The U.S. bishops’ conference told bishops last month that if parishes want to reprint Scripture in bulletins or worship aids, they need to pay USCCB licensing fees for the privilege. While a memo to bishops said that fees are meant to protect copyrights, a USCCB official told The Pillar that the licensing fees mostly aim to discourage parish production of liturgical worship aids.
“It appears that numerous parishes may be reproducing the daily and Sunday readings in their worship aids or bulletins without a license from the USCCB,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio wrote in a Dec. 4 memo sent to U.S. bishops.
The archbishop warned that unlicensed reproduction of scripture readings “risk undermining the ability of the Conference (on behalf of the Confraternity for Christian Doctrine) to enforce its rights against commercial endeavors that use these Scripture translations in for profit manners.”
“I ask that you please advise your parishes of the situation and encourage them to become licensees if they are not already. The current rate is from $200 per year for up to 250 copies per Sunday to $1,500 per year for 1,500 copies or more per week,” Broglio explained.
