Mass music in a language different from rest of Mass?

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And I’m not referring to Latin.

At Mass last week, our choir sung the Mass music (Gloria, etc…) in Spanish during the English language Mass. The hymns were in English though. They passed out booklets with the lyrics in Spanish. My concern is that I don’t speak Spanish, and therefore don’t understand Spanish. I consider singing the Gloria, Agnus Dei, and the other music of the Mass as part of participation in the Mass. Our parish has at least one Spanish language Mass already, and the next parish over (15 min away) has 2 or 3 each weekend, so a Spanish language Mass is readily available.

Our church has a suggestion/question box at the back and I have penned a note, not yet sent, asking if they could at least annotate the bulletin so that those of us who don’t want to fumble our way through Spanish Mass music during an English language Mass would know which English language Mass has the Mass music in English as well. (I did not color my letter with any xenophobic language such as “this is America and we speak English”, which is not my intent in the first place - I just want to sing the Mass in a language I understand, since we are able to do so).

Do you think that is OK? Do I have any basis? This is in the United States in an area that has a lengthy Hispanic heritage and many people do speak Spanish and English, but not all of us do. I’m afraid I will get a lot of people angry, but I know I am not the only person who is concerned with this.

Thanks for any feedback.
 
Was there a special occasion that may have necessitated this? When I was in Austin, our parish had celebrated its 90th anniversary and we had a choir sing in Spanish (even though we had never had any Spanish liturgies in our church).

It may seem strange, but, there is no prohibition, as far as I can tell, that would kick in as far as what the OP reported is concerned.
 
No, it was just an ordinary day. I have a friend who attends a different church in our parish (we have mission churches) and at the English language Mass there, the Mass music and all 4 hymns are sung in Spanish.

Unfortunately, this is one of a few reasons some families are considering, or already have, left the parish and chosen to join a different one. I’d rather stay; in a way it would be easier to drive an extra 15 minutes to the next parish over if I don’t like how things are done here, but I don’t want to be part of the problem.
 
Are there Spanish speaking people in your parish?

Perhaps, the music director thought it would be nice to include some Spanish hymns.

I would get upset over it.

Jim
 
See, its not the hymns that bug me, its the Mass music. I can get over not being able to sing the hymns though I like them.
 
At my previous parish they would use bilingual Mass settings during Advent and Lent. That would get people at both the English and Spanish Masses accustomed to singing them. Then they could sing them together at the midnight Mass for Christmas, the Mass on Holy Thursday, and the Easter Vigil. It was a nice way of bringing the two communities together at some of the major Masses of each season.
 
My diocese has the responses in English, Spanish and Vietnamese for certain things at the cathedral. While the OP may not have understood the Spanish words used in certain parts of the mass, surely they could have responded in English. I have been to Spanish daily mass when I was the next adorer on the schedule. We never knew the exact time mass would end, so 2 adorers had to be there the entire hour. I was a recent convert and even I knew which part of the mass came next. I responded in English when everyone else responded in Spanish.

It is the same thing that I see with our many parishioners who come from all over the Catholic and non-English speaking world who attend “English” mass at my parish. They have their missal in their own language and they respond at appropriate times in whatever language they may speak whether they be from Eastern Europe, Africa or Asia.

My advice is that unless it becomes a regular thing for you to have billingual masses and none in English alone that the OP not bother the pastor. They all have plenty on their plates.
 
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