Distractions at Mass

[Cat]

Our Parish is music intense, the organist is constantly playing something, other than during consecration, thanks be for that. Also after every Mass we have “brief announcements” which are never brief and the announcements can be found in the parish bulletin, how does one approach this with the pastor who seems to be a cheerleader for both?

I wish I went to your church. I love the music–the more, the better.

Warning–if your feelings are shared by the majority of the parishioners, your organist will have no trouble finding a parish who is longing for a real organist. Many parishes nowadays do not have an organist, and make use of pianists (like me) and guitarists for their music.

You didn’t describe the style of music. Does the organist play traditional music, e.g., traditional hymns for the congregational singing, and classical/baroque for the instrumental portions? This would be my dream parish, BTW, and I think a lot of other people would love to attend a Mass like this every week.

If the organist is playing contemporary music, I can kind of see your point–I do not like to listen to contemporary music played on an organ. But that’s personal preference, and I realize that others don’t mind.

One more thing–I am a good pianist, but I started taking organ lessons this summer from a man who is skilled and experienced in liturgical organ in church settings. My goal is to someday play organ at Mass for all the traditional music (and piano for any contemporary hymns). I would like to play glorious preludes and postludes by Bach and other masters that will help the people draw closer to God and worship Him. I’m working on a Bach piece right now, and I am really hoping to play it soon at Mass.

However, after reading your post, I am getting the feeling that no matter what I play, people will hate it and accuse me of “distracting them.” It makes me afraid to play, because someone will say that they had a hard time praying because of my music.

It’s no wonder that so few good musicians stay in the Catholic Church. And no wonder so few parents get their children involved with learning organ–they don’t want “tomatoes” thrown at their child, including figurative tomatoes.

My organ teacher tells me that most organists choose to stay away from playing in Catholic parishes because of all the controversies. They would rather play somewhere where people appreciate their music and also pay them adequately. I’ve certainly seen this in our city. After reading the OP, I can understand why.

It’s very discouraging.

 

[Elizabeth502]

To the OP:

The surest way to “get action” is to leave: find another Mass, or parish, more suited to you. I’m not trying to edit suggestions of “approaching the pastor,” but unless the pastor is himself quite interested in the musical content (& amount), a pastor is usually, nowadays, not likely to take action. That’s mostly a reality of his time. (Bigger fires to battle.) It’s secondarily a matter of internal politics. If the parish is “rich enough” to afford even one musician – good or bad – who provides services consistently at one Sunday Mass, chances are that the pastor won’t mess with it.

Many parishes now are down to one ‘musical’ Mass, one musician. Many parishes once generously supplied with a variety of music (several different styles of musical Masses, from ancient to contemporary Catholic music) are down to one Mass with music now. If the budget can afford it, that musician or cantor is also their only full-time lay staff person, with part-timers and volunteers rounding out the rest of the administrative functions.

Politics is often additionally involved if “favorite” old-timers (established parish members) have the pastor’s “ear” – those “fixtures” in the parish, who could also be key volunteers or staff members and are more essential than a musician, pressure a pastor into replacing an excellent musical program (or a silent, reverent liturgy) with their friend(s) who are mediocre musicians. I’ve seen this happen more than once. The pastor is loathe to disappoint one or more key staff members who are essentially running the rectory, because in his judgment it would be far worse (from his personal needs in his role) to annoy that staff member than to continue with a mediocre atmosphere at Mass.

If I were to “take action” myself, I might send a nice note (or talk to him face to face), saying that you appreciate that he, the pastor, approves of traditional Catholic music, but that the playing of it during the offertory and post-communion prayers conflicts with the hearing of those prayers, and could there be a reduction in volume. (If he doesn’t know it – he probably does – it’s difficult to reduce organ volume low enough not to compete with speech; the organist would tell him that, & then he might suggest that the organist stop at least during the offertory.)

I have searched far & wide, and am extremely fussy about the quality of the liturgy. I make sacrifices to attend a Mass at a very, very inconvenient time because there is lots of silence, the music is high-quality and appropriate to the readings, and tastefully executed.