BISHOP ABROGATES DECREE ON SACRED MUSIC IN JEFFERSON CITY
November 7th, 2024|Categories: Liturgy, Music|This is an extraordinary move from Bishop Shawn McKnight, following the uproar surrounding the banning music in his diocese:
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My comments: Recently, the Bishop of Jefferson, issued a very good, direct and much needed censoring of songs at Mass that contain lyrics that are less than Catholic in their theology.
Then, after the uproar of a number of progressive liturgists and their fans, he rescinded his decree to a certain extent and has decided to approach his mission as the primary liturgists of his diocese through a synodal process.
Let me say that I endorse consultation with clergy and laity in a diocese. Under Bishop Raymond Lessard, a very Vatican II prelate, in terms of its proper implementation, he modeled what he expected pastors to do in their parishes. We had/have pastoral councils and various committees as well as canonically required finance councils. Stewardship Councils were encouraged.
Priests need to consult with the their parishioners before making major decisions that change something and have a large expenditure of monies. Autocratic decisions that have nothing to do with doctrines and dogmas of our Faith or go against canon law, should be tempered through consultation.
Bishop Lessard had a Diocesan Pastoral Council consisting of two lay Catholics from each deanery in our diocese. He met with them at least twice a year although it might have been quarterly.
But when it comes to the liturgy, we need experts in liturgy and theology to make decisions as well as in Canon Law and the rubrics of the Mass.
Music is a major problem for the Reformed Mass and it has been so since 1964 and the first minor revision of the 1962 Roman Missal. Junk is and was allowed and by junk, not just that sacred words are set to secular notes and genres of music, but that the words of many songs are heterodox.
We need dogmatic theologians to critique the words of hymns and what is or isn’t appropriate for the Mass. We don’t need those who base their statements only on opinion and what they like making those decisions.
Hopefully, Bishop McKnight’s synodal approach will not dumb down the Church or her liturgy, but shore it up with those making decisions based upon sound doctrine and liturgy.
Bishops are the primary liturgists for their diocese. However, they must follow the Doctrines and dogmas of the Church. They must follow Canon Law and they must make decisions in line with the rubrics of the Mass and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
They can make unilateral decisions that upholds the Catholic Faith, its doctrines and morals and how the liturgy is to be celebrated without consulting with those who know very little to nothing about these teachings and canon laws.
3 comments:
Abp. Weakland, of questionable morals and relationships, pushed shlock as the post-Vatican II American paradigm. We are paying the price for his rebellion from the Pope in pushing his personal ideology on the American Church--for how much longer, Lord?
Nick
Each time this insipid music is foist upon us at Holy Mass it is equivalent to a deadly poisonous IV tube draining into the veins of Holy Mother Church.
He made a decision and as soon as he got pushback - he surrendered. Good luck with the process now.
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