesus before acting on the Word. In a nutshell, she gets in her own way. Which one of us can say that we have not done likewise as a disciple of Jesus? Further, how often do we miss an opportunity to be for the other as a eucharistic community? To greet and care for the other standing right in front of us because we're too busy wallowing in self-pity, stress and other indulgent behavior? Our eyes can tend to become a bit swollen and our hearts somewhat crusty with our own entitlement if we eliminate the focus of the Christian's center - Jesus, the better part.  

Maybe we just need to get out of our own way. 

The quality of mercy

PORTIA from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare  The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes The thronèd monarch better than his crown. His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings, But mercy is above this sceptered sway. It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings. It is an attribute to God himself. And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.  Here's a modern interpretation of Shakespeare's words: Officer Lawrence DePrimo, NYPDNo one shows mercy through twisted arm syndrome. Mercy falls the way gentle rain drops on the ground. Mercy acts as a double edged sword: it blesses the one who gives it and the one who receives it. Mercy is strong in the most stalwart people. Mercy looks better in a king than his own crown looks on him. A king’s scepter represents his earthly power, a symbol of majesty and a focal point of royal authority. But mercy is higher than a royal scepter; it is enthroned within in the hearts of kings, a quality of God himself. Kingly power seems most like God’s power when a monarch combines mercy with justice. On November 14, 2012, no one twisted NYPD Officer Lawrence DePrimo's arm to purchase a pair of boots for a homeless man in Times Squares. The man's blistered feet prompted Officer DePrimo to purchase a pair of leather boots and put them on the man's frozen feet. His compassionate act was motivated by a movement within his heart. Justice was served not by Officer DePrimo's removal of the man to a shelter to hide the man from what the public fears and ignores. Rather, mercy born from compassion stirred others to do likewise. In Luke 10: 25-37 , Jesus lays out the quality of mercy that he expects of his disciples.  "But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Jesus asked, "Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” The quality of mercy is not strained when its movement is born from the heart's compassion. Justice can only be served when we allow ourselves to be moved by grace to approach the unapproachable, touch the untouchable, bend low to serve those who others will not serve and speak on behalf of those who have no one to speak for them. A risky business, this quality of mercy that Jesus demands. Officer DePrimo, who did not know that he was being photographed or watched while giving the man a pair of boots was accused of objectifying a homeless person. His merciful act found him the center of media attention and public praise that quickly turned sour when a reporter accused Officer DePrimo of objectifying a homeless person. Suddenly, the compassionate officer became the victim of his own mercy and put a strain on the quality of his mercy. Just or unjust? Worth the risk of his merciful act or not? Discipleship does come with a price. Jesus never promises at the end of the parable that mercy will be easy. He simply tells us to show mercy, which seasons justice. Shakespeare got it right.

REBUILT - a review

When a friend recommended Rebuilt: The Story of a Catholic Parish by Michael White and Tom Corcoran, I agreed to read the new book published by Ave Maria Press. I bought the Kindle version (thank you Amazon.com) and promised myself that I would get around to Rebuilt in a while. To be honest, I anticipated a dry and mechanical read and not a summer sizzler. After my recent abdominal surgery and a somewhat rocky post-op recovery, I was ready for lighter fare. I deserve a break today under some blue sky and pool time with some fiction fun, I reasoned. When I feel better, I'll read a 'work' book. I actually forgot that I had purchased Rebuilt until my friend texted me.

  "Have you read Rebuilt yet?" his message read. "Incredible." My friend's enthusiasm for the book piqued my curiosity. I fired up my Kindle and opened to the first page of Rebuilt.

I cannot stop reading this book. 

Credible, down to earth, painfully honest (the truth hurts) and often laugh-out-loud funny, White and Corcoran draw from the own experiences as pastor and lay associate in their Catholic parish, Church of the Nativity in their book Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter. Their story begins at the point of their own arrival at Church of the Nativity as the ordained pastor and lay married youth minister.

They discovered a once-thriving parish had hit the unseen iceberg of cultural entitlement and quickly sinking into the sea of apathy and empty pews. Nativity parish was flailing like a crane with a broken wing. The church was dirty, the grounds untended, the community was entitled and languid, the ministries insular, the parish music "painfully, ear-achingly, 'please, please, please, for the love of God stop bad,' the preaching disjointed because of the rotation of unplugged clergy, the liturgical celebrations 'moribund and depressing' and the staff 'divided and dysfuntional'. Teenagers and young adults were missing in action from worship. The parishioners treated the staff with indifference or hostility (whatever came first) in this smug and financially comfortable parish community that could not pay its bills (what's wrong with this picture?).

The non-denominational neighboring church met in a warehouse and drew approximately sixty percent of former Nativity parishioners who had flown the Catholic coop. White and Corcoran admit that they considered their stay as pastor and associate at Church of the Nativity a temporary one. "At best we assumed our tenure here would be a brief transition to bigger or, at least, better things. Who really wants to be stuck in a little parish in the woods? Not us." (Rebuilt, page 5)

Despite their multiple efforts to revive the parish through exhaustive and futile programming like Family Friendly Fridays in Lent, which included FREE dinners served by the pastor and staff (people still complained about the FREE food), feature speakers on a variety of topics, youth and faith formation programs, ladies club fashion shows and the usual bake sales by one group and another as fundraising events. Nativity parish also served as a rent-a-church, acting as hosts for off campus groups because the fees could help pay the bills to make up for what the parishioners did not tithe. Church of the Nativity remained a house of what the authors call demanding consumers. Rather than a home of missionary disciples on fire with the Gospel, the parish housed a languid, placid community who identified 'convenient parking' as their principle reason for their attendance on Sunday.

Burned out and drained, White and Corcoran knew that hit a brick wall. The authors prayed, fasted and discerned where God may be leading the parish. They left their comfort zone and explored other ways and means with an open mind. They participated in events offered by thriving non-Catholic churches that helped both pastor and associate garner a harvest of information and ideas that could potentially move Church of the Nativity from its sandbar into the deep unchartered waters of discipleship and mission.

Armed with new vision, spirit and fresh insight, they turned all of their attention to Sunday morning worship. What ensued turned a sinking parish ship into what is now a thriving, vibrant and full to overflowing capacity parish community. Active parishioners became disciples in mission, going after the prize of dechurched Catholics who are returning in droves. They cannot stay away; they find Nativity's celebration of Sunday Eucharist irresistible. From that place of discipleship, mission follows as its natural outcome. What's the first thing you want to do when you find something so wonderful that you cannot wait to experience it again? You share with someone else. Therein lies a big part of Nativity's success. The focal point of the strategic plan is anchored within Sunday Eucharist as the center of Catholic faith. As a result, Church of the Nativity is busting at the seams. The town isn't growing but their parish is over capacity, full of active members, robust ministries and disciples in mission who invite the dechurched population and lost people to come and see. They are welcomed with joy and hospitable welcome. 

Rebuilt's inspiring story will resonate with anyone who ministers in a parish and with people who participate in parish life in large or minimal ways. Rebuilt will ring true (and without judgment) with intermittent Catholics who only come to church on Christmas and Easter, maybe Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday and when they need to initiate their young, marry and bury the dead. Father White and Mr. Corcoran give special and compassionate attention to lost people. Whether the population of dechurched Catholics - those folks who consider sacramental life part of their past, or people with little or no faith life whatsoever, the authors remind us that lost people are who Jesus sought out in his earthly ministry. Christ left his disciples with a mandate to go out to all the world, to baptize and preach the good news of the Gospel. That means extending ourselves to people who aren't sitting under our noses.

This intentional disposition toward lost people demands our rigorous and intentional effort toward church members registered on the parish books (or not) but missing in action from the church pews. Rebuilt reminds us that the Church's mission is to welcome and serve all people in Christ's name - not just those folks who come to us. The Church must go to them.

Rebuilt offers practical strategies for all Catholic leaders seeking ways to restore their own parishes to good health. The authors repeatedly say that although their strategies and ideas worked for them in their particular context and culture, each parish must develop its own strategic plan based on its own history and cultural context if they wish to rebuild parishes whose rudders may be stuck in the mud and whose whose structure and its people may be in need of life preservers.

Lay pastoral associate Tom Corcoran, a married man with five children under the age of 10 writes that in his early tenure at Nativty parish, he began to evaluate his youth ministry programs that did little more than exhaust and frustrate him. He prioritized five biblical purposes that serve as the vision for how to carry out Gospel mission: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelization. This chronology affirms what the the Second Vatican Council envisioned in its sequence of conciliar constitutions. Beginning with the celebration of Sunday Eucharist, excellent worship (sound presidential leadership, robust ministry, beautiful music that serves the liturgy, sterling preaching, welcoming hospitality, etc.) catapults a nurtured and grace filled faith community from worship to the natural outcomes of koinonia, service and sharing the good news of the Gospel for the lost.

I've worked in myriad pastoral settings throughout 47 years of ministry and education. Reading Rebuilt resonated in a way that other books on the subject of ministry can not. Rebuilt is written out of an experience that integrates pastoral theology in a non-esoteric style. The humorous truims will surely hit a home run with many, many people who participate (or not!) in the life of the Church. I admire the authors' narratives and experiences, their admitted fail attempts and their valiant efforts to return to the proverbial drawing board to start again. Mostly, I admire their committed discipleship to not throw in the towel when the going got tough and cheered their success when they discovered new strategies that awakened an entire Catholic faith community.

When you read Rebuilt, maybe you find will yourself and your own stories within its pages. Perhaps the suggestions will encourage you to pray, think and act, to be honest and really take a good long look at how and why you do (or do not) worship God in your parish, the way in which you lead and minister and the kind of disposition you treat the lost and dechurched populations. Maybe you'll recognize where you need to change and grow to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ in whatever way you've been called, however that may be. And maybe you'll be affirmed in something wonderful that you can add to Rebuilt's strategy that will work in your own pastoral context. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. Ask and it shall be given. You never know what's in store from the treasure chest of God's bunker until you seek, knock and ask.

For church leaders, Rebuilt may be a starting point for you to consider, but copying someone else's model is not what this book is about. Rebuilt inspires you to find what strategies will work best within your own context. Copycatting is a recipe failure. Rely on the creative Spirit of God to rejuvenate your ministry to adapt to your own cultural context.

Many of the strategies employed by Church of the Nativity are the same strategies that led to successful ministry in the contexts where I served over the years. I did not work alone; a lot of wonderful people contributed their labor and gifts to produce a rich harvest in the Lord's vineyard. I believe that a big key to Church of the Nativity's success and its subsequently story of Rebuilt may be found in the work of a like-minded community of faith, including the staff who leads. That kind of cultural change takes time, prayer and effort on everyone's part, not just a percentage or a portion of the people. Will change produce conflict? Take a look at Jesus on the cross. There’s your answer. 

Read Rebuilt. Check out Church of the Nativity's website. The site's Rebuilt section offers specific bullet point chapter by chapter assistance  with videos by members of the pastoral team. Technology has officially entered the world of ministry as a major player and this parish makes full use of its breadth as a missionary device for outreach. In the third millennium, Rebuilt's practical, humorous and honest approach offers its readers a fresh approach to the new evangelization that both pastoral teams and parish communities will find exhilarating and irresistible - just the way every experience of Church should be. 

Happy reading!