It’s no secret that composers and music publishers are scrambling to create new musical settings for the new translation of the Roman Missal, due to take effect late next year.

But we have a rare window into the process over at the blog Pray Tell, where composer Michael “On Eagles Wings” Joncas describes some of the work involved in a new mass for the Maryknoll missionaries:

I was deeply honored when, in preparation for the 2011 celebration of the centennial of papal approval of the Catholic Foreign Missions Society, Maryknoll officials through Fr. Michael Duggan contacted me about creating a musical setting of the new English translations of the texts for Roman Rite Eucharist that could be used both by the Maryknoll missioners and by the English-speaking churches. (For more information on Maryknoll visit the website at: http://home.maryknoll.org/maryknoll/)

One of the most intriguing parts of the commission was that the various movements should represent musically both Maryknoll’s United States heritage and the diverse cultures in which Maryknoll missioners serve. From early 2009 through May 2010 I submitted the individual pieces as they were created to Michael who was assisted by Lucille Naughton, long-term music director at Maryknoll’s houses of formation in Ossining, New York, in determining how well what I was writing fulfilled the commission. More than once Michael and Lucille sent me back to the drawing board and their comments have certainly improved the finished work.

After some discussion we decided to call the work the “Missa ‘Ad Gentes'” (Mass “To the Peoples”), drawing the title from the Second Vatican Council’s document on missionary activity. We also decided to adopt “Maryknoll Centennial Mass” as a subtitle to recall the circumstances of the original commission.

Joncas says the new music is embaragoed, but he does offer a tantalizing, and quite lovely, clip of the new “Our Father.” Check it out.

And a grateful H/T to the Concord Pastor.