Contemporary music at mass

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Understanding the origins of rock and roll and it’s influence on the culture is key:


Fr. Ripperger also has a good teaching on this.
 
Saying “it’s just an opinion” is a cunning way of dodging debate. Either more souls are saved, or they are not. This is something that can be proved/disproved. There is no “opinion” involved.
 
Pope Benedict did not look to happy about the music. Of course, he seldom looks happy though I am sure he is filled with joy inside.
 
whyeyeman said:
Either more souls are saved, or they are not. This is something that can be proved/disproved.
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How do you prove how many souls are saved an how many or not? I think you have overstated your position here, as even the Catholic Church makes no such claim to know. Okay, you are not the first here to elevate their own opinion to such a tremendous height. I guess that is how you see you have a right to judge what will and will not save souls.
 
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LumberJack said:
Music binds us altogether as this video shows. It is actually part of our DNA.

Listen to and watch this, and sing along as the audience does. I guarantee you will be able to sing the correct notes even though it is completely new to you. Wherever you are, whatever your background, you will get it.

It is only three minutes long.
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Did you know that many of the symphonic songs–like Pachabel’s Cannon–are great for relaxing because they are the exact rythm of a heart at rest?
 
Do you expect him to laugh and smile during holy Mass? Pope Francis looks just as sober at Liturgical celebrations from what I’ve seen.
 
Don’t work on what level? Don’t work for resting nor dancing? Neither are normally part of the typical Mass experience…
When I visit parishes that employ “praise and worship” music (which is what most people on this forum mean when they say “contemporary”), no one is singing along… everyone stares ahead just as they do with more traditional hymns. Catholics in North America just don’t sing. So what do you gain? I am convinced that a very small but extremely passionate minority pushes for this sort of music… those in the pews are sheep and will accept whatever the pastor prefers.
I certainly don’t think that Gregorian chant and polyphony should be the only option… “traditional” English hymns with the organ are great too. But because of my evangelical roots, roots that I fled, “praise and worship” music at Mass makes me want to stick a needle through my ear. If the bishop / pastor has deemed it sacred music, that’s fine… but I will avoid it at all costs for personal reasons. And I when I see the whole congregation staring blankly ahead as the choir sings, I am convinced that it isn’t any more popular with the average Joe than more traditional music.
 
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whyeyeman said:
However, everything found in a church should be different from what you find in the evil outside world.
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This is a problem.

God created the world and He declared it good. This world is full of beauty and life and majesty. God’s beauty can be seen in the natural world, in the creative arts and in every human being. There are beautiful musical pieces that bring glory to God that were written in the 2nd Century and some that were written yesterday.

Yes, there is sin and evil in the world, however, to see all of the world outside the walls of your church as “evil” is a distortion at best and diabolical at worst. I remember that from my Protestant youth, that all contemporary music is evil and satanic and we burned record albums and arranged protests.

In the Catholic Church I found the beauty of truth and that beauty can be part of our everyday life. We are not called to hide under a basket, but, to shine out there in the world. Maybe try to see God in all of His magnificent creation, including in art and music!

We need more Catholics shining light, listen to this testimony! https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/53
 
LOL, and while we’re at it, why do we let lay people attend the mass…they just bring the worldly into the realm of the spiritual, and as you seem to believe, that is a very bad thing!
 
My opinion is worthless. All I am doing is repeating the age old teachings of the church. What do you think the reaction of the church hierarchy would have been if, for example, a church in the middle ages starting playing folk music with bagpipes during mass?
 
twf said:
When I visit parishes that employ “praise and worship” music (which is what most people on this forum mean when they say “contemporary”), no one is singing along… everyone stares ahead just as they do with more traditional hymns. Catholics in North America just don’t sing.
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That’s fixable, though I know it is a problem. I never had much time as a Catholic in the pew, much to my chagrin. I was needed before I finished RCIA. I was used to everyone singing in Church, so that was always my goal. The only solution that works for me is a combination familiarity and singability. The only chant I will use is the simpler stuff, and the familiar stuff. I am limited in what I can use as contemporary to what is in the hymnal, and a large percentage of that is too difficult to introduce.
 
whyeyeman said:
My opinion is worthless. All I am doing is repeating the age old teachings of the church.
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This is not a matter of teaching. There is not doctrine on what music can be used.
 
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whyeyeman said:
A church must be a place in which you separate yourself from the world. The world is evil and is one of the three enemies of the soul, along with the flesh and the devil.
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Pardon me for being a bit crabby about this.
This thread should have never gotten past one reply. What you say here is heretical.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm
Manichaeism is a heresy. It’s the first cousin of gnostic dualism.
You are quoting “the world” from scripture out of context and misapplying it to confirm your angry bias.
If you want to worry about something evil, maybe that is what you ought to be worrying about.
 
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You seem to be missing the whole part about “culture and custom”. Of COURSE people would have an issue with someone doing something totally odd.
 
I don’t understand what your clip has to do with “praise and worship” music? P and W is a very specific genre that I personally can’t stand. Your clip is lovely.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
Music dosn’t have magical properties. It’s just sound.
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Music doesn’t have magical properties but it does have natural properties that influence us. For instance there is music called toe tapping because it makes us want to tap our toes. A coworker once observed when he played rock music his younger kids would suddenly start thrashing around. Music does move us. Thus different types can move us in ways that are or are not suited for Mass.
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
Very true. Some of the finest organs ever made were at ballparks and in theatres.
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I’m not an organ expert but I’d find that surprising. I wouldn’t doubt some organs at those venues may be impressive for the use, but I’d suspect they don’t compare to Church organs.
 
I agree. Which is why I hate that the terms “praise and worship” have been appropriated for such a very specific style of music.
 
This is one of the areas where the Church has gone off the rails quite a bit. There’s another thread on here titled; “Why Hostility for the Ordinary Form of the Mass?” And music choices would be one of the top reasons for some of this hostility IMHO. At the parrish my niece attends, they have huge Marshall amps with electric guitar and a drum set to boot. You’d think that any second the lights would go dark, and Van Halen was about to take the stage. How can your thoughts be on The Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with these concert instruments in plain view, not 20 ft. from the Tabernacle? An absolute travesty!
 
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LumberJack said:
Similar techniques were used in the past, according to him, to make people think they were experiencing God, whereas it was just physics. I got an A in my O’level. He was a good teacher.
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Which is a bit sketchy if you ask me…
 
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