Bad Music during Divine Mercy Sunday Celebration

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Duc_in_Altum

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I enjoyed beyond words the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. The songs were beautiful, the celebration of the Mass flawless… Until the closing hymn “Our God is an Awesome God”? It was the worst disappointment ever! After a wonderful celebration of one of the dearest devotions in the Catholic Church, closing this feast with such a lame Protestant hymn. Is not about not being ecumenical, it’s about preserving our Catholic identity and the promotion of our rich faith and music. We have beautiful “folk” music from Catholic authors (John Michael Talbot, Matt Maher, Audrey Assad). This was absolutely unfortunate. I’m so sorry that the person in charge of the Liturgy didn’t see this coming. It’s a shame. Was I the only one thinking this? Comments are welcome.
 
Duc_in_Altum said:
I enjoyed beyond words the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. The songs were beautiful, the celebration of the Mass flawless… Until the closing hymn “Our God is an Awesome God”? It was the worst disappointment ever! After a wonderful celebration of one of the dearest devotions in the Catholic Church, closing this feast with such a lame Protestant hymn. Is not about not being ecumenical, it’s about preserving our Catholic identity and the promotion of our rich faith and music. We have beautiful “folk” music from Catholic authors (John Michael Talbot, Matt Maher, Audrey Assad). This was absolutely unfortunate. I’m so sorry that the person in charge of the Liturgy didn’t see this coming. It’s a shame. Was I the only one thinking this? Comments are welcome.
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Disclaimer: Awesome God is not a very good song, and the language is too raw for liturgy, so I don’t blame you for not liking the choice.

That being said, there is nothing in the lyrics that is against Catholic teaching, so its not “protestant”, its just a praise song. And, by the way, the composer was in RCIA to become Catholic when he passed away.

Also, Matt Maher and Audrey Assad are not folk music.
 
I don’t know about it for Mass/Good Friday, but I love Jerusalem My Destiny. We sang it at my high school graduation. This Journey is Our DESSSStiny! :whistle::harp:
 
We sang O Sacrament Most Holy, but unfortunately that old favorite of many, is not in the hymn book and sheets with the words, passed down the aisle out at the last minute, were insufficient to go around, resulting in many not singing.
 
jilly4ski said:
😛 Well that might be better than “Jerusalem our Destiny” on Good Friday, with its awful peppy tune. I now have a great aversion to that song and will never find it appropriate for mass and generally a bad song, youtube.com/watch?v=K2asdaseX7E&feature=related
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Bad music at Mass? Noooo!

I think the two worst I’ve heard are Anthem youtube.com/watch?v=YmpqFvjEFqw (“We are… We are… We are…We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are question. We are creed.”) and Alle Alle Alleluia spiritandsong.com/compositions/15779. Actually, the last time I heard Alle Alle Alleluia sung as the recessional, I could actually feel Father’s dissatification with it as he walked passed me. (He was a pretty orthodox priest with confession before every Mass… He got transferred to some parish admin job. Pretty lame.)
 
Booter said:
I don’t know about it for Mass/Good Friday, but I love Jerusalem My Destiny. We sang it at my high school graduation. This Journey is Our DESSSStiny! :whistle::harp:
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😃 Isn’t it funny how where and when we hear songs affects what we think about it. It was good friday and I was expecting slow mournful songs in minor keys (I also might have been pregnant, read hormonal) and then they came out with that song. It was not a pleasant experience. 😛

But you heard it at your graduation so have pleasant association with it. And ack DESSSStiny! Just thinking out about that makes me shudder.
 
great song, but not for liturgy

we solve this problem by having the DM in the context of a Holy Hour so the hymns are set, O Salutaris, Tantum Ergo, and Holy God we Praise thy Name. No surprises.
 
My husband said the same thing! Why that song? We both like to sing it, but not in liturgy.
 
agapewolf said:
Disclaimer: Awesome God is not a very good song, and the language is too raw for liturgy, so I don’t blame you for not liking the choice.

That being said, there is nothing in the lyrics that is against Catholic teaching, so its not “protestant”, its just a praise song. And, by the way, the composer was in RCIA to become Catholic when he passed away.

Also, Matt Maher and Audrey Assad are not folk music.
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Thank you for the correction. What I meant to say is that JMT and AA have great music with beautiful lyrics that are not necessarily hymns. I apologize if I didn’t use the right term to identify their music. The bottom line is that the person in charge of the music could have chosen another song. I don’t have anything against “Awesome God” for a youth meeting, but is not appropriate for Mass, even if it was written by a person who converted to Catholicism.
 
puzzleannie said:
great song, but not for liturgy

we solve this problem by having the DM in the context of a Holy Hour so the hymns are set, O Salutaris, Tantum Ergo, and Holy God we Praise thy Name. No surprises.
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Amen! 👍
 
Love_Divine said:
Bad music at Mass? Noooo!

I think the two worst I’ve heard are Anthem youtube.com/watch?v=YmpqFvjEFqw (“We are… We are… We are…We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are… We are question. We are creed.”) and Alle Alle Alleluia spiritandsong.com/compositions/15779. Actually, the last time I heard Alle Alle Alleluia sung as the recessional, I could actually feel Father’s dissatification with it as he walked passed me. (He was a pretty orthodox priest with confession before every Mass… He got transferred to some parish admin job. Pretty lame.)
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What about “Let us break bread together on our knees… Let us drink wine together on our knees”? Our priest is very strict with the liturgy and the hymns we use. He banned this from being sung during Mass. My husband also hates it. He says that it sounds like a song from a tavern LOL! 😃
 
Or how about “Lord of the Dance” on Palm Sunday during the offertory right after the Passion is read, since there was no homily… Talk about inappropriate. :rolleyes:
 
Duc_in_Altum said:
Thank you for the correction. What I meant to say is that JMT and AA have great music with beautiful lyrics that are not necessarily hymns. I apologize if I didn’t use the right term to identify their music. The bottom line is that the person in charge of the music could have chosen another song. I don’t have anything against “Awesome God” for a youth meeting, but is not appropriate for Mass, even if it was written by a person who converted to Catholicism.
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Actually, JMT is more folk like. MM and AA are not
 
Duc_in_Altum said:
What about “Let us break bread together on our knees… Let us drink wine together on our knees”? Our priest is very strict with the liturgy and the hymns we use. He banned this from being sung during Mass. My husband also hates it. He says that it sounds like a song from a tavern LOL! 😃
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No, the church song that’s from the tavern is Lord of the Dance.
 
No doubt the composer of that song was a good man, and may God grant his soul eternal rest. There are many good Catholics and non-Catholic Christians who write great music, but not all of that music is appropriate for Mass. The Mass is a solemn and sacred sacrifice, and the music should be in keeping with this. Music better suited for youth meetings or summer camp should remain in those places.
 
This wasn’t at the actual Divine Mersy Sunday celebration, but at the recessional for the EF Mass yesterday, the choir sang a hymn called “Alleluia! Alleluia! Let The Holy Anthem Rise!” From what I’ve heard, it’s very much a traditional Catholic hymn, and I think that the lyrics are excelent, but I personally think that the music has much to be desired. Sorry if this offends anyone on here, but for some reason, the music of that hymn reminds me of an old English drinking song. I’d like to eventually compose a new setting of that hymn to completely different music.

To the person who mensioned “O Sacrament Most Holy,” that’s one of my favorite English language hymns of all time
 
Lots of hymns are set to existing music. Not everyone who wrote lyrics could also write music and if the lyrics are from scripture, they were simply set to music. And that music was often a tune that people already knew - so another hymn, a folk tune (the pop music of the day), or a drinking song. 😃

But I do agree that there are great praise songs with theologically correct lyrics that still aren’t appropriate for use during Mass.
 
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