Episcopal Press and News
Hymnal Sales Top Expectation
Episcopal News Service. June 13, 1985 [85133]
NEW YORK (DPS, June 13) -- In a rare combination of stewardship and enthusiasm, 95 percent of the dioceses in the Episcopal Church have elected to participate in the Church Hymnal Corporation's diocesan purchase plan for the forthcoming Hymnal, 1982, thereby saving more than $1 million --$57,000 of that in the Diocese of Virginia alone.
The plan required dioceses to coordinate orders from their parishes and organizations, so that for each participating diocese there would be one order, one payment to Church Hymnal Corporation for all. In return, the books (in orders of 20's) would be available at a cost of $8.50 each for the Singers Edition, instead of $9.95.
Details of the plan were circulated to diocesan bishops via an October letter from Frank Hemlin, vice president and manager of the Church Hymnal Corporation. Response to the plan has exceeded all expectations, resulting in a first-run printing of a million copies. As a comparison, the first run of the Book of Common Prayer, 1979 was 800,000 -- despite the fact that unlike the case of the prayer book, use of the new hymnal was voluntary. According to Hemlin, much of the success of the plan is due to diocesan liturgical and music commissions, whose members often served as "salespersons" throughout their diocese.
Response has been so good, in fact, that while the original plan was for the hymnals ordered through the diocesan purchase plan to be sent to the diocese and distributed by them, the Church Hymnal Corporation has recently announced that for participating dioceses wishing it, the hymnals will now be sent to the individual parishes and organizations which ordered them, free of charge. Hemlin calls it "an everybody wins situation." In a May 20 memo to diocesan bishops and purchase plan coordinators, he said, "In this way, the Trustees and management of the Church Hymnal Corporation can show their gratitude to the Church for its act of faith both in this plan and in the whole process." So far, only one diocese has refused this service -- because they are planning a diocesan-wide celebration at which the hymnals will be distributed.
Shipping of the hymnals to participating dioceses is expected to occur before Christmas.
Sources close to the planning process identified the nonparticipating dioceses as New York, Ohio, Eastern Oregon, West Virginia and Northwest Texas.
Although the deadline for the diocesan plan was April 1, orders are continuing to come in apace. A similar plan whereby parishes could order in blocks of 20 at a cost of $9.00 per hymnal has a deadline of June 30, and those taking last minute advantage of that may well push advance sales over the current 800,000 figure.
Bound in such a manner that it will lie flat when open, Hymnal, 1982 will contain 703 pages of hymns, using 600 texts and 720 tunes. With service music for Rites I and II, the total number of pages will come to 960. The first run printing will use three million pounds of paper.