My Dear Friends,

About a year ago, St. Katharine Drexel moved away from the Breaking Bread pew hymnal/ missal and brought in the red Worship hymnals. The argument at the time, by my predecessor and by the former music director, is that in the long run you would save money because the three year cycle readings would be in one book, so you would not have to buy new pew missals/hymnals every year. They are very beautiful, and they have a large selection of music to choose from to enhance our liturgies. Many of you donated towards these books in order to memorialize them for a loved one. Yet, since last December, I have had many people approach me about the Worship hymnal and the difficulties that they have had trying to find the Sunday readings, that the print was very small, and that they were heavy to hold. I completely understand all three of those difficulties. difficulty I find myself in is that since you memorialized these hymnals and we have used them for only one year, I would never get rid of them. For better or for worse, they are the hymnals that have been chosen and the hymnals that we will continue to use. But, keeping in mind that for many people, the weight and the small print are difficult, I have made a decision, with the input of many parishioners, to spend money on bringing back a pew missal/hymnal that is more easily help and more user friendly.