"Folk Mass" memories

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bpbasilphx said:
When I was an Episcopalian, we would have a Folk Mass on Thanksgiving and the Sunday afterwards–complete with incense and everything sung–Lessons, collects, Sursum dorda, et al.
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Wow, I am surprised. I went to Choral Evensong at the local Episcopal Cathedral to hear the choir and organist do some really traditional sacred music. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were beautiful. There was nothing “folksy” about it.
 
I have some very happy memories of Folk Masses in the 1970’s. Folk music is one of my favorite kinds of music. I was young then, and I always thought that the organ and the traditional choir were SO boring!

The Folk Mass really seemed to make my religion come alive! For those who can’t imagine such a thing, remember that our God is a God of variety. Look at all of the different cultures of the world and the huge variety of food, music, and building designs.
 
Brother_John said:
Well, I guess for me, fortunately, it was sort of a passing fad. I still remember those purple and yellow “Hymal for Young Christians” books…with the “Sons of God”, “They will know we are Christians…”, and “What a Great thing it Is…”, et al.

Our parish adopted the blue “Glory and Praise” hymnals about 15-17 years ago. It took me every bit of 10 years to get used to them. We had the “blue hymnal” and the “red hymnal” during that time. About a year ago, we got new maroon ones which were obviously a combination of the two.

But I digress. School gym, guitars, younger priests, the multi-colored hymnal. I never was an altar server at “Folk Mass”. The only times I attended was out of curiosity after serving Mass “over at the big church”.

If there was one “good” thing (other than attending Mass itself), is that it DID turn me on to playing the guitar, something I still putz with today, as does my youngest son.
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I very much want to get one of these

“Hymal for Young Christians” books…with the “Sons of God”, “They will know we are Christians…”, and “What a Great thing it Is…”, et al.

Can anyone help me? It would mean alot.

Thankyou
steve
 
Growing up in Pittsburgh we used to have ‘polka Masses’. The large eastern European makeup of western Pa in those days made them very popular…I suppose. I don’t think they have them anymore.
 
Brother_John said:
To start, I couldn’t really figure out which fourm to put this in. If it needs to be moved, I have no issue with it.

Around 1970, the parish I grew up in, (St John the Baptist in Winfield, IL) had a need for an “overflow” Mass which was held in the school gym.

It was my first exposure to the so-called “Folk Mass”.

Other than ranting about it being heresy, or how Vatican II is destroying our Church, what memories do you have of such Masses?

I left there in 74, for stints in Alabama and Texas. I have not attended a “Folk Mass” since then. The closest I came was at an Engagement Encounter weekend.

Perhaps I have been “sheltered”, as the other parishes I have belonged to are still more or less traditional.
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Are you sure you’re not describing St. James parish in Red Bank, NJ, circa 1972? 😉

This thread has brought back a lot of memories! I remember the music, the gym, the Singing Nun, the mod banners, the Good News Bible (RC version). I was a teenager at the time. My parents seemed indifferent to one type of mass or the other – scheduling was more of a factor than the style of music. So we occasionally found ourselves attending the folk mass.

I have more or less positive feelings about it. As someone else has pointed out, I liked the energy and the joy that seemed to come across.
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Don’t remember what year, but in grade school one day, one of the teachers told us we were having a special guest that day.Music class. I don’t remember if it was a nun or a lay person, but the guest was a woman who taught us to sing Blowin In The Wind. There were several nuns in the room. Anyhow, we had to sing it during a weekday Mass after we learned it. I do remember a nun playing the guitar at Mass. We kids thought it was cool. And best I recall, we only did it one time. Perhaps our priest ok’d it, and then saw it was wrong.

The only other time I saw such was a couple of years ago at a farewell Mass at a local parish for our Archbishop who was retiring. Drums, tambourine, guitar, keyboard, terrible vocals. I knew I should not have went in when I walked past a car in the parking lot with a Call To Action bumper sticker.

I quit attending Mass right about the time I was getting old enough to really understand how much things were changing. By the time I returned, H.H. BXVI was Pope. Deo Gratias.
 
I_Believe said:
Don’t remember what year, but in grade school one day, one of the teachers told us we were having a special guest that day.Music class. I don’t remember if it was a nun or a lay person, but the guest was a woman who taught us to sing Blowin In The Wind. There were several nuns in the room. Anyhow, we had to sing it during a weekday Mass after we learned it. I do remember a nun playing the guitar at Mass. We kids thought it was cool. And best I recall, we only did it one time. Perhaps our priest ok’d it, and then saw it was wrong.
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We sang “Day by Day” from Godspell, which our 8th grade class put on that year.
sigh. I can still hear my father’s response to that.
 
When you consider that we, as Catholics, have some 1500 years of musical tradition behind us and can draw from some of the greatest composers of all time, the “folk Masses” are an affectation to please my generation (baby boomers). I really do not believe that “Sons of God, Hear His Holy Word” or “And They’ll Know We are Christians” will stand the test of time as say, Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus”.

The very sad part about all of this is that most of the generations after 1967 have never heard their sacred music heritage. They’ll hear “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” from Godspell on the First Sunday of Advent but never hear “Veni, Emmanuel”. They will learn to sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” but never learn “Adestes Fideles” in Latin as I did as a kid in grade school.

I have been a member of my diocese’s cathedral choir for twenty years. My kids (now grown) at least got exposure to their sacred musical heritage. In fairness, I have to say that we have sung the best of our Protestant brethrens’ music too. Nothing wrong with singing sacred motets in English…

We have a rule of thumb in the choir. If we can envision Kermit and Miss Piggy singing the lyrics, it is Muppet Music. Kermit and Miss Piggy don’t sing “Ave Verum Corpus”.
 
yes I have many such memories (coming of age in the 60s, in HS during the V2 revolution, in college during the aftermath) all of them bad.

I just think it is so cute that this thread title appears, appropriately, on the Traditional forum. Us old hippies are now traditionalists.

the memory that stands out today, to horrible to contemplate, is the 5pm Saturday group at a former parish who as a couple, guitar with banjo, and vocals, were the most inept untalented performers in any musical genre that I have ever heard in my life. Mass there was sheer torture, yet they lasted for 3-4 years.
 
JustaServant said:
Growing up in Pittsburgh we used to have ‘polka Masses’. The large eastern European makeup of western Pa in those days made them very popular…I suppose. I don’t think they have them anymore.
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They are alive and well around here.😃 But not with any regularity. Only on special occasions.
 
I remember the folk masses from the late 60’s through the 70’s fondly. I grew up in the military and my father was frequently absent from our family, either in Vietnam or some other far away base. The center of our life was the base chapel. There was a regular mass held on Sundays in the chapel, but on Thursday evenings a mass was held for young airmen and this mass was usually a “folk” mass. We always attended the Sunday liturgy, but we also made a point to attend the Thursday night folk mass as well. The folk mass was friendlier and more nurturing for young teens separated from their father and constantly fearing fateful news. We found a community among those airmen and women and I believe my faith gained strength and found a firm foundation through those liturgical experiences. I don’t think my faith would have developed as completely or as trusting in God’s presence, if I had not had the opportunity to attend those masses. Yes, looking back, I realize that those folk masses cannot compare on a liturgical level with the great liturgies the Church has known through its history, but the folk mass, in its simplicity and awkwardness, can still be a powerful sign of God’s love and presence in the midst of a chaotic world. At least for me, as a confused and frightened teen, the Thursday night folk masses we attended was like clinging to the foot of the cross and I am a better Catholic for experiencing them.
 
puzzleannie said:
yes I have many such memories (coming of age in the 60s, in HS during the V2 revolution, in college during the aftermath) all of them bad.

I just think it is so cute that this thread title appears, appropriately, on the Traditional forum. Us old hippies are now traditionalists.

the memory that stands out today, to horrible to contemplate, is the 5pm Saturday group at a former parish who as a couple, guitar with banjo, and vocals, were the most inept untalented performers in any musical genre that I have ever heard in my life. Mass there was sheer torture, yet they lasted for 3-4 years.
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Annie, I was never a hippie. I am not ashamed to admit that I was perfectly content with the Mass in Latin and that I actually enlisted in 1971. That’s what I have been trying to get across to everyone all these long years. I didn’t have long hair. I didn’t smoke pot and I certainly didn’t like the music of my generation. I was not the only one. Many of us in the South were like me.

I am a traditionalist because I was forced to sing “Bridge over Troubled Waters” and “Sounds of Silence” at my high school graduation Mass in 1969. I was a member of our high school choir and sang in Latin at the graduation Mass for the seniors in 1968.
Latin to Simon and Garfunckle.

I categorically reject what my generation is responsible for.
 
Yes, I played in those folk Masses in the seventies. In a lot of places they were closely linked with the local prayer group from the charismatic renewal. I enjoyed those Masses.

But, I’m many years older now, and a good choir and an organ is preferable to me now. My wife and I talk about “moving on” from the renewal and the folk Mass thing and not having a need to go back.

But, in the end, I’m not sure it really matters whether I am worshipping God in the way that I am most comfortable with. I sometimes attend the Sunday folk Mass. I do avoid the Sunday evening youth ‘folk’ mass because exuberance and good intentions just can’t overcome a lack of talent.😊 (I’m older - I’m not deaf!).

God is the important aspect of the Mass, not the music.
 
brotherhrolf said:
I categorically reject what my generation is responsible for.
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I was reading a bio once of Robert E Howard, pulp fiction writer and creator of Conan. He said at one point that he felt he was born 30 years out of his time, and this was in the 1930s. When I read that I thought to myself, I can relate to that feeling, I was born in 1961, and qualify as a (late) Baby Boomer. Yet, I have very little in common with the generation I am a part of. Music-wise, I love Jazz. I would much rather watch films or TV prior to 1970. My politics are conservative. When I heard aged hippies play ‘Get Together’ during a folk Mass a few months ago I wanted to scream. I prefer the Mass in Latin. I agree with Howard, sometimes I feel like I was born out of my time.
But that doesn’t mean reverant worship is for ‘old souls’ like me.
When I was at St. Boniface in Pittsburgh I noticed there were quite a lot of younger people. They dont have the baggage Boomers had, so they see things from a different perspective.
 
Brother_John said:
To start, I couldn’t really figure out which fourm to put this in. If it needs to be moved, I have no issue with it.

Around 1970, the parish I grew up in, (St John the Baptist in Winfield, IL) had a need for an “overflow” Mass which was held in the school gym.

It was my first exposure to the so-called “Folk Mass”.

Other than ranting about it being heresy, or how Vatican II is destroying our Church, what memories do you have of such Masses?

I left there in 74, for stints in Alabama and Texas. I have not attended a “Folk Mass” since then. The closest I came was at an Engagement Encounter weekend.

Perhaps I have been “sheltered”, as the other parishes I have belonged to are still more or less traditional.
Click to expand...
Thinking back on it… I was about ten years old when those were coming in to popularity. Remember the old Coke commercial with all of the hippies singing: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” Realizing that the Church teaches that Christ is present and being sacrificed on the altar made this quite strange indeed.
 
I was born in the 80s and became Catholic last year… so I haven’t really experienced these types of Masses… but I have to say, I don’t think that I would feel really comfortable with them… I know they brought some people closer to God, but I prefer the Mass more traditional… this thread was interesting to read though 🙂

God bless
 
So much of the music described as bad, in bad taste, not musically relevant is so special to me. It was the soundtrack as I was growing in my faith. At one time I would attend one Mass, then sit in a student center outside another Mass just to hear the sounds of music and worship again. I would wake up 20 minutes early to hear Hosea play before a show on EWTN, so I could start the day with this music and let it carry me through a difficult day.

I also studied Latin in my public junior high, sang Ave Verum with my college choir, and can’t get enough of the Tantum Ergo for all its associations with the Eucharist and Benediction. The sounds and smells and culture surrounding faith is so important, no question. One can feel very alone when those things are missing. Yet the faith itself is constant, and the culture surrounding it, even while it changes, can support the expression of that faith.
 
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