Worship Aids

Worship Aids

Worship aids can be a wonderful way of assisting the faithful in  their “full, active and conscious participation” in the liturgy.  However, they must be clear, concise, and follow all copyright laws. These prinicples apply when the worship aid is printed for individuals or projected on a screen.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has detailed requirements for publishing companies that can be found here.  While not all norms apply to individual parish liturgies, their  guidelines can give you a good sense of how to set up worship aids.

Good Design Principles

• White space is important. Do not push your text to the edges of the pages.
• There should be at least one-half inch of margin all around each page.
• Do not feel a need to fill every space with text or clip art.
• If you are printing ANY names, ensure they are spelled correctly.

Within the Diocese of Stockton, here are some basic considerations in the preparation of your worship aids.

• The terminology given in the liturgical books is to be followed.  Note that the word "presider" is not to be used as it is not used in  the Sacramentary.
• Each piece of music printed must have a reprint license. For each piece of music, you must include the name of the song and the composer, as well as the copyright notice.
• Music  that is literally copied and pasted is often blurred and difficult to read. Each of the major publishers now offers digital versions of their  music for inclusion in worship aids (subject to reprint license). Please  see the Resource Links page for links to their web pages.
• The  prayers of the Mass are NOT to be included except as necessary to assist  the faithful in their participation. For example, you do not reprint  the Opening Prayer in the worship aid.
• Readings are only to be  included if they are proclaimed in a language that the majority of the  community present does not speak. It is clearly preferable that people  hear the proclamation of the readings, rather than read them in the  worship aid. Reprinting of the full readings requires reprint permission  from the copyright holder.
• Directions related to posture must meet the norms established by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Adaptations for the Diocese of Stockton.
• Any  use of artwork must be appropriate to the seriousness of the  celebration. Easter bunnies on the Easter Sunday worship aid are not OK.  Cartoon style clip art is also not appropriate in most of our  celebrations.
• Any use of clip art must also be from clip art that you have reprint permission to use.