Divine Worship

COPYRIGHT PERMISSION—MUSIC

Permission must be secured if copyrighted music is used in a livestreamed or recorded liturgy.

Most music is covered by a license from OneLicense.net. See their website for more information: ONE LICENSE | church music copyright permissions.

Most contemporary praise and worship music is covered by a CCLI license. See their website for more information: us.ccli.com/copyright-license/.

COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS—SCRIPTURE, LITURGICAL TEXTS

Lectionary for Mass

One-time print use (such as in a worship program for a special liturgy):

  • No written permission is required for one-time use.
  • The official liturgical text must be followed. All excerpts must be verbatim from the text, including capitalization and punctuation. The poetic structure of those readings written in verse (for example, Psalms, Wisdom, Isaiah, etc.) must be preserved in verse as printed.
  • The appropriate acknowledgment must be printed either beneath the reading(s) or with the other acknowledgments:
    Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Use of Readings in Worship Aids on a Regular Basis:

  • A written agreement is required to reproduce the readings in worship leaflets, bulletins, parish hymnals, etc. on a regular basis.
  • The annual license fee varies based on the number of copies made each week.
  • A license may be requested by emailing the following information to [email protected]: Contact person, parish name, parish address, phone number, number of copies printed each week, proposed start date.
  • The official liturgical text must be followed. All excerpts must be verbatim from the text, including capitalization and punctuation. The poetic structure of those readings written in verse (for example, Psalms, Wisdom, Isaiah, etc.) must be preserved in verse as printed.
  • The appropriate acknowledgment must be printed either beneath the reading(s) or with the other acknowledgments:
    Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Web Usage

  • Permission may not be granted to post or podcast the complete NAB (or complete books of the NAB) or the daily or Sunday readings.
  • No permission is needed to create an unframed link to the NAB or the readings as posted at usccb.org.

COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS—I.C.E.L. LITURGICAL TEXTS

From Joseph Livingston of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL): “No ICEL permission is required to stream or record liturgies. If you wish to put a transcription or guide alongside the recording, this is permitted (assuming the usual conditions about the text being reproduced correctly and the acknowledgement is placed somewhere appropriate) for the duration of the pandemic.” For the text of the usual acknowledgement, please visit here.