Hi, Skarpi - I suppose in its original meaning, "folk mass" or "guitar mass" refers to the music that became popular in the Roman Catholic Church in English-speaking countries in the late 1960's, after the Mass was translated from Latin to English. Most of the songs were freshly-written three-chord songs similar to the music of the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul, and Mary - they were not folk music, in most cases - but many of the songs were at least what you might call "catchy," which may or may not have been an improvement over the heavy anthems and Gregorian chant of the 1940's and 1950's (generally sung at a dirge cadence). The first successful U.S. publisher of "folk Mass" music was F.E.L. Publications of Chicago (FEL= Friends of the English Liturgy), which published the hugely successful Hymnal for Young Christians. the hymnal has mysic by Ray Repp (Clap Your Hands, Allelu), James Thiem (Sons of God), and some other well-intentioned nuns and priests and seminarians. Catholic parishes made up mimeographed booklets of "folk Mass" songs by the hundreds of thousands, to be used as supplements to traditional hymnals. FEL filed lawsuits against a number of Catholic parishes and dioceses for copyright infringement, and won some big settlements. The churches paid the settlements, and stopped buying FEL hymnals.

Many of the "folk Mass" choirs added religious lyrics to pop songs, and the score from the musical play Godspell was popular in many churches. In the 1970's, folk choirs added drums and electric guitars to keep up with the times, and some choirs dressed in matching polyester outfits with the men wearing bell bottom pants and long sideburns.

N.A.L.R. (North American Liturgy Resources - pronounced "nailer") of Phoenix, Arizona, became the next successful "folk Mass" publisher, with its Glory and Praise hymnals that had music from the St. Louis Jesuits and former Rev. Cary Landry.

An old Catholic music publisher, the Gregorian Institute of America, became GIA Publications. The Catholic Truth Society of Oregon became Oregon Catholic Press, and later OCP Publications. OCP bought out NALR, and the FEL songs went to various publishers. I think the name changes allowed these two publishers to appeal to a broader market. the Roman Catholic Church doesn't publish hymnals, but many Protestant churches do - and many of them include songs from GIA and OCP.

While the Catholic and "mainstream" churches brought in new music from 1960's pop-folk music, the "evangelical" or "born-again" churches brought in "praise music" from the pop-country style of music of the 1980's. In my opinion, all of this resulted in a lot of bad music - and a few very good songs and a number of reasonably acceptable songs.

I think that a number of the "mainstream" churches have found "folk Mass" music tiresome, and there has been a movement away from it to a more eclectic mix. "Praise music" is a bit newer, and is just beginning to wane in popularity. I think that has always been the case with all music. Most songs are popular for only a brief time, and only the best of them remain after a few years.

Skarpi - if you're going to do a "folk Mass," be careful. There's a lot of bad music out there - but a lot of good stuff, too. Good luck.

-Joe Offer-