The Heart of Our Music Paperback Set

In The Heart of Our Music, master practitioners of the liturgical art of music come together to offer enriching insights, a stirring vision, and practical new ideas that will change the way you think about liturgy and liturgical ministry. These reflections are written with the needs of parish liturgists and liturgical musicians in mind.

Volume 1 includes reflections on the role of composition, the role of music, the kind of language we use, the missionary dimension of our texts and music, whether esthetic beauty is the only quality needed, and how we think about and name God in the songs we sing.

Volume 2 includes reflections on who sings, the kind of music they sing, the acoustic qualities of our worship spaces, the act of singing itself, the sort of idioms we use, the challenges of multicultural music, how we might better evaluate what we do, and music in the US church today.

Volume 3 includes reflections on how the music we sing and play comes across to the people, processes for bringing different cultures together, the way we think about liturgy, and the way we think about ourselves in liturgy.

John B. Foley, SJ, is the Distinguished Liturgical Theologian and composer of liturgical music at Saint Louis University. He is the founder and director of the Stroble Center for Liturgy, which enlivens, enriches, and deepens the celebration of the Eucharist by enabling Catholics to participate more fully in the Mass, by advancing the composition of liturgical music, and by teaching students about the riches of Catholic liturgy.