I love being a Catholic, because in the Catholic Church I encounter the God who loves us, forgives us of our sins, saves us from death and opens the gates of heaven. He's done all of that through Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, the Head of the Church, Her Bridegroom and Suffering Servant. He also judges us at the hour of our death ( and in a whole lot of other ways while we walk this earth)and he'll judge the Church and the world at the Second Coming, the end of the world.
I hate being a Catholic because some of my Catholic brothers and sisters are so nasty, sinful, prideful, arrogant and think they are perfect. They think the Church is merely some organized institution like a country club or a political party or a Robert's Rules of Order organization. But worst of all, I'm no better! It reminds me of the old saying, I don't want to be a member of any organization that will have me as a member!
Some of the music some parishes sing (not mine!) show just how people oriented, horizontal oriented some parishes have become. You can only imagine how some people feel when their parish doesn't live up to the lyrics!
HERE'S A GREAT ARTICLE ON THAT JUST PRESS THIS SENTENCE.
The Church of course is not a country club, a Roberts Rules of Order organization, but the Mystical Body of Christ whereby Christ saves us poor miserable sinners whom He has incorporated into His Body through Holy Baptism, sealed in the Holy Spirit by Confirmation and nourishes and sustains through the Most Holy Eucharist. He continues to heal and forgive through the Sacraments of Penance and Anointing of the Sick and provides order and service to the Church through Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders. All this to save us from the fires of hell and lead all people to heaven. Heaven though is not the Church Militant nor is it to be found on earth.
But you wouldn't know that if you sing these songs at Mass:
Title: All Are Welcome
Author: Marty Haugen
Copyright: 1994 GIA Publications
Verse 1
Let us build a house
where love can dwell
And all can safely live,
A place where
saints and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive.
Verse 2
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
Rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions;
Verse 3
Let us build a house where prophets speak,
And words are strong and true,
Where all God's children dare to seek
To dream God's reign anew.
Verse 4
Here the cross shall stand as witness
And a symbol of God's grace;
Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
Verse 5
Let us build a house where love is found
In water, wine and wheat:
A banquet hall on holy ground,
Where peace and justice meet.
Verse 6
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
Is revealed in time and space;
As we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
Chorus
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place!
Or how about this one from David Haas:
Refrain: We are called to act with justice,
we are called to love tenderly,
we are called to serve one another;
to walk humbly with God!
Or this one: "Sing a New Church," a triumphalist paean to diversity by Delores Dufner, also fosters the cult of Us:
Let us bring the gifts that differ
And, in splendid, varied ways,
Sing a new Church into being,
One in faith and love and praise
Now this one is special: "This Bread That We Share" by Dominic MacAller:
This bread that we share is the body of Christ,
this cup of blessing his blood.
We who come to this table bring
all our wounds to be healed.
When we love one another as Christ has loved us,
we become God's daughters and sons.
We become for each other the bread,
the cup,
the presence of Christ revealed.
This one we all know! One of the worst offenders in this cult of conceit is a song called "Anthem" by Tom Conry:
We are called, we are chosen.
We are Christ for one another.
We are promise to tomorrow,
while we are for him today.
We are sign, we are wonder,
we are sower, we are seed.
We are harvest, we are hunger.
We are question, we are creed.
Give me a Church with rancor and toil, sin and division, but people like the sinner in Jesus Gospel unlike the Pharisee, who dares not come before the altar, but simply says, "O God have mercy on me a sinner."
Give me hymns like these:
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Or this one!
To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King,
Who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring,
And thanks and adoration.
Refrain:
Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler!
Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!
2. Thy reign extend, O King benign,
To ev'ry land and nation,
For in Thy kingdom, Lord divine,
Alone we find salvation.
(Refrain)
3. To Thee and to Thy Church, great King,
We pledge our hearts' oblation,
Until before Thy throne we sing,
In endless jubilation.
(Refrain)
What do you expect from the Church, perfection? Shouldn't you expect something else? A hospital for sinners; clergy and laity who are "wounded" but healing and experiencing the forgiveness of God through penance and reconciliation? Just what do you expect?
26 comments:
"All praise and homage do we bring..." No we don't. We sin, which is a failure to give praise and homage, so we are not the "perfect" church implied in the tune.
Many of the "traditional" (read: those I prefer) hymns speak of the world we hope to inhabit and are working, under grace, to build. They, too, speak in the church and its members in terms of perfection (all praise and homage do we bring), yet we are not perfect.
This side of the tombstone is the "Already And Not Yet" existence. It is here we are to know, love, and serve God.
Having fled a Parish that habitually sang the first two songs you list plus a third (Gather Your People Oh Lord) as their "Gathering Hymns" (Yes they were announced that way..turn to page X in your Hymnal as we sing our gathering hymn) I can tell you emphatically that's NOT what I expect from Holy Mother Church.
I expect her to "above me". I expect that in the Liturgy she prays and in the Sacred Music she sings she will present me with ideals which I should strive for always, while knowing they can only be attained by Saints. A sinner such as myself will never achieve what is being sung about because I am unworthy of it without the Grace of God.
To sing about "us" and to focus on the "gathering of the people" is to literally set your sights too low. Gathering people isn't hard, organizations of all types manage that. Gathering to what purpose?
Let us sing Non Nobis Domine and Te Deum (in any language). This is what I expect from Holy Mother Church. Challenge me.
Father, you started my day with Haugen song and followed it up with a Haas tune and Conry. You owe me a new monitor.
I prefer the struggle and love the Church that knows we struggle and offers help. This means no one is perfect.
As for the tunes: they are sung quite often probably are as much the source for bad theology for Catholics. Consider that we only repeat the Creed once, yet may warble five or six Haugen/Haas incantations.
I thought I was the only person who did not like their work for use in Mass, but have discovered that there is a Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas. I am not militant in that manner, but am relieved there is recognition of this mess.
Here is an antidote:
When Thomas saw that wounded side,
the truth no longer he denied;
"Thou art my Lord and God!" he cried.
rcg
If the church requires perfection in order to be a member, I am in big, big trouble! :) Perfection is a perpetual goal, never to be achieved but always to be striven toward. As regards the hymns, I absolutely agree that songs glorifying ourselves instead of the Lord have no place in church. My personal pet peeve is the songs (I won't call them hymns) where one sings the words of Jesus as if they were ours. I'm just not comfortable proclaiming that "I will raise you up on the last day."
Hopefully your talking about the I, We, Us stuff. You're right about that, I hate singing, "I am the bread of life." I hope you're not talking about contemporary music and all non-traditional music in general. There are those churches that are folksy and African-American that prefer their type of music.
http://www.nbccongress.org/features/african-american-sacred-music-01.asp
Would you agree that those are okay just as long as they are orthodox in message?
My own understanding of liturgical music has evolved greatly over the years. The music of the Mass is the parts of the Mass, Introit, Kyrie, gloria, Psalm, Alleluia, Credo, Sanctus, Mystery of Faith, Great Amen, our Father,
Agnus Dei, Communion Antiphon
Filler music should have good theology, be directed to God the Father through Jesus and I agree, we shouldn't normally be singing in the First Person as though we are God. But I'm not opposed to contemporary music that is good and doesn't sound like broad way tunes and hits or takes a secular sound and simply applies religious words. I love Black Spirituals because there is a deep spiritual aspect to it and it is recognized as religious in nature.
Black Spirituals? Hmmm. Father, I think you will see your way to a banjo rendition of Gregorian Chant. Five strings, Pentatonic tonal structure, yes, I thi it will work.
In reality I love the spirituals and many of the Appalachian, Celtic, Old Time, Etc. folk music. I think it would be just as beautiful after Mass.
rcg
J Wesley,the traditional hymns are eschatological in nature. They do not presume perfection, as you seem to imply.
And, no, we do not need "field ditties" in the liturgy just to prove we aren't racist. Sheesh!
I see that JWesley has appropriated a neo-prot phrase in "the already and not yet." He may want to read further and see the origins and results of that line of thought.
We need to be on guard against the error that as long as the lyrics pass doctrinal muster, they are appropriated for liturgy. Doctinally sound lyrics are merely gate 1 that music must pass. Gate 2 is the music itself independent of the lyrics. Cardinal Arinze said it best that every type of music has its appropriate setting. An exaggerated example (so far, and may it always be so) would be the inappropriateness of heavy metal. Even if the lyrics were perfectly aligned with good doctrine, all would agree that heavy metal would be inappropriate in liturgy. And I say this as a metalhead with 30 years of headbanging experience. :)
Like I said, that's an extreme example, but illustrates that there are music styles that are inappropriate as well to which many of us are blind to or just can't gin up the energy to confront. I'm speaking of most of the sentimentalist schlock that many of the songs in your list are set to. Briefly, if music sounds like it would be perfectly at home at a campfire singalong, a massage parlor, or a merry-go-round, it doesn't belong in church. That is, it sounds either childish or therapeutic. Two prominent illnesses of our society at the moment are Peter Pan mentality of adults and that people don't need forgiveness, they need therapy. Both therapy and permanent childhood are all about the self. The last thing we need is the music that goes with it.
Father,
You are back with a vengeance! Glad to see it.
"Ohhhh...go tell it on the mountain that we are gathering at the table of plenty as long as we can soar on eagle's wings they will gather us in while we sing a new church into being." I cant sing any more right now because I just threw up in my mouth... -pgal
Hey...hey...here's a good one for the post VatII modernist hymnal:
"Jesus Christ is mighty nice,
But, I like Oreo.
Oreo's my choice because
It's the very best cookie ever was.
Christ is nice,
But boy what icing
Comes with Oreo...
Oreo, Oreo, Oreo..."
Halleluja!!!
Wow, FrAJM, you almost make it sound like those of us in the congregation, who have sung all these songs during Mass, for so many years, which you do not think are appropriate, and do not praise God, and we are singing God's words, etc, etc, etc, Like it is OUR fault these songs got into the Mass. Who allowed this to happen??My guess it has been the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that let this get out of hand. I guess the Catholic Church hierarchy was too busy trying to transfer their child abusers from one parish to another.
If we have to play the blame game we have to blame the "rupture" theology of "spirit of Vatican II" bishops, priests, theologians and lay liturgical muscians and rank and file laity who love this incipid stuff! And yes the hand holding don't judge anyone derlict bishops who shuffled abusers around. There is whole cloth there, very true.
Hey pinanv525, I have been away from this blog for sometime, but I can see you haven't changed at all. Your criticism of JWesley, your word usage to make people think you are much smarter than they are,and your constant attempt to prove you have superior intelligence in all aspects of Catholicism than the Catholic population at large, is really rather pathetic. It is too bad you did not study something in college that would have really helped the world. The people in Africa, dying of AIDS, could care less what kind of music is played at a Catholic Mass.
Fr AJM, I do not mean to say that your studies in theology are not worthwhile. In your position as a priest, of course these studies are necessary. However, pinanv525 is not a priest, so his studies in theology are only useful in order for him to make other Catholics feel inadequate in their knowledge of Catholicism. He must be a real bore at parties.
Anonymous/Possibly Ignotus, I never claimed to have superior, or even adequate, knowledge of Catholicism. I am still learning. However, I was an ordained Protestant (Presbyterian) minister for 20 years with degrees (cum laude, BTW) in theology from major Divinity schools (Vandy and Chicago). So, yes, I imagine I have studied more theology and know more about the Christian tradition than your average Catholic or Protestant...just a guess.
The people in Africa dying of AIDS may not care what kind of music is played at Mass, but since when does the latest social fad dictate liturgics to the Church? And, why are the people in Africa so particularly important to you? What about the people in Appalachia dying of black lung and malnutrition? How about the American Indians dying of alcoholism? How about the women here dying of breast cancer or the thousands dying in auto accidents. I doubt if many of them care what is sung at Mass, either.
I did not go to college to "help the world." I went to learn stuff. You ought to try it some time.
I am great fun at parties. I was a stock broker for ten years, and have practiced and taught traditional Japanese martial arts for nearly 40 years. I also do a great imitation of liberals by running in little circles, wringing my hands, and whining about the people in Africa dying of AIDS. Invite me to a party and I'll show you.
Hey pinanv525 you sure do like to brag about how great you are. I could not imagine being at a party and listening to you talk about yourself. I am a great listener, and most times I leave a party without ever mentioning anything about myself because there are too many people like you who just LOVE to hear the sound of their own voice. Also, more name calling on your part.
Also, I used the people in Africa dying of AIDS as ONE EXAMPLE out of the millions I could have listed, as you pointed out.
I have tried college,
graduated,went to graduate school, graduated PhD, then went onto Medical School to receive my MD, ergo my AIDS example. You try THAT sometime. I did go to school to help the world.
There IS a WHOLE WIDE WORLD outside of your own small narrow life.
Just cause you taught martial arts does not mean you are any good at it. I do not care how many belts you have. I've seen too many BAD teachers.
I wouldn't have you in my home.
To sum it up, I just do not like how you constantly criticize people in this blog, try to demean others and their educations', and in general your whole "I am better than you" attitude.
Well, anonymous, just 'cause you say you are an MD doesn't mean you are one and, if you are, it does not mean you are a good one. I have seen lots of bad doctors out there, I don't care how many degrees you have...yuadda,yadda,yadda.
If you have been paying attention, a skill you surely learned during your impressive education,you will notice that the only person with whom I have engaged in repartee and argument is Pater Ignotus. He goes under so many anonymi that it may appear that I am engaging many different people. Not so.
I am truly heart broken that you would not have me in your home. I'll bet I miss a lot of pity parties and some really neat smug conversation about narrow minded conservatives, mean people, and social justice. Geez, life is tough...
I expect the Catholic Church to clean up its act, from the Pope on down to the seminarians. Then, get Its act together. Why do Catholics Church-Shop? If every Catholic parish did everything the same way, it would not happen.
As for the hymns sung during the Mass, there should be one universal hymnal for the entire Catholic world (each having it's own language) and only those hymns may be sung at Mass.
Doesn't the Catholic Church have a group to decide what songs go into a hymnal? How hard can it be? I think the hymnal would be less than one third the size it is now based on your criteria, FrAJM.
Church to clean up its act from pope on down. Are you a Puritan? The Church, meaning the pope on down to the rank and file clergy and laity, is a Church of sinners with a few saints. Yes, let's get our act together and see how God will confound what we can do. Rather, let's entrust ourselves to God's divine Mercy and pray for the best and hope he doesn't smite us all! A universal hymnal for various languages? No problem, but each culture and nation has its own "devotional music" and hymnody.
The music of the Mass, though, is the Mass itself, hymns are superfluous.
There are some great motets though that I hope we don't lose with your plan for music.
Frajm, I apologize if I offended you. I did not mean to attack you when I wanted the Church to get its act together. However, you know as well and I there are plenty of Catholic priests "doing their own thing" and especially related to the Mass. I have been to Masses where the priest changed the order of the Mass, where a homily is not given. I notice you no longer come out from the ambo when you give your homily because you found out it was not proper. I had a pastor refuse to shake my
2 1/2 year old son's hand after Mass when my son extended his hand to him. Nothing really "wrong" with that but pretty darn rude.
I know you could list hundreds of rude things parishioners so before, during and after Mass, but priests are held to a higher standard. I did not mean to offend you when I listed what I wanted from the Church.
As for my suggestion for a hymnal, I believe you mistook what I was trying to say. I love the great Church music. I even played organ in a church for a while. In fact, I was trying to agree with you in that any "hymn" not good enough, whether it be the music itself, or the lyrics, should not be in a hymnal. Sometimes, it is only the music played during a Mass that really uplifts my spirit.
My apologies.
No need to apologize, this is what is fun about blogs-comments and clarifications!
Frajm What's happening to submitted posts? Is there a technical problem or are they being rejected?
about a month ago, the company that runs blogs like this had a major problem and I had two days of posts wiped out as well as comments that were sent to me that I couldn't post, that then disappeared. I think all problems are solved now.
PIN, you might be suffering from PIS (Post Ignotus Syndrome). It is so obvious that the Anonymous abuser abusing you has neither the intellectual capacity nor writing ability of Ignotus. I realize you said, “Possibly Ignotus.” Given my view of Ignotus’ personality, I don’t think he could write that stuff even if he tried. His brain cells would short circuit and implode.
Yes, I have to agree with your backhanded compliment to Ignotus. Christ have mercy...
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