Catholic Composer David Haas Accused of ‘Sexual Battery’ and ‘Spiritual Manipulation'

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The composer of several well-known songs used in Catholic liturgies has been dropped by a prominent hymnal publisher, amid accusations of serial spiritual manipulation and sexual misconduct.
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Not surprised at all.

Any church whether Protestant or Catholic has it fair share of perverts.
 
It would be good if people could separate the artist from the art. No matter who does what, I personally will continue to use their work if I enjoy it, or use it. Everyone has done evil, and at the last judgement we will see all the sins of the whole world, a shame to the damned and glorifying to the elect who overcame. It has nothing to do with whether the work is good or not.
 
I think most people are able to do this - just witness for example the awful personal life of someone like Picasso, yet people love his work.

But the problem is, Haas is still living, and if the Church uses his work then monies must be paid to him on a regular basis, and it’s hard to justify paying a guy who creates such a scandal.
 
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I hope there is some decision on this. I dislike bringing it up to our choir director who is in charge of a lot more than simply the choir. He has a different title but I know him from choir. My opinion is that just like ours, there are composers out there who can be moved into publishing of their music. Really, we already have this happening at our Parish. I would also like these boards to discuss why David Haas’ music affects us. Are some of his words the Words of Christ? I know little about music. I do feel that other people, usually a fellow, have tried to change my music tastes in the secular area. My dad said it is the music itself, not the words (radio music.) When I spoke to my sibling, she was adamant that Haas’ music must remain in the Glory & Praise books. Maybe those he wrote prior to his problems?
 
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I have always found Haas hymnody to be banal and un-original. Bless The Lord My Soul being a recent example. How many other public domain tunes, like that old sea chanty, will get repurposed as church music? The man even ran a concert tour, charging over $20 a head in some cases, to attend at a local parish. Takes a special kind of ego to think one has that sort of fan base.

We need not worry about how this news will affect musical selections for The Liturgy however. We were getting two Dan Schutte ditties at every other Mass now.
 
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The “Catholic” newspaper here never reveals those numbers. Judging by the limited photos of such concerts, they’re primarily attended by various parish staff (in the case of a Dan Schutte concert). Even then, they were using lyric sheets to sing along!
 
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