What I would prefer to do is teach the truth. Those who who seek the truth will convert. I don’t want to just tickle everyone’s fancy, and pass over the harder and “less agreeable” parts of the Faith just to get a bunch of numbers, as it does more harm than good to everyone involved.
It is good to teach the truth. We should always teach the truth.
Remember that the rubrics do not forbid the use of contemporary music in the Mass. So there is not conflict between “teaching the truth” and “using the Gather hymnal.”
You have to get people to a point where they are willing to sit down and listen to the truth. If they won’t even walk through the door, then you won’t have any success trying to teach them.
That’s where contemporary or traditional praise music can really help. It can provide a “bridge” for people to cross into the church building. It can help some people relax. It can give some people a starting place to return to the Church and begin learning what they never internalized back when they were children in the CCD classes.
For some people, contemporary music that speaks to them in modern language and style can be the beginning of a healing from a church “injury”; some of these people have a difficult time facing “traditional” Catholic practices, including music, because that’s the music that was happening back when they went through “something bad” in their parish. Chant makes them have flashbacks, while a pleasant contemporary melody and vernacular lyrics helps them to see the Church and Jesus in a fresh way.
I think a lot of Christians, even “damaged” Christians, eventually “move on,” so to speak, and develop a tolerance for and even a love of more traditional forms of Christian music. But they need to be eased into it, and that’s OK. But baby steps! A baby doesn’t just get up and start walking. They spend months developing all the muscles and nerves necessary for the skill of walking. Same for Christians. We shouldn’t criticize people who simply aren’t ready for a foreign language and songs with no regular rhythms or melodies.
I’m sure you’ve met them–people who shake their heads and grimace when you mention the words “classical music” or “traditional music.” In the U.S., people have extremely strong preferences for music, including music in their churches. Many Catholics have not grown up in happy church situations in their family (either too conservative or too liberal), and have not been well-catechized, and they don’t realize that personal preference has nothing to do with the liturgy.
*We have to start where these folks are right now, not where
we are right now. * You might be a very mature Catholic Christian with an excellent background of catechesis, a disciplined life in which Mass is the center of your existence, and an extensive knowledge of the rubrics. But most people in the Church are no where near that level of maturity yet! Maturity doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a gradual process, and we simply have to accept people at whatever place they are in their “growing up.”
And sadly, many Catholics are at a point in their “growing up” where they won’t even darken the door of a Catholic Church! You can’t teach truth to such immature people. So yes, it’s very appropriate and very charitable to plot evangelistic strategies to “get them through the church doors,” or at least, get them to a hoome Bible study (Catholics) or a social event (e.g., a concert) that is meant to incite interest in the Catholic Church.
And to that end, Christian contemporary music can be very useful.
And since the rubrics do not disallow contemporary music in the Mass, it is appropriate to incorporate it into the Mass with the hopes of reaching out to those Christians who need a little help (or a lot of help) to fully embrace the Catholic Church.
Yes, I know that the Mass is not an “evangelistic meeting,” but the reality is in the United States that the Mass is often the ONLY opportunity that Catholics have to try to get relatives and friends who are estranged from the Catholic Church interested in returing to the Catholic Church. E.g., Dad and Mom can often convince a wayward child to “please come to Mass with us since it’s Dad’s birthday” or something like that. And so since the rubrics allow contemporary music in the Mass, it makes sense to include it so that perhaps that wayward child might just sit up and listen instead of slumping down in the pew and enduring.
Think of it as a hospitality issue. When you invite someone to your house, you do what you can to make them comfortable. You don’t change all your decor or buy new furniture or throw out all your favorite foods and replace them with your guests’ favoriates. But you do what you can. E.g., if you know that your guests despise country music, you don’t play Hank Williams and Johnny Cash on your stereo system during the dinner party!
I hope this post is helpful and useful.
.
