GETTING THE MODERN ROMAN MISSAL MUSIC IN GEAR!
Dr. Gregory Hamilton is the music director and organist at St. Joseph Church in Macon, Georgia where I was pastor for 12 years, from 2004-2016. He shares an anecdotal story about a priest who told him not to sing hymns or anthems at Communion time that point to Christ, adoration of Him and His sacrifice. Press the title for the full article. I have a couple of money bytes below the title:
Has this all been our fault?
HERE IS NO SECRET that there is a crisis of belief in the Church today. Many Catholics have a hazy idea of what a Catholic is required to believe, or even whether to hold such precise beliefs is at all important.
I think that many of us would consider that the doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is of primary importance. However, a widely – publicized survey shows:
“…a new Pew Research Center survey finds that most self-described Catholics don’t believe this core teaching. (The Real Presence of Christ) In fact, nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.”1
And there is no secret of this crisis – I once had a priest in good standing berate me that as a music minister, I was planning too many hymns during Communion that dealt with the Real Presence, he instructed me to replace those with tunes speaking of the “Meal” and “Supper” aspect of Communion. If this is what an ordained priest believes concerning the Eucharist, is it any wonder that the people in the pews experience confusion and a crisis of faith regarding the Real Presence of the Sacrament of the Altar?
3 comments:
I agree that leaving Holy Mass before final blessing and dismissal is very bad form, but some of us old timers require time to internalize and give thanks to the Father for His great gift. When inappropriate and distracting music(?) is sung during and after Communion, I often flee to the parking lot and there spend the remaining time in quiet reflection and thanksgiving.
William,
I went to my little country Church in Indiana this morning whose repertoire is far more sophisticated than the bulk of the parishes in “sophisticated” Chicago!
We had the Latin propers, and the Kyrie sung in Greek and the Sanctus and Agnus Dei sung in Latin, and beautifully rendered by young families with children. The priest used the Roman Canon said with all of the TLM rubrics. The Roman Canon is generally not employed by older, liberal priests because the women’s saints names undercuts their narrative that the pre-Vatican II Church did not respect women.
The Roche and the rest of the Vatican crowd would be grieved.
He changed the Gloria arrangement to an almost impossible version. My wife and I gave up singing it. It was so great before in the chanted form, now the beat and rhythm is all over the place. We hoped it was temporary but I'm afraid we're stuck. Somebody beg him to return to the former.
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