Catholic Songs for Children: Songs of the Relgious Music Guild Arranged for Piano, Voice and Guitar

On first sight many may think that this is merely a nostalgic collection of catholic songs for children, or, if in the know, most of the Religious Music Guild songs written by John Redmond back in the '50's and '60's for catholic children. There is much more to the history and content of this very unique collection. John Redmond, a popular song writer in his day, decided to found the Religious Music Guild in the '50's to use his unique talents to write and record songs to teach catholic children their faith. These songs reflected the basic structure of the traditional Baltimore Catechism, which covers the Creed, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and Prayer. Two professional record albums were made to present these songs to children at home and in catholic schools and C.C.D. programs. What most people don't know is that John Redmond also had printed the sheet music to these songs as well. Whereas the old albums continued on cassette tape and later CD, the sheet music fell by the wayside. Adding to the scarcity of this music was a fire at St. Anthony Guild Press in the early '70's. This sheet music in its original form is now almost impossible to locate even in the finest libraries. Therefore, the St. Augustine Academy Press has put together in one book almost all the sheet music for the Religious Music Guild songs. Included are a few pieces not found on most current recordings. They used the original sheet music that could be located, mostly through private or obscure collections, and then Deacon Woods re-constructed the rest from known recordings, adding elements from the recordings and then guitar arrangements. St. Augustine Academy Press also provides a newly remastered CD with two additional recordings and a rare recording of "I'm a Soldier in Christ's Army." A forgotten version of this song in the book includes lyrics for the Holy Name Society. This entire project was clearly a labor of love. No one else makes this sheet music available all in one book. This is definitely a breakthrough. This book should be in every Catholic home, Catholic school, and religious education program.

These vintage Catholic songs are lovely.

Very useful since I help out with singing at our parish!

Met a fellow parishioner who sang me "Why do we tip our hats to a priest". I was so surprised cos I sang this same song and many others in my young days in a different country. Of cos we belong to the same era of good times in catechism classes. So I went hunting for the song book and CD. We are so happy with this book and will share these beautiful songs with the children's group.The book is nicely printed and bound.