Canada Day Mass and Singing O Canada

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So today’s Canada Day, so our bishop celebrated the Canada Day/Sacred Heart of Jesus with Mass today. When I walked in there was a guy handing out mini paper flags, whom I avoided eye contact with, lest he want to give me a flag.

The Mass itself was fine, but I was somewhat curious about whether or not it’s licit to turn our focus to the Canada flag and sing O Canada at the end before the final blessing and final hymn? It seemed a little “off,” and I admit, I did participate in the singing, and sang the “God keep our land” part loud and proud given that various people have petitioned to have that line changed because it mentions God.
 
I didn’t care for singing O Canada at Mass, however, I still joined in. I’d like to hear what other people think.
 
This happens with your southern neighbors quite a bit (though our song selection is somewhat different). I just take it in stride. It is good to live in a country that honors free practice of religion so to bless the country in turn is not inappropriate.
 
My wife is playing at Saturday night Mass and in honor of July 4 she chose for the dismissal hymn " The Battle Hymn of the Republic". . I think it is very appropriate.
 
Bishop just said an extended intention for Canada at Divine Liturgy, for her military and police forces and for being a land that is free and gives opportunity to many immigrants,etc.

I personally wouldn’t mind singing “O Canada” at the end of Liturgy for this one day, especially because we honor God as a protector of our country in the hymn. It does have religious significance 👍
 
I don’t think anything is wrong with it. Many parishes across the U.S. will opt to do the National Hymn, “God of Our Fathers”, or any other hymn patriotic in nature to give thanks to God for our freedom.
 
The EF Missal has a Prayer for the Sovereign Of England to be said after High Mass in England. I see no problem with O Canada or America The Beautiful or the 4th verse of the Star-Spangled Banner being sung after Mass, especially only once or twice a year.
 
I’m one of your southern neighbors and we do similar things at our OF parish. Now I’m as patriotic as anyone. I fly my national flag along with my USMC flag but I can’t stand it when the hymns turn into a flag waving display. IMHO, Mass is not the place for this sort of thing. So rather than get myself all up-tight about it, I’m heading to an EF Mass on Sunday.
 
Here is a historical refrain from “O Canada”:
Code: 
Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion in thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the better Day,
We ever stand on guard.
I will use the words to pray for your nation on Canada Day.

My ties to Canada? I claim a small bit of French-Canadian ethnicity, and grew up near enough to the border so that when the TV went off the air for the night, I would listen to the national anthems for both the US and Canada, and came to love both anthems.

👍
 
the_phoenix said:
Here is a historical refrain from “O Canada”:
Code: 
Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion in thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the better Day,
We ever stand on guard.
I will use the words to pray for your nation on Canada Day.

My ties to Canada? I claim a small bit of French-Canadian ethnicity, and grew up near enough to the border so that when the TV went off the air for the night, I would listen to the national anthems for both the US and Canada, and came to love both anthems.

👍
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If you were given $50 for each Canadian who’s ever read or sung this I’m not sure you’d get enough to pay your rent. 😉
 
This thread is fascinating because this is the Fourth of July Weekend in the United States. Like the Catholic Church does with the great holy days having octaves, the major secular holidays in the United States have a weekend attached to them. In a few short hours, as the first Masses of Sunday end, the complaints/comments will start flowing in about churches in the U.S. the Star Spangled Banner/Battle Hymn of the Republic/America the Beautiful/God Bless America/My Country Tis of Thee/Faith of Our Fathers/Eternal Father Strong to Save/This is my Country as a recessional.
 
SonCatcher said:
. It is good to live in a country that honors free practice of religion
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So long as you don’t practice your religion out in public. For living in a country that gives me the right to freedom of religion, I sure am scared to be Catholic in public, lest I offend someone and either lose my job, or get charged with a hate crime.
 
PacoG said:
This thread is fascinating because this is the Fourth of July Weekend in the United States. Like the Catholic Church does with the great holy days having octaves, the major secular holidays in the United States have a weekend attached to them. In a few short hours, as the first Masses of Sunday end, the complaints/comments will start flowing in about churches in the U.S. the Star Spangled Banner/Battle Hymn of the Republic/America the Beautiful/God Bless America/My Country Tis of Thee/Faith of Our Fathers/Eternal Father Strong to Save/This is my Country as a recessional.
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I don’t think that patriotic hymns are inappropriate at all. I mean, if a music director wanted to be subtle about it, he or she could pick “Now Thank We All Our God,” “Praise to the Lord,” “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” or any other “praise song.” I actually like when we use patriotic hymns sometimes at Mass because then the people actually SING.
 
Our Pastor gave a homily at the Vigil Mass tonight where he incorporated the writings of Thomas Jefferson with a list of scary statistics about how many Catholics in the United States don’t believe what the Catholic Church teaches. Then, he tied it all together with what freedom really means from a Christian standpoint rather than what most people think of as freedom. It was a very powerful and timely homily and it reminded me of this thread. He did a wonderful job of incorporating a secular holiday with religious truth. 👍
 
Our song selection at our 5 p.m. Saturday Mass was:
Processional: Faith of Our Fathers
Offeratory: God Bless America
Communion: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Recessional: My Country Tis of Thee
 
PacoG said:
This thread is fascinating because this is the Fourth of July Weekend in the United States. Like the Catholic Church does with the great holy days having octaves, the major secular holidays in the United States have a weekend attached to them. In a few short hours, as the first Masses of Sunday end, the complaints/comments will start flowing in about churches in the U.S. the Star Spangled Banner/Battle Hymn of the Republic/America the Beautiful/God Bless America/My Country Tis of Thee/Faith of Our Fathers/Eternal Father Strong to Save/This is my Country as a recessional.
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Faith of our Fathers is concerned with the Martyrs of England and Wales if I remember right, however it’s a brilliant hymn 😉

As for Patriotic songs at the end of Mass, I’m all for them at certain times of the year, after the 2010 General Election & the Royal Wedding we sung the UK National Anthem God Save Our Queen, and the Last Post and something else is played on Armistice Day (and the Sunday before or after).
 
The parish I visited this weekend sang America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and Battle Hymn of the Republic. Apparently that wasn’t enough; the response to prayers of the faithful was “Lord bless America”!
 
I’m sure most churches here sang God Bless America or another patriotic quasi-hymn this weekend, and since even Immaculate Mary has a line where we pray for our native land or fatherland that is not too out of line.
 
We do have an very forgotten national hymn: God of Our Fathers.

Immaculate Mary is another option because the song contains a prayer for the “land of our birth” and the Immaculate Conception is our national patroness.

I have objections to God Bless America because it is a show tune. It was written for a musical. It’s a secular song.

Our parish had the Battle Hymn of the Republic as the communion hymn. It’s kind of in appropriate. It’s 2-2 cut-time march rhythm is not appropriate for communion.
 
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