The Hymnal Industrial Complex

A brief summary of this report is provided in the following 6-minute video.  The more detailed report follows, below.

Since the 1960s, the ancient chants and beautiful hymns that once elevated the Mass have been discarded in favor of a more “modern” sound. Organs and choirs have given way to guitars, pianos, and tambourines, a shift many faithful Catholics find deeply inappropriate. Yet few realize that this transformation is not just a matter of musical preference—it is rooted in a deliberate, anti-Catholic agenda embedded within the parish hymnal industry.

At the center of this upheaval stand two publishing giants: Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) and GIA Publications. If you’ve attended Mass in the last few decades, you’ve likely seen their hymnals behind the pews, with titles like Glory and Praise, Spirit and Song, JourneySongs, and Breaking Bread. These companies have turned Catholic hymnody into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, profiting off what was once freely available to the faithful. By issuing reprint licenses, selling CDs, and continuously churning out new hymnals and missalettes, OCP and GIA rake in tens of millions of dollars annually—all while dictating what parishes sing every Sunday.

This kind of profiteering off the Church is scandalous in itself. However, the deeper issue is who controls this industry—the people reaping the profits are not just business executives. They are ideologues with a mission to reshape Catholic worship.

Catholic apologist Trent Horn recently sounded the alarm with his video These Worship Songs Need to Be Abolished, exposing some of the worst hymns plaguing Catholic churches today. The video has garnered hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments, a clear sign that frustrated Catholics are waking up to the reality that something is deeply flawed with the music at Mass.

Horn skillfully exposed the serious theological problems in these hymns—songs that distort Catholic teaching, promote a human-centered message, and fail to reflect the sacred reality of the Eucharist.

Here’s the kicker: every single hymn Horn exposed comes from either the Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) or GIA Publications.

But OCP and GIA don’t just publish music for parishes—they control it. Whether parishes purchase new hymnals or not, these two companies generate tens of millions of dollars annually. More than just publishers, they control hymn licenses and dictate what parishes sing every Sunday.

But the issue runs deeper.

One would expect organizations with such a deep influence over Catholic worship to uphold Church teaching, but a closer look at their leadership, financial entanglements, and ideological agenda tells a very different story.

This investigation uncovers how OCP and GIA have built an empire where their ideology directs the music, their structure silences alternatives, and their financial grip burdens parishes with unrelenting payments.

Who’s Calling the Shots?

While Alec Harris oversees GIA Publications from the top, the real power over what parishes are allowed to sing lies in the executives who control One License—the licensing giant that dictates the legality of church hymn use. 

For years, Brenna Horn-Cronin, a vocal LGBTQ+ activist, held that role. She leveraged her influence over Catholic liturgical music to push an agenda at odds with Church teaching. Her replacement, Katie M. Deaver, now carries that mission forward, ensuring that parishes remain financially dependent on One License. At the same time, hymnals are filled with sappy, insipid music that reflects a progressive theological shift rather than the sacred traditions of the Church.

The Man at the Top

Overseeing all of this at GIA is its president, Alec Harris. For nearly four decades, Harris has transformed GIA from a publisher of Gregorian chant into a distributor of contemporary hymns. His control over the company has been nothing short of a reign—one that has enriched him financially while ensuring Catholic parishes remain dependent on his company’s ever-changing, ever-profitable music catalog.

Under his leadership, GIA Publications became a co-owner of One License in 2017. This licensing organization requires parishes to pay fees for the use of copyrighted hymns in various contexts, such as projection or streaming.  

But Harris’s influence extends beyond business—his financial and ideological affiliations reveal a deep opposition to Catholic moral teachings.

In 2014, Harris and his wife, Carollina Song, were listed as in-kind donors to the Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW). This group directly funds pro-abortion initiatives and partners with Planned Parenthood.

Under its guiding principles, CFW publicly asks, “How does your organization support a woman’s right to reproductive justice?” Harris and Song answered that question by supporting the Foundation. According to records, she donated again in 2015.  But this shouldn’t be too surprising, considering the fact that Harris isn’t even Christian.  

Alec Harris is Jewish. He is a member of the Chicago Sinai Congregation, serving as its president from 2005-2007 and again from 2022-2024, and currently serves on its Executive Committee, as well as on the President’s Advisory Council.  On June 3, 2022, while acting as president of the Chicago Sinai Congregation, Harris wrote some remarks as President to the congregation, acknowledging his work with GIA Publications and the Jewish upbringing of his children while in a mixed marriage.  He wrote:

“I run my family business, a music publishing company called GIA Publications, with seventy-five employees, that is my real full-time job. I’m in an interfaith marriage…my wife Carollina and I have been married for twenty-eight years. I’m the child of a Holocaust survivor; my mother has an understandably fraught relationship with organized religion.

Carollina also has a fraud relationship, but I doubt I would be here if not for her. She asked me early in our relationship if I cared whether our children had a religious upbringing. I said yes, and it should be Judaism. She encouraged that choice but challenged me to engage and learn more and be responsible since I was the Jewish partner.”

In addition to this, Harris is also on the board, serving as the co-treasurer, of the Union for Reform Judiasm.

As a board member and official for the Union for Reform Judiasm (URJ), Harris is both aware of, and supportive of, the professed beliefs of the organization.  Under “What We Believe,” URJ has a page dedicated to “Reproductive Health and Rights.”

On this page, URJ professes its firm commitment to abortion and birth control:

“The Reform Movement’s positions on reproductive rights are grounded in the core belief that each person should have agency and autonomy over their own bodies. Our advocacy around abortion access is inspired by the Jewish value of kavod ha’briyot, respect for individual dignity. This same sanctity underscores the vital need for medically accurate sexuality education, affordable family planning services, and high-quality maternal and women’s health care.”

To prove its commitment to abortion, URJ’s Religious Action Center has an entire page dedicated to fighting for abortion-access following the 2024 Dobbs decision which struck down Roe v. Wade.

But it’s not just abortion that URJ supports.  URJ is also all about “LGBTQ+ Equality.”  The very first line of the page – which makes it clear that URJ is in favor of all manner of sexual perversion, including same-sex “marriage” and transgenderism – says:

“The Reform Movement has been advocating for LGBTQ+ rights since 1965, when the Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) called for the decriminalization of homosexuality.”

In 2015, URJ passed a resolution “On the Rights of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People.”  The 9-point resolution, among other things, declares:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Union for Reform Judaism:

1. 1. Urges the adoption and implementation of legislation and policies that prevent discrimination based on gender identity and expression, and that require individuals to be treated equally under the law as the gender by which they identify. This includes establishing the right to change without undue burden their identification documents to reflect their gender and name and ensuring equal access to medical and social services;
   2. Calls on the U.S. and Canadian governments at all levels to review and revise all laws and policies to ensure full equality and protections for people of all gender identities and expressions;

There can be no doubt that Alec Harris – the non-Christian president of one of the largest publishing houses for music in Catholic parishes – is fully committed to grave moral evils and false religious teachings directly opposed to the Catholic Faith.  But given this, one is left with the question, ‘How did a non-Christian even come to be the head of one of the largest Catholic hymnal publishers in the country, to begin with?’  In 1941, Clifford Bennett, the music director for Sacred Heart Parish in Pittsburgh, PA, launched a correspondence course called the “Catholic Choirmaster’s Correspondence Course.”  The intention of the course was to assist in certifications for choir directors, showing competency in the use and direction of sacred music.  In 1945, the name was changed to the Gregorian Institute of America and relocated to Toledo, OH.  Following the closure of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the Institute fell on hard times due to shifts in the Mass and in liturgical music.  In 1967, the Institute was sold to Ed Harris, Alec Harris’ father.  James White, in his 1995 book “Roman Catholic Worship: Trent to Today,” wrote of the change of the Institute’s name to GIA Publishers (page 89):

“The change of the name of the Gregorian Institute of America in 1968 to G.I.A. Publishers was a sign of changed times. A mighty effort had been made for sixty years to make Gregorian chant the usual music of Roman Catholics, but it was an impossible task.”

Remarking on this change (p. 109-110), White indicated that the change was made with intention to hide its roots in Gregorian chant.  He wrote:

“Later it was to be camouflaged as GIA and became a major publisher of hymnals. Joseph Gelineau began in 1947 to introduce into French parishes a new method of singing psalms in the vernacular. Gregorian Institute of America eventually became the leading publisher of the Gelineau psalms in this country.”

This one change of hands of the premier publisher and promoter of the Church’s richest traditions in sacred music is responsible for the up-ending of sacred music throughout the United States.  It makes absolutely no sense for a non-Christian to head the largest publisher of Catholic hymnals in the country, but given the destruction wrought by this one publishing house, we can only turn to the words of our Blessed Savior: “An enemy hath done this.”

But Alec Harris and his father aren’t alone in illustrating the rot at the top of this company.  Carollina Song, Harris’ wife, is an outspoken activist who actively promotes radical progressive causes. Her Facebook banner features a massive sign reading “F*** Trump,” making her political allegiances clear. She has publicly supported Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, aligning herself with pro-abortion and LGBTQ+ causes.

Her advocacy for so-called “gay marriage” is particularly revealing. In a 2017 Facebook post, she reminisced about attending a same-sex wedding in the 1990s, writing:

“These are my dear friends Stephen and Dale. I met Stephen during the dark days of the Reagan administration, doing volunteer work in the HIV+ community. Alec and I were honored to attend their wedding 20+ years ago. It was a lovely day, and the cake was yummy.”

She described how, at the time, gay marriage was an unthinkable concept, calling the ceremony “subversive, even transgressive.”

Her celebration of LGBTQ+ activism extends beyond words—she openly distorts patriotic symbols to push her ideology.

One of the most disturbing examples is her image of the Statue of Liberty making out with Lady Justice, with the gay marriage equal sign in the background—a grotesque manipulation of American symbols to promote her agenda.

By hijacking two of the most recognized emblems of American freedom and justice, she demonstrates a blatant willingness to desecrate national imagery for political ends.

Harris is not merely complicit—he actively participates in this agenda. A Facebook image of Alec and Carollina Song with a pride flag overlay covering their faces further cements that he is not a passive bystander but fully aligned with LGBTQ+ activism.

For nearly 40 years, Harris has ruled GIA as a kingdom of wealth, transforming it into a profit-driven machine that thrives on subscription-based hymnals, licensing fees, and perpetual dependence on parishes.

Brenna Horn-Cronin

For years, Brenna Horn-Cronin served as Executive General Manager of One License under GIA Publications, controlling licensing for over 30,000 churches, retreat centers, and religious communities worldwide. Her role ensured that OCP and GIA remained the dominant forces in Catholic parishes, with no way for churches to escape their control—parishes had to pay licensing fees indefinitely to use copyrighted hymns.

But Horn-Cronin was far from a neutral business executive. Her radical activism showed a blatant disregard for Catholic teaching, particularly in her open advocacy for LGBTQ+ causes and same-sex marriage. On Dec. 23, 2021, Brenna posted a “wedding” photo of her “marriage” to Lisa Horn-Cronin, with whom she has a child.  

But her activism extended far beyond personal beliefs—she used Catholic liturgical spaces to defy Church authority.

One of the most striking examples of her defiance occurred at a 2013 Mass organized by the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach (AGLO), a group approved by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. During this Mass, a Rainbow Sash Movement member—a group demanding LGBTQ+ acceptance without repentance—protested by wearing a rainbow sash. In accordance with Catholic teaching, Cardinal Francis George refused this individual Communion. However, Horn-Cronin, who was only a choir member, took it upon herself to distribute the Eucharist in direct violation of the cardinal’s decision, ensuring that the protester received Communion despite clear opposition from Church leadership.

This was not a misunderstanding—it was a calculated act of rebellion against the Church’s authority over the sacraments in favor of promoting her LGBTQ+ ideology.

Horn-Cronin does not post about religion on social media, primarily featuring images of her and her partner, Lisa Horn-Cronin. However, Lisa has one religious post from 2021 on Facebook, where she honored a deceased Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) board member.

According to its website, the WOC advocates for female priests and promotes “feminist, womanist, mujerista, and other liberating spiritualities” within Catholicism. Her post included the hashtags #OrdainWomen and #OrdainWomenNow, linking directly to the WOC website.

Horn-Cronin’s progressive activism extends beyond liturgical defiance. She leads Eastern spirituality, yoga-based meditation, and social-emotional learning techniques, all of which the Vatican has warned against for their potential to distort Catholic prayer (1989 Letter on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation). With such an ideological foundation, it’s no surprise that One License, under her leadership, functioned not only as a financial stronghold over Catholic parishes but also as a vehicle for progressive theology.

Eventually, Horn-Cronin transitioned from One License to School Music License, which serves educational institutions instead of churches. Her replacement, Katie M. Deaver, now continues this agenda, ensuring that parishes remain financially dependent on One License.

Katie M. Deaver

When Brenna Horn-Cronin left One License, Katie M. Deaver stepped in as General Manager, continuing the progressive transformation of Catholic hymnody. Before assuming this role, she served as Associate General Manager, actively shaping licensing policies and determining which music parishes could use.

Deaver’s ideological leanings are no mystery. As evidenced by her PhD. in “Feminist Theology” and her published works, she has an extensive history of promoting radical feminist theology and progressive social ideologies. She has written positive reviews for books like Women’s Bodies as Battlefield, a work deeply rooted in feminist theology, and Pro-Choice AND Christian, which attempts to justify abortion from a Christian perspective. Her writing portfolio extends beyond book reviews—she has authored numerous feminist articles and has consistently advocated for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Church.

In keeping with her progressive ideological stance, Deaver also signed a pro-LGBTQ+ manifesto, aligning herself with movements explicitly opposed to Catholic moral teachings. 

Article 1 of the manifesto explicitly rejects God’s design for creation, specifically wherein Genesis states, “Male and female, He created them.”  Countering this, the Manifesto states:

“WE DENY any teaching that suggests God’s creative intent is limited to a gender binary or that God’s desire for human romantic relationships is only to be expressed in  heterosexual relationships between one man and one woman.”

Article 2 affirms same-sex “marriage,” and rejects that marriage is restricted to a union between one man and one woman.

With her at the helm of One License, there is no doubt that Catholic parishes will continue to pay into a system that promotes music reflecting her theological worldview.

However, Deaver does not act alone. GIA Publication’s leadership team reflects a broader progressive network that reshapes Catholic liturgical music.

GIA’s Leadership and Their Ideological Alignment

A closer look at the executives at GIA Publications shows a pattern of alignment with radical progressive ideologies. Three key members of GIA’s leadership—Jennifer Odegard, Kate Williams, and Sarah Wolf—publicly display their preferred pronouns on their LinkedIn profiles, symbolically aligning with gender ideology. This movement rejects the Catholic understanding of the human person, which teaches that God created mankind male and female (Genesis 1:27, CCC 2333).

Beyond gender ideology, GIA leadership has also been vocal in its support for LGBTQ+ activism, particularly efforts to normalize homosexual relationships and behaviors that contradict Catholic teaching. Kate Williams, for instance, expressed her support by stating that there was “nowhere else [she’d] rather be” than “in the church during PRIDE month for a night to pray with LGBTQ+ Catholics.” This movement challenges Church teachings on marriage, gender, and human sexuality.

The troubling reality is that these individuals control what hymns Catholic parishes sing. The people making editorial and licensing decisions at One License and GIA Publications ideologically oppose the Catholic Church’s moral and theological framework.

Their leadership ensures that modern hymnals subtly but systematically promote a progressive theological agenda that dilutes Eucharistic theology, prioritizes inclusivity over doctrinal clarity, and reorients worship toward a human-centered experience rather than God-centered reverence.

From Sacred Chant to Secular Cheese

Catholic liturgical music is rooted in Gregorian Chant and sacred polyphony, which developed over centuries to elevate the soul, direct worship toward God, and reflect the sacred mysteries of the Mass.

Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963) reaffirmed this tradition, stating:

“The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.”

Despite this clear directive, OCP and GIA abandoned the Church’s musical tradition in favor of contemporary hymns modeled on folk, pop, and Protestant worship music.

This shift did not happen overnight. It began in the 1960s and 1970s when broader cultural changes—especially in Western music and experimental liturgical practices—reshaped Catholic worship in ways Vatican II never explicitly called for, and instead of fostering a greater appreciation for traditional Catholic hymnody, OCP and GIA pushed a wave of contemporary, feel-good compositions that borrowed heavily from Protestant, folk, and soft rock influences.

Much was lost in the process.

Catholic sacred music was defined by theological richness, reverence, and doctrinal precision for centuries. However, ambiguous lyrics, shallow sentimentality, and ‘community-building’ themes have replaced music designed to draw worshippers into the mystery of the Eucharist.

Hymns That Undermine Catholic Doctrine

This transformation has not been without controversy. In 2020, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church, which warned that many widely used hymns misrepresent Catholic doctrine—especially regarding the Eucharist, salvation, and the nature of the Church.

Among the hymns flagged for doctrinal concerns were:

• All Are Welcome – (OCP/GIA) Promotes an ambiguous, community-centered theology that lacks any reference to conversion or the necessity of faith.
• God is Here! As We His People – (OCP/GIA) Uses vague language that obscures the reality of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
• Now in This Banquet – (GIA) Presents a theologically deficient understanding of the Eucharist, treating it primarily as a communal meal rather than the true presence of Christ.
• Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees – (OCP/GIA) A hymn with Protestant origins that offers no clear Eucharistic theology and reduces Holy Communion to a symbolic act.

Despite warnings from the U.S. bishops, these hymns remain staples in Catholic parishes—not because they align with the Church’s liturgical vision but because OCP and GIA continue to publish and promote them.

OCP and GIA control most Catholic hymnals and missals used in U.S. parishes, including widely used annual missals (Breaking Bread, Today’s Missal, Heritage Missal) and hardbound hymnals (Gather, Journeysongs, Glory & Praise, RitualSong, Worship). As the dominant providers of Catholic liturgical music, they have systematically replaced Gregorian Chant, sacred polyphony, and doctrinally rich hymns with commercially driven, mass-produced compositions designed for easy congregational singing rather than theological depth. Alternative options have been pushed to the margins, ensuring parishes remain dependent on their publications.

What was once the Church’s inheritance of sacred music—designed to lift hearts and minds toward God—has been reduced to a rotation of disposable, theologically questionable, and musically inferior compositions.

OCP’s Nonprofit Status and Financial Secrecy

Unlike GIA Publications, which operates as a for-profit company, Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) is registered as a nonprofit organization. This status exempts OCP from filing a standard Form 990, which most nonprofits must submit to ensure financial transparency.

Why? Because OCP qualifies as a religious nonprofit and is covered under the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) IRS group ruling (USCCB Tax and Group Ruling). The IRS does not require churches or their integrated auxiliaries to file a 990, meaning OCP’s financial operations remain largely hidden from public scrutiny, even though it generates tens of millions of dollars annually from hymnal sales, licensing fees, and digital music distribution.

However, OCP must still file a 990-T because it generates taxable “unrelated business income” (UBI). A rare glimpse into its finances comes from its 2016 Form 990-T, which exposes glaring financial discrepancies. The form shows that OCP:

• Declared only $444,654 in unrelated business income.
• Reported total assets of $53,459,465, confirming its vast financial holdings.
• Listed salaries and wages at just $27,152, an amount suspiciously low for an organization of its size.

Since Breaking Bread sales and licensing fees are classified as exempt religious activities, they aren’t required to appear on the 990-T.  However, OCP’s overall revenue remains a mystery, as no public financial documents reveal how much it truly makes or where the money goes.

In 2017, OCP merged its licensing operations with GIA Publications to form One License, further blurring the lines between nonprofit and for-profit dealings and making it even harder to track the flow of funds.

While Catholic parishes struggle financially, OCP enjoys tax-exempt benefits while operating like a multimillion-dollar corporate entity—all while avoiding the transparency required of most nonprofits.

Liturgical Pay-to-Pray Monopoly

Beyond ideological concerns, OCP and GIA’s dominance also pose significant financial challenges for Catholic parishes. Unlike traditional hymnals, which could last for decades, OCP and GIA engineer their products to expire, forcing churches into an endless repurchasing cycle.

A single parish purchasing 200 copies of Breaking Bread at $18.24 each incurs a cost of $3,648 per year. With 17,651 Catholic parishes across the U.S., this translates to over $64 million annually flowing into OCP’s pockets—all for books that could easily last for years if they weren’t deliberately designed for obsolescence.

But the price gouging doesn’t stop there.

Even after purchasing hymnals, parishes do not own the music in them. To legally reprint, project, or stream copyrighted hymns in worship, they must pay annual or per-use licensing fees through One License, a system in which OCP and GIA are the dominant publishers.  

Yet the financial entrapment of Catholic worship extends beyond hymnals. Even the very words of the Mass—the official English translations of the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours—are subject to copyright control. The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), a consortium of bishops’ conferences, owns the rights to these translations and charges licensing fees to publishers for their use.

This means that parishes are not just paying for hymnals—they are paying for the right to pray the official texts of the Church in English. OCP and GIA Publications license ICEL translations for their hymnals, ensuring that even the Mass texts are financially linked to the same monopolistic network that dictates what Catholics sing. This arrangement reinforces the financial chokehold on Catholic worship, binding not only hymnody but even the sacred prayers of the Church to an entrenched system of recurring payments.

A parish wishing to print a pew card with the Gloria or the Creed must pay for the privilege—not to a private publishing house, but to a bureaucratic translation committee operating within the same financially exploitative framework.

The entrapment doesn’t stop there. In addition to ICEL’s copyright control over the very words of the Mass, OCP and GIA have consolidated their grip on music licensing through a single, centralized entity.

This monopoly was cemented in 2017 when OCP and GIA merged their separate licensing entities—LicenSingOnline.org and OneLicense.net—into a single company now known as One License. By consolidating their licensing services, these two publishers became the gatekeepers of Catholic liturgical music, dictating which songs parishes can legally use and how much they must pay—all from one source.  According to One License’s “Options and Prices” page, annual licensing fees just to make photocopies of the sheet music for choir members can range from $124 for a tiny chapel of 25 weekly attendees to $1,926 for larger parishes where there could be more than 21,000 attendees per week.  

If a parish refuses to continue paying, it loses its legal right to reproduce, display, or broadcast the hymns it purchased. 

This is not just a business model—it is a financial chokehold on Catholic worship.

OCP and GIA have rigged the system in their favor by controlling every aspect of Catholic hymnody, acting as:

• The publishers (they control what music is included, what lyrics are changed, and what theological messages are promoted).
• The licensing gatekeepers (parishes must pay ongoing fees to access the music, even after purchasing hymnals).
• The enforcers of usage fees (churches that do not comply risk legal action for unauthorized reproduction).

This closed-loop system ensures that Catholic parishes must keep paying indefinitely, funneling money into OCP and GIA while leaving churches with no viable alternatives.

As Publishers and Distributors

OCP and GIA don’t just produce Catholic hymnals—they control what music is available, shaping the theological message in parishes worldwide.

As publishers, they wield significant influence over:

• Music selection—deciding which hymns are included or removed.
• Lyric changes—altering texts to fit modernist theological trends.
• Theological messaging—ensuring their ideological priorities dominate Catholic liturgical music.

While they offer some hardbound hymnals, their subscription-based missals require constant renewal, leading to recurring costs for parishes (GIA Hymnals & Missals). These frequent updates systematically phase out older hymnals, replacing traditional Catholic music with contemporary compositions that reflect modernist theology rather than the Church’s sacred musical heritage.

As major distributors, OCP and GIA have established a near-monopoly on Catholic hymnals, causing many parishes to adopt their resources by default. This market dominance has marginalized alternative publishers, making it harder for churches to discover hymnals that prioritize Gregorian chant, polyphony, and doctrinally sound hymns.

Their subscription-based model locks churches into a cycle of renewal fees, ensuring a steady revenue stream for these companies while keeping parishes financially dependent on them.  This system ensures perpetual revenue for OCP and GIA while restricting parishes from freely using music they have already paid for.  A Latin adage states, “Non omne quod licet honestum est“—not everything legal is honorable.

While technically legal, this scheme is shameless. OCP and GIA have turned Catholic worship into a business empire, one where parishes must pay for the right to pray.

They have entrenched themselves as gatekeepers, ensuring that millions of dollars flow into their pockets yearly—money that could have gone toward truly sacred music, parish missions, or works of mercy.

There Are Alternatives!

Bishops, priests, and faithful Catholics must ask themselves:

Why continue funding organizations that undermine the Church’s sacred tradition?

It is time to seek liturgical music that aligns authentically with the Church’s mission—where Gregorian Chant and sacred polyphony are given pride of place, as the Church has always intended.

• STOP buying these hymnals.
• STOP paying for these licenses.
• DEMAND music that is truly Catholic.

Catholic worship does not belong to corporate executives, ideological activists, or licensing boards. It belongs to the Church, the faithful, and ultimately, God.

What Can You Do?

Parishes do not have to rely on OCP and GIA.

Alternatives exist that align with Catholic teaching and do not require recurring licensing fees.

• The Adoremus Hymnal preserves traditional Latin and English hymns, following Vatican II’s directive to maintain sacred music.
• The St. Michael Hymnal provides a rich selection of Gregorian Chant, polyphony, and traditional hymns, upholding the beauty of Catholic worship.
• Corpus Christi Watershed offers high-quality sacred music resources that parishes can use without costly licenses.

For decades, OCP and GIA have controlled the Catholic music industry, extracting millions from parishes while their leaders openly promote ideologies opposed to Church teaching.

It is time for bishops, priests, and faithful Catholics to take action.

It is time to reclaim authentic Catholic worship.

It is time to restore true sacred music to its rightful place.

It is time to sing the Lord a new song of old and worship Him in spirit and in truth.