Tom Booth considering revising his Mass of Life for new translation

One of the great joys of covering the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) was meeting Tom Booth, the musician and composer who led worship during the conference’s final Mass. Tom wrote the “Mass of Life,” which was used for the final time in its current incarnation during the NCYC’s closing Mass. The new Missal translation means changes for music as well. After the NCYC Mass, he told me, “I wrote it 20 years ago and it’s been published and sung for years. I kind of waved goodbye to it when we sang the ‘Amen.’ I blew it a kiss.” During the last day, my post about Tom Booth has become one of the most viewed blogs in the year-long history of The Welcome Matt. What I’ve come to realize is that people across the country love Tom Booth and cherish his contributions to their Mass experience. So, it’ll make everyone feel good to see that Tom contributed a comment to my blog earlier today responding to a fan of his work. In his post, Tom said: ” I am now thinking that, with the help of others, I should adapt the Mass of Life setting to the new Roman Missal. Not sure why I was resistant to that idea before. I have a couple of friends that have already been working on it and I have just not been sure. Anyway, an adaptation wouldn’t hurt. There are just SOOOOO many new settings out there. I didn’t want to add to the cacophony that these past two years have been with publishing and new mass settings.” That’s good news to hear for Catholics, music fans and, well, everyone.