Bluegrass Mass

Status
Not open for further replies.
Suudy

Suudy

Active member
Some time ago, I posted a request for traditional parishes in the Seattle area. I found Blessed Sacrament to have a very reverent mass. The homilies are very good, and I have enjoyed it.

But now…a Bluegrass Mass!

No kidding. Check out blessed-sacrament.org/

Sigh
 
It looks like it is just a one-time event. If there isn’t much positive response afterwards, they probably won’t do it again.
 
A few months ago our diocese had a big write-up glorifying a parish that celebrates polka masses. Grrrr!:mad:

What people fail to understand is that the only purpose of music in the liturgy is to help us unite with the glory, splendor, and beauty of God. It is to help us instill a healthy fear of God, not for happy-clappy entertainment.

I would rather see music done away with altogether than to have to witness abuses like this constantly.
 
I’m not too sure what a bluegrass Mass is. But assuming it is a dignified Catholic Mass without nonsense, I see nothing wrong with the general notion.

I grew up in the Bible Belt, at a time when there was almost nothing on the radio but music that would now be called “bluegrass”, including lots of “Southern Gospel” music. I learned to like it, and like it to this day.

I would much, much, much rather hear some of the better ones of those songs at Mass than the awful stuff from Carey Landry, the St. Louis Jesuits and the rest of the 1970s ersatz folk music that infests our hymnals. Also, Southern Gospel can almost always be sung by people with ordinary voice ranges, and it’s easy to harmonize to it. Yes, it’s kind of simple and tends to be mildly emotional, but I’m not sure that’s so bad.
 
Enoch said:
A few months ago our diocese had a big write-up glorifying a parish that celebrates polka masses. Grrrr!:mad:

What people fail to understand is that the only purpose of music in the liturgy is to help us unite with the glory, splendor, and beauty of God. It is to help us instill a healthy fear of God, not for happy-clappy entertainment.

I would rather see music done away with altogether than to have to witness abuses like this constantly.
Click to expand...
And [edited by Moderator] you fail to understand is that the Polka Mass is part of the tradition of the Catholics from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe.

NOT ALL CATHOLICS ARE IRISH!!!:banghead:
 
Patchunky said:
And what [edited by Moderator]you fail to understand is that the Polka Mass is part of the tradition of the Catholics from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe.

NOT ALL CATHOLICS ARE IRISH!!!:banghead:
Click to expand...
[edited by Moderator] However, I’m not one bit Irish! Although, my wife is almost 100% Polish and she was more disturbed by the polka Mass than I was, and it was NOT traditional. 😉 [edited by Moderator]
 
Enoch said:
[edited by Moderator] However, I’m not one bit Irish! Although, my wife is almost 100% Polish and she was more disturbed by the polka Mass than I was, and it was NOT traditional. 😉 [edited by Moderator]
Click to expand...
Then your wife needs to go to JASNA GORA when the GORALE come on pilgrimage and hear the polka music they play on violins and accodians…:eek:
 
No, “Polka Masses” are not “traditional” in the villages and hamlets of central and eastern Europe, where I have traveled extensively, including far off the beaten tourist track.
 
How 'bout a “hip-hop Mass”? Or a “death metal Mass”? I’m sure there has been an “avant-garde Mass”…

I’m slowing “turning the corner” in regards to the NO Mass - I used to be a supporter of it, as it allows the Mass to be tailored to fit any culture, but the problem is that then people expect the Church itself to be tailored to fit it’s culture.

We need to return to a VERY rigid structure of the Mass, one that doesn’t allow for bluegrass, dancers, tambourines, etc. Something very plain and straightforward, a Mass that shouldn’t take longer than an hour, and then have some sort of religious and cultural education afterward that everyone is “invited” (REQUIRED) to attend (with that being said, make sure the people teaching the classes are as strictly monitored as the structure of the Mass).

Anyway, I see Catholicism dying in the United States due to people’s lack of a Catholic Culture and understanding of the Faith. If we want to save the Church in the USofA, it has to start in fighting the “Americanism” of the NO Mass and the “Americanism” of our Catholic Culture and Heritage.
 
Catholic_Hammer said:
How 'bout a “hip-hop Mass”? Or a “death metal Mass”? I’m sure there has been an “avant-garde Mass”…

I’m slowing “turning the corner” in regards to the NO Mass - I used to be a supporter of it, as it allows the Mass to be tailored to fit any culture, but the problem is that then people expect the Church itself to be tailored to fit it’s culture.

We need to return to a VERY rigid structure of the Mass, one that doesn’t allow for bluegrass, dancers, tambourines, etc. Something very plain and straightforward, a Mass that shouldn’t take longer than an hour, and then have some sort of religious and cultural education afterward that everyone is “invited” (REQUIRED) to attend (with that being said, make sure the people teaching the classes are as strictly monitored as the structure of the Mass).

Anyway, I see Catholicism dying in the United States due to people’s lack of a Catholic Culture and understanding of the Faith. If we want to save the Church in the USofA, it has to start in fighting the “Americanism” of the NO Mass and the “Americanism” of our Catholic Culture and Heritage.
Click to expand...
What you are describing is the reality of the saying “lex ordandi, lex credendi” (“the law of prayer is the law of belief”), which roughly means “how and what we pray affects what we actually believe”.
 
VociMike said:
What you are describing is the reality of the saying “lex ordandi, lex credendi” (“the law of prayer is the law of belief”), which roughly means “how and what we pray affects what we actually believe”.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Catholic were Catholics when they were Catholics. Now, they are not.
 
I would much, much, much rather hear some of the better ones of those songs at Mass than the awful stuff from Carey Landry, the St. Louis Jesuits and the rest of the 1970s ersatz folk music that infests our hymnals. Also, Southern Gospel can almost always be sung by people with ordinary voice ranges, and it’s easy to harmonize to it. Yes, it’s kind of simple and tends to be mildly emotional, but I’m not sure that’s so bad.
Click to expand...
Amen to that! I’ve always thought that in heaven we’ll hear Gregorian Chant, Gospel music and Sacred Harp Singing.😉

And no Marty Haugen.
 
Biblioassistant said:
Amen to that! I’ve always thought that in heaven we’ll hear Gregorian Chant, Gospel music and Sacred Harp Singing.😉

And no Marty Haugen.
Click to expand...
I’ve often wondered if having to endure more Marty Haugen tunes will be part of the punishment of Purgatory…
 
paramedicgirl said:
I’ve often wondered if having to endure more Marty Haugen tunes will be part of the punishment of Purgatory…
Click to expand...
Did you ever look at the copyright dates on those horrid songs? Mostly 1970s, some in the early 1980s. Keep in mind that our dioceses are still paying royalties to those people, or perhaps their estates, adding insult to injury.

The Cathoic Church in the U.S., it seems, is the Smithsonian of 1970s memorabilia; like a time capsule embedded in the cornerstone of a courthouse, or an earth-tone shag carpet encountered in the house of an aged recluse. Yes, and the infantile banners will cause future generations to wonder whether people in the 1970s could barely write and had no industrial processes with which to do better. And, of course the abstract statues that resemble nothing so much as randomly-formed stalagmites. People in the future will look at older things and compare materials and skill levels, and wonder if maybe a Dark Age had somehow returned during the 1970s and wiped out all civilization for a time, reducing everyone to wearing burlap and making statues by dripping semi-congealed mud out of the last remaining tin cans.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top