The elephant in the room of the post-Vatican II Mass is the so-called liturgical chant that is promoted as the wave of the future, the way to keep young Catholics engaged. Yes it does engage young Catholics sense of entertainment and that will keep them coming to Mass for the music. But will the Church's prophetic message find a place to be planted and grow? Will they grow in authentic Catholicism, her faith and morals? I wonder.
The following examples are what is considered by the progressive wing of the Church as the way Catholics should worship. They frown on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, kneeling for Holy Communion and receiving the Host on the tongue. They have an antipathy for the chant norm of the Church, Gregorian Chant.
Watch the last video and the Chow line for Holy Communion and the bodily actions of the communicants in this "procession" to get their Jesus!
Obviously the music below from Saint Monica Church in Santa Monica, California is performed very well, but in the most secular way possible. This is what modern liturgists want for the Ordinary Form of the Mass and there is a battle royal going on between them and those promoting chant. Pray that chant wins the battle!
Is this stuff really Catholic? Is this why there is an SSPX today? Watch the videos below. Watch the last video, this is the Holy Communion Procession! Talk about trivializing the most sacred moment of Cafeteria Catholicism! Like the video above it, it is pure "magic"! How does the Los Angeles Archdiocese promote this stuff, but watch their religious education conference Masses, they think this stuff is great but would be horrified if the SSPX is regularized! I report you decide:
I don't have a survey to prove this, but I suspect that the vast majority of parishes in the USA hear this type of "chant" Sunday after Sunday and now for decades. What does this do to Catholic liturgical identity and sensibilities? I report, you decide:
I attended Mass at this Church in California on Epiphany this past January, it is St. Monica Church in Santa Monica, a beautiful Church that has inculturated its liturgy with Hollywood style music! What does this do the Catholic spirituality and sensibilities? This is what progressive liturgists shove down our throats saying this kind of music will save the Church! And if entertaining you with liturgical music isn't enough, why not throw in some liturgical dance! Some more "good" contemporary Catholic liturgical chant! And just imagine people get to watch all this too, not just listen, how inspiring! This a Holy Communion procession which is more like a liturgical chow line--progressives hate altar railings and the accompanying reverence of authentic chant and kneeling for Holy Communion! The Musical Shape of the Liturgy, by William Mahrt, WHICH YOU CAN PURCHASE HERE is the first full treatise that maps out -- historically, theologically, musically, and practically -- the musical framework of the Roman Rite in a way that can inform audiences of all types. Mahrt demonstrates that the Roman Rite is not only a ritual text of words, but is a complete liturgical experience that embeds within it a precise body of music that is absolutely integral to the rite itself. In other words, the music at Mass is not arbitrary. It is wedded to the rite as completely as the prayers, rubrics, and the liturgical calendar itself. Everything in the traditional music books has a liturgical purpose. When they are neglected, the rite is truncated; the experience is reduced in splendor. These claims will amount to a total revelation to most all Catholic musicians working today. As Mahrt points out, genuine Catholic music for Mass is bound by an ideal embodied in the chant tradition. This tradition is far more rich, varied, and artistically sophisticated that is normally supposed. It is the music that is proper to the Roman Rite. The opening section of the book provides a four-part course in the musical structure of the liturgy covering the origin, history, and liturgical purpose of the ordinary chants. The second section explores the particulars with detailed commentary on particular chants and their meaning. Further commentaries reflect on the polyphonic tradition that became part of the ritual experience of Mass in the middle ages, as well as the use of organ in Mass. The third section turns to the specifics of putting all of this into practice in the contemporary world. This section is the one that is of the highest practical value for pastors and musicians today. What is missing most from today's Catholic world is the awareness of the the musical shape of the liturgy - that essential structure of what is supposed to take place in the Roman Ritual itself.
25 comments:
Please, can we agree to banish guitars and drums from the Mass? And if the priest can vest, why is it so unreasonable to ask that those members of the laity who will present themselves during the Mass--choir, EMHCs, and so on--also dress appropriately?
Fr, isn't it some kind of sin for you to cause me to say all the bad words I just said watching that sh...er, stuff. Shame on you!
Oh, boy. I couldn't watch more that two seconds of any of the videos you posted, Father. Suggestion for banning guitar and drums-- especially drums-- during Mass duly seconded.
Liberal Catholics to the contrary, we tried this stuff for fifty years. It has failed spectacularly; we gave it a chance, and it did not deliver. So why, pray, should we want or need any more of it? The definition of "madness" is to keep trying the same thing, expecting different results.
"This is what progressive liturgists shove down our throats saying this kind of music will save the Church!"
As much as I would love to believe that they mean well, the proof is not in the pudding, but in the eating: there's a lot that leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I'm being forced to swallow.
It's not just that the Cafeteria is problematic; it also ends up serving junk food.
These examples are absolutely dreadful! We recently moved parishes (I know, not the best action) because of this kind of nonsense. It was awful, week after week and I just couldn't take it. There was no end in site, even with a new Pastor, so we cut out losses. Much happier now. We feel so much more liturgically complete without the foolishness of the guitars, piano and yes, liturgical dance.
The musicians are fantastic it just doesn't belong in church and certainly not in any liturgy, but I like listening to the on a disc or iPod, it is Christian entertainment
"We recently moved parishes (I know, not the best action)"
In some cases, it may be the very best action. Especially if you have children--you fail in your moral obligation as parents if you keep them in a parish that does not instill faith and devotion. I recall seeing a copy of a letter on papal stationery, in reply to a woman who had written to the Pope, asking if she could take her children to the local SSPX chapel because she feared the local diocesan parish would destroy her children's Catholic faith. The reply to her from a papal secretary told her she should do what she felt necessary in good conscience to meet her obligation as a Catholic parent.
Since moving back to the northeast I have found this kind of thing to be more prevalent. Maybe this is a generalization but.....Could this have something to do with the dearth of attendance, casualness, cafeteria practicing (I'll go to church if nothing else is going on) and above all, lack of vocations? A tried and true discussion to be sure but the evidence is mounting in support. I applaud Timothy Cardinal Dolan's leadership with a Fortnight for Freedom. I have said this before: we need both clergy and lay leaders who are unafraid to say "STOP, this is not who and what we are about....you can't have it every which way but Sunday." Thanks Father McDonald for continuing to champion the "reform of the reform".
I am so blessed that for at least a small part of my young life, I was instructed about what the Mass was and what was appropriate for Mass.
When the revolt came with the guitars, I could not articulate what it was, but deep in my psyche, I knew something had gone terribly wrong.
Any kind of "liturgical music" that has people swaying their hips is beneath the dignity of the great Miracle of the Mass.
The saddest thing of all is that for decades now, this has been enforced as the norm. The result is that most Catholics have no sense of appropriate liturgy or liturgical music. In fact if you presented them with what is truly appropriate, most of them would be either shocked or offended.
It rather reminds me of the Communists in the eastern bloc nations. They knew many of the adults could not be won over, so they taught their doctrine to the children and rewarded the children for "humoring" their parents who tried to privately instruct them otherwise.
Of course there is poetic justice to this evil: The return to sanity is coming from the youngest members of the Church. The newest priests cannot wait for their gasping progressive pastors to retire or die so they can reinstate what they (and so many of us) hunger for: Authentic, unadulterated Catholic worship.
Sigh. Why must we continue to wait?
I think it's fair game to treat Guitars found within the confines of Mass as if you were Bluto Bluetarsky in Animal House.
"The musicians are fantastic it just doesn't belong in church and certainly not in any liturgy, but I like listening to the on a disc or iPod, it is Christian entertainment."
Yes, they are.
In so far as their harmony and vocals come across clearly, they'd actually be well-suited for chant and/or polyphony. I wonder if anyone might be able to convince them?
This looks a lot like my former parish up here in Minnesota. The one thing that we were lacking is the liturgical dance. They tried to add it to our Advent masses but some of us complained that it was not legitiamte to have it during Mass. They relented and just added it to the Christmas pageant/concert. Unfortunately, that parish is still plagued with a "praise band" that performs during Masses occasionally. There will be sections of the country were the seminaries have not quite been reformed enough yet. It is here that we will have to put up with this for a couple more decades. Up here in the north country we do have a great seminary and the fruits of it are the orthodox young priests that are coming out of it.
Vianney1100
Everyone go to thumbs down these videos, quick!
The two videos with the female cantor remind me of a Marie Osmond number (and not in a good way).
Maybe they could take a cue from Diana Ross and sing “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand” during the Sign of Peace.
And that silly, over-sang Evangelical anthem “I Can Only Imagine.” That song is truly a cringe worthy self-centered “worship tune.”
Jesus wept...
I noticed the church was pretty full. What would happen if for instance chant were introduced? Would that alienate the people, and empty the church? That church seems to have accepted the secular/pagan culture around them as having something dignified for God. This is perhaps the only music the people know how to relate to and they use it for their "relationship" with God.
That some Catholicism has come down this low is more than sad; it is an abomination.
The parish would collapse if they went to traditional music and if I instituted that same choir my parish would become a mega church. That's the conundrum and the question is is it worth it?
The parish would not collapse if people were properly educated about the Mass and the Liturgy. It may take time, but somebody needs to start. RE: St. Jo's becoming a mega-church with that kind of music...well, why not just introduce strippers and gaming tables. To me it is all the same...
A friend from the area and I visited St. Monica's several years ago. It is a lovely church architecturally that is packed on Sundays, and unashamedly, very liberal and progressive. My friend, who is Protestant and frequents a non-denominational mega-church, was over the moon for the music and the hand holding, which is very telling, I think. However, she was not so impressed with the informational fair afterward which featured a dubious Gay and Lesbian Outreach booth that seemed less like a ministry than a social club.
Of course, it is Santa Monica and the influence of the entertainment industry permeates the culture. What am I saying? A cantor with swivel hips most likely would be a draw anywhere.
BTW, I was not Catholic at the time, and having grown up in a Baptist version of the projection screen, worship band, big production mega-church, was so nauseated by the music that I put off my inquiry into Catholicism for many years. A trip to St. Aloysius, the Oxford Oratory, and St. Joseph in Macon allayed my fears, thanks be to God!
The answer, Father, is hell no. Quality over quantity.
Remember that the Church is not trying to make people feel good, the Church is trying to convince people to go to confession and receive the Eucharist worthily so that they don't go to hell; and the Church is trying to give God glory, and saving souls is one of the highest acts of glorification besides the Holy Sacrifice.
The ineffable and the rare instill a sense of respect and hunger in the soul. The banal, on-the-spot and prosaic do not.
I am late with my comment, but perhaps better late than never.
I have no desire to be contentious or to advocate for any of the examples of contemporary musical styles Father included in this post. Nor am I necessarily advocating for_any_ contemporary musical styles during mass. However, I wanted to provide a bit of perspective. Virtually without exception the examples of “folk masses” and their ilk that Father has posted over the past few weeks have been either egregiously dreadful in quality or egregiously inappropriate, and I am sorry that they have been inflicted upon those particular parishes.
Now I recognize that in the view of many, all such “folk masses” or contemporary musical styles are inappropriate in the setting of the mass. I am not arguing that point here. What I would like to do, however, is offer three examples of the type of contemporary music that I experienced at the monthly folk mass at St. Josephs for about twenty five years when Father Cuddy was pastor. Now, clearly there are some differences between these three examples and our folk group. Thus, the examples at the end of this comment are by professionals, some may not even be Catholic, we had no accompanying visuals, and the instrumentation was somewhat different (we had no piano, for example, but did have guitars, flutes, etc).
I did not find, and do not find, the examples below irreverent or lacking in sacredness. In fact, I find them inspiring, as I did when I heard them performed by our folk group. I see (or better yet, hear) a clear distinction between the examples below and the fare that has appeared in Father’s posts. In sum, I am suggesting that there may be better and worse examples of the genre. And that is all I am trying to suggest in this comment. Do you think, then, that I am correct in perceiving the following as better examples of the genre, all of which are well known?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOSoewWqa5k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6fYAiqV-Bs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwdmqM3pc68
Anon2, Folk music is just that...about the "volk." It is focused upon the performers, it is lyrical/romantic in origin, and it is interactive in a way that chant and antiphony by a choir that is out of view are not. It is egalitarian (see Woody Guthrie/Jimmy Rogers), expansive, and externalized. I do not think it belongs at a Mass (I would not allow at my services as a Protestant minister. I sent it to the social hall for after church fun). The fact that it was regularly done at St. Jo's for 25 years is a great example of why we have some of the problem attitudes we still have at St. Jo's. Thank God it is gone! The Mass I attend when I cannot come to St. Jo's is Godawful. There is always some adenoidal, scrawny guy with a frowsy beard banging on a fifty dollar guitar and some poor girl who thinks she is Karen Carpenter singing as loud as she can through her nose. He needs a bath and a shave and she needs for somebody to force feed her a steak...Oh, "Breaking Bread" (Vomiting Bread) is the standard hymnal. I have to regularly convince myself that this is a valid Mass, what with the Priest patting the Deacon on the back when he turns to go to the ambo to read and walking down the steps to stand at the head of the aisle to give his syrupy homily. It makes me feel like the figure in Munsch's "The Scream."
Gene, as bad as is Breaking Bread, I must say that Gather seems worse.
Apart from that, I agree with all that you said.
I appreciate your response, Gene. However, I was not trying to argue the point about the appropriateness of folk masses. I was trying to suggest a distinction between better and worse examples of the genre. Why was I trying to do that? For one reason, I was trying to provide further information for people to factor into their evaluation of the genre in general (I am an academic, after all =)). For another, I did not want people to get the impression that we at St. Josephs had been subjected to such awfulness as has been demonstrated in Father’s posts.
I would still be interested to know if others agree with me that the examples I offered are in fact superior examples of the genre. That might also be relevant for settings in which everyone can agree such music is appropriate.
Anon 2, "Superior" and "folk music" should never appear in the same sentence...LOL!
People: Read Psalm 150. "Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe! Praise Him with clanging cymbals; praise Him with loud, clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Open your eyes, your ears and your minds!
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