How can we sing with joy to God
How can we sing with joy to God. (William) Brian Foley* (1919-2000).
This was one of 14 hymns by Foley in New Catholic Hymnal (1971). It is a hymn of penitence and forgiveness, in which Foley’s habitual understatement is forceful in its searching simplicity:
How can we sing with joy to God, How can we pray to him,When we are far away from God In selfishness and sin?
It is found in HFTC, BPW, Sing Glory, and the Irish ICH5 . In the 1971 NCH it was set to NEWTOWNDALE, a tune by Brian Sargent commissioned for the occasion. HFTC and ICH5 (2000) have preferred BILLING, by Richard Runciman Terry* (composed for ‘Praise to the Holiest in the height’ in the Westminster Hymnal, 1912). It is also...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "How can we sing with joy to God."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 13 Feb. 2026.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/h/how-can-we-sing-with-joy-to-god>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "How can we sing with joy to God."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 13, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/h/how-can-we-sing-with-joy-to-god.