Does it bother me? A little but all of that asagio bread and coffee will eventually make our youth fat on empty calories. They’ll come look for the TRUTH of a healthy alternative. We shouldn’t change the menu to keep up with the Jones’ down the street. I’ll continue the metaphors and say this about the watered down LifeTeen program. If you have to add chicken to chicken noodle soup, why not spend your money on better soup? Isn’t it a waste to throw money at a program that has to be rewritten each week? Doesn’t that mean its a poor program? I never did the lesson that was put in front on me when it was my lesson to teach. I would take the scripture, read it and stitch a lesson together.
I’ve never said that you have to remove the teen music. My problem is with electric guitars, bass guitars, drum sets, loud over done production etc…
I agree with your observations. Having had the same problem with the Youth Cursillos, which, mercifully, have now gone away, I do believe that we need to offer the kids substance over style.
Trends are something that many of us will eventually leave. It’s like changing your direction and blowing where the wind goes. It’s unstable.
Truth is unchanging. It is stable. It’s kind of funny, in a way. When our kids are in school, we expect them to learn the facts about our history, about biology, and about government. Yet, when it comes to the Faith, we are content with presenting them with the least amount of substance, giving them watered-down insruction.
The example you gave in your initial post about the issues with the LifeTeen manual hit the nail on the proverbial head. From my own personal experienc with the Youth Cursillo, which kind of went along those lines, I can see the mistakes. One night, the kids did a skit on the Mass and their message was 180-degrees to the opposite of the real meaning of the Holy Sacrifice. The word Sacrifice was not used. What the kids stressed was that we had to listen to the homly, but, there was nothing about the fact that we offer the Body, Blood, Soul and Divnity of Jesus Christ to the Father and that we eat His living Flesh and drink His Blood.
After their presentation, we had open mike and I took advantage of the opportunity to gently correct the kids and explain to them what happens during the Mass. After my remarks, I volunteered to give a fuller presentation the next week, which I did. I taught them the terms that I learned when I was much younger (in fact, I learned these in elementary–my audience was mostly teenagers). Then, we also discussed the seasons of the Church and why we do what we do certain times of the year.
Now, concerning the music, that, I am afraid, means a great deal. I take my cue from what Pope Benedict XVI wrote in the Spirit of the Liturgy:
On the one hand, there is pop music, which is certainly no longer supported by the people in the ancient sense (populus). It is aimed at the phenomenon of the masses, is industrially produced, and ultimately has to be described as a cult of the banal. “Rock”, on the other hand, is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe. The music of the Holy Spirit’s sober inebriation seems to have little chance when self has become a prison, the mind is a shackle, and breaking out from both appears as a true promise of redemption that can be tasted at least for a few moments.
This is actually the same conclusion that the Fathers of the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist came up with when they listed the music used at Youth Masses as one of the shadows:
In other responses some lamented the poor quality of translations of liturgical texts and many musical texts in current languages, maintaining that they lacked beauty and were sometimes theologically unclear, thereby contributing to a weakening of Church teaching and to a misunderstanding of prayer. A*** few responses made particular mention of music and singing at Youth Masses. In this regard, it is important to avoid musical forms which, because of their profane use, are not conducive to prayer.*** Some responses note a certain eagerness in composing new songs, to the point of almost yielding to a consumer mentality, showing little concern for the quality of the music and text, and easily overlooking the artistic patrimony which has been theologically and musically effective in the Church’s liturgy.
Pope Benedict, remaining consistent with what he wrote as Cardinal Rartzinger, shared the Synod Fathers concerns when he wrote this in Sacramentum Caritatis:
***Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. ***As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons (129).
In other words, the music needs to be consistent and compatible with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What works for Protestant ecclesial communities does not work for us becasue, since all they have is the Word, they need to supplement and augment their services. We have both the Word and Sacrifice, so our focus is entirely different. That is why the music needs to jibe with the Holy Sacrifice, not the other way around.
