You're searching for a hymnal that matches the musical needs of your parish.
And you think you may have discovered the "perfect hymnal" - our hymnal A Catholic Book of Hymns - and are deciding whether you want the Gregorian Chants included - until you discover the propers and readings aren’t in our hymnal.
That's right. They are not.
There’s a good reason our hymnal doesn’t include the propers and readings.
For centuries, the Mass texts—the priest’s prayers and Scripture passages—were contained in a Missal, while the congregation’s music - hymns - sat in a separate hymnal.
That arrangement worked perfectly—until Vatican II introduced vernacular translations without making them permanent. In the 1970s, my parish experimented with an all-in-one-book, a single volume combining a missal and a hymnal. Although the young priests voted it down, our pastor ordered it to save on printing two books.
But here’s the catch: every time the Church issued a new English translation (not once but twice since then), parishes had to discard and repurchase the entire all-in-one-book — even though the hymn texts and tunes hadn’t changed. In effect, churches paid twice for the exact same music.
Now, in 2025, we’re on the brink of yet another revised translation and paying for the hymns we've already bought two times already. Déjà vu, right? Paying a third time for the same hymns.
By purchasing a traditional Hymnal, only the Missal needs replacing—saving parishes real money when the texts of the Mass and Scripture are changed again.
Here’s the Simple Solution - go back in time.
Split the roles into a permanent hymnal and a missal and save money.
Take a good look at A Catholic Book of Hymns with the option of Gregorian chants - a permanent hymnal
Then:
Explore the Source & Summit Annual Companion Missal
- Mass Settings
- Complete propers for every Mass (Entrance, Offertory, Communion)
- Daily readings and rubrics right at your fingertips
- Cost savings - not having hymns reduces the number of pages and cost
- Right now it protects you from being stuck with a new outdated worship book
- Sing the hymns
- Order it with Gregorian Chants as a preferred option if you wish
- Cost Savings - As a permanent hymnal it will never affected by translation changes
- Seamlessly turn to the Companion Missal for the Mass and readings
Take Action Today
Discover how the Companion Missal can serve your parish in these changing times. This paperback missal is the affordable choice until the new translation is in place.
Imagine the Difference
No more last‑minute handouts. No more page‑flipping chaos. Your liturgies flow smoothly, your congregation engages fully, and every element—song, chant, reading—feels united in worship.
Let the Source & Summit Companion Missal work hand in hand with our hymnals and enrich every Mass.