Bad Catholic Mass music

[Sarabande]

I’m actually pleased with the sacred music done at the masses which I attend as well as cantor at down at our Cathedral. Perhaps it is different since it is a Cathedral and it’s expected that we do a certain kind of music, but visitors and parishioners do approach the musicians or the priest after mass to compliment or to thank them for the choice of music. We do Latin NO every other Sunday at 11:00 and every 11:00 mass is a high mass usually with “high” sacred music, unless it is a special mass for a society, Catholic high school/college or something else. The 11:00 is usually our best attended. 12:15 and 5:00 and 5:15 are also well-attended and those are usually your traditional hymns and organ. I usually cantor the 12:15 and the feedback is usually positive and it’s feedback that I usually get while I’m walking down the street in the city and a parishioner or visitor will recognize me and stop me to thank me for the music and my singing. I’m very shy about that. It’s weird getting recognized for something as little as what I do and I try to be as anonymous as possible at church always leaving the sacristy after the place empties out. But at least I know that I’m doing my “job”. I couldn’t accept the money that they pay me if I wasn’t.

For my actual parish, I just started volunteering as a cantor once a month. It’s a totally different dynamic. The director there has to choose a mix. So, he’ll usually do two traditional hymns and two post-vatican II hymns to please the congregation. The mass is different there, but it’s a suburban parish and different kind of parishioner. Although it’s not ideal, I figured since it is my parish, I should be giving of myself in some way. The people there are nice enough, too.

If I am brought to spiritual ecstasy through the music, I will approach the organist/choir and thank them, just as I would thank the priest if he gave an inspirational homily. Cantors don’t usually do that for me - and I’m a cantor. Go figure!?! I’m not putting down cantors because I’ve heard good ones and I know that some people do get inspired by cantors. A good choir or organist is what inspires me spiritually and musically, though. I’m always going up to the music director to tell him that a particular motet that the choir sang was sublime or that the Palestrina or Hassler sounded heavenly. His organ playing is always like hearing a prayer to God and we are so blessed to have him there. I do this for other churches that I visit as well. I even did it when i watched a Christmas Eve mass at the National Shrine in D.C. I emailed the director there thanking him profusely, especially since I was celebrating my first Christmas as a married woman, away from my family and having attended one of the worst Christmas masses. We came home and turned on that mass for some spiritual inspiration and, boy, did we get it. That director at the Shrine was so thankful and appreciative of my comments and said in so many words that it was nice to have positive feedback as it sometimes felt that they were not appreciated. I’m sure they are, but a lot of time the feedback never gets back to the musicians or directors themselves.

The choir doesn’t have to be professional either for me to be inspired. The choir at the Cathedral is all-volunteer (no paid section leaders) and it’s amazing what that director can bring out of them. It’s not “perfect”, but they do a good job with music that some would just give up on. Many choirs in US Catholic parishes are volunteer, sometimes with paid section leaders. When I hear that they are doing a good job, especially when I know that they are trying to bring different levels of sacred music to the parish, I thank and compliment them to encourage them to continue with what they are doing. It’s a totally different experience when you hear an all-professional choir.

 

[jjschlueter23]

I’m probably going to take a different stance here. I dislike the “Big Four” for the most part not because they’re too contemporary, but because they’re not contemporary enough. It’s almost like we got stuck halfway between traditional and modern and the result was a big ugly baby we call today’s Catholic music.

Now don’t get me wrong, not all they’re songs are bad, but, for the most part, I agree that they’re hard to sing and probably undermine Catholic teaching.

If it’s not obvious already, I dislike traditional music, but I do understand that some people really enjoy it. So, since most parishes have more than one Mass, make one traditional and one truly contemporary. Now by truly contemporary, I mean MercyMe, Casting Crowns, some Hillsong maybe. It’s not like these are bad songs and they’re so much better written than the “Big Four,” and they’ve got some good Catholic sounding lyrics in there.

my apologies for any grammar mistakes

 

[KingAlfred]

If you are like me, you cringe every time a “hymn” from the “big four” at Oregon Catholic Press is sung during Mass: Marty Haugan, Dan Schutte, David Haas, and Michael Joncas. The music is very unsingable, the words often undermine Catholic teachings, and they seem to lower the Catholic Church to the level of secularism. I’m not saying that all “new music” is bad, but a large chunk of it is garbage.

In his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2000), Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger states clearly that popular music does not belong at Mass. The music is supposed to elevate our souls to unison with heaven - I do not experience that when listening to OCP hymns.

By the way, I grew up in the post-Vatican II world and used to cantor songs from “Glory and Praise” - I used to like this stuff. After much reflection, I feel the new hymns are contributing to the loss of faith in the church.

I know of a church which has adopted a most annoying Old West saloon-piano-style song as its theme song. It’s the worst noise you’ve ever heard. A guy with no voice at all barks into a mic while beating his piano to death, to the mad screeching of a woman nearby. Meanwhile, two well-meaning teens blow trumpets to it, and all tolled, the racket almost gives me a heart-attack. The priest who runs this fandango is a crazy old guy from Ireland. I will never set foot in that building again. Ever. Sorry and please forgive me. It’s just the most distasteful Mass I’ve ever seen.

 

[Jean_Anthony]

This thread is closed. Thank you all.