C
Cat
Guest
I agree that the Church needs to explain to those of us who live in the United States exactly what is meant by “pride of place.”
In my family for several generations, when we speak of something that has “pride of place,” it means that we put it on a high shelf, sometimes even under glass, and sometimes locked up, and we never, ever touch it other than when one designated person, usually a very mature adult, takes it down to dust/clean it. It is too valuable to touch, let alone use on a daily basis. We simply admire it from a distance. If it is something like good china or glassware, we might possibly get it out and use it once a year, or maybe only for extremely special occasions, like 50-year wedding anniversaries. But we certainly don’t use it everyday, and we don’t treat it like everything else and pass it around. It’s to be looked at and admired, not actually touched and used. Little children especially are NEVER EVER allowed to touch something that has “pride of place!”
So this is in my mind when I hear the quaint and puzzling phrase, “pride of place.” To me, this means that the Church shouldn’t be using this music everyday, but just on very, very special occasions, and only certain people should use it, not the entire congregation. To me, music that has pride of place SHOULDN’T be passed around like common hymns. It should be reserved for special times only and handled with great care by qualified, mature people.
I think that there are probably other families out there who would have the same understanding of “price of place.” Something that has “pride of place” should not be in use everyday, or it no longer has “pride of place.”
Hmm. Kind of puts a different spin on it, doesn’t it, friends?! And it sounds like a good spin. It sounds like my family’s approach would result in much more reverence in the Mass than just throwing Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and a pipe organ out on the table every week for every Mass. If we did this, then that “special” music would eventually become mundane and ordinary. It would get chipped and cracked and smudged and no one would sit up in their seats and listen harder whenever it was played, because it would be the “everyday” music, not music with “pride of place” anymore.
Again, what is very much needed is for Rome to speak up and tell independent and free-thinking Americans in the U.S. exactly what the CHURCH means by the murky phrase, “pride of place.” I’m guessing that when this phrase was originally penned by some learned cardinal or committee, that it meant something specific, and that they understood the meaning. But with the change in language in the U.S., the meaning has become obscured, and now the phrase is a point of contention and confusion. It is creating a “music war” in the Catholic Church here in the U.S., especially as more and more converts like me come into the Church and would kind of like to hear some good music in the Mass.
But of course, the Church isn’t going to say a word. They apparently are content to allow the rank and file (that’s us, people!) to fight it out like cats and dogs, and to allow the American Catholic parishes to languish with a blend of innocuous and bland music. Considering how few Ameircans have any musical knowledge, it’s probably the easiest thing to do. No matter how hard chant enthusiasts tout chant, I still maintain, as an accompanists with many years of experience playing for various soloists and choirs, that most people in the U.S. would find chant a major challenge to learn, and the result of implementing chant in most parishes would be a den of howling cats.
Yes, I’m definitely feeling bitter about this. The conclusion that I’ve come to is that the best thing to do is just sit back and enjoy Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and hope for heaven, when we will finally all enjoy the music.
In my family for several generations, when we speak of something that has “pride of place,” it means that we put it on a high shelf, sometimes even under glass, and sometimes locked up, and we never, ever touch it other than when one designated person, usually a very mature adult, takes it down to dust/clean it. It is too valuable to touch, let alone use on a daily basis. We simply admire it from a distance. If it is something like good china or glassware, we might possibly get it out and use it once a year, or maybe only for extremely special occasions, like 50-year wedding anniversaries. But we certainly don’t use it everyday, and we don’t treat it like everything else and pass it around. It’s to be looked at and admired, not actually touched and used. Little children especially are NEVER EVER allowed to touch something that has “pride of place!”
So this is in my mind when I hear the quaint and puzzling phrase, “pride of place.” To me, this means that the Church shouldn’t be using this music everyday, but just on very, very special occasions, and only certain people should use it, not the entire congregation. To me, music that has pride of place SHOULDN’T be passed around like common hymns. It should be reserved for special times only and handled with great care by qualified, mature people.
I think that there are probably other families out there who would have the same understanding of “price of place.” Something that has “pride of place” should not be in use everyday, or it no longer has “pride of place.”
Hmm. Kind of puts a different spin on it, doesn’t it, friends?! And it sounds like a good spin. It sounds like my family’s approach would result in much more reverence in the Mass than just throwing Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and a pipe organ out on the table every week for every Mass. If we did this, then that “special” music would eventually become mundane and ordinary. It would get chipped and cracked and smudged and no one would sit up in their seats and listen harder whenever it was played, because it would be the “everyday” music, not music with “pride of place” anymore.
Again, what is very much needed is for Rome to speak up and tell independent and free-thinking Americans in the U.S. exactly what the CHURCH means by the murky phrase, “pride of place.” I’m guessing that when this phrase was originally penned by some learned cardinal or committee, that it meant something specific, and that they understood the meaning. But with the change in language in the U.S., the meaning has become obscured, and now the phrase is a point of contention and confusion. It is creating a “music war” in the Catholic Church here in the U.S., especially as more and more converts like me come into the Church and would kind of like to hear some good music in the Mass.
But of course, the Church isn’t going to say a word. They apparently are content to allow the rank and file (that’s us, people!) to fight it out like cats and dogs, and to allow the American Catholic parishes to languish with a blend of innocuous and bland music. Considering how few Ameircans have any musical knowledge, it’s probably the easiest thing to do. No matter how hard chant enthusiasts tout chant, I still maintain, as an accompanists with many years of experience playing for various soloists and choirs, that most people in the U.S. would find chant a major challenge to learn, and the result of implementing chant in most parishes would be a den of howling cats.
Yes, I’m definitely feeling bitter about this. The conclusion that I’ve come to is that the best thing to do is just sit back and enjoy Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and hope for heaven, when we will finally all enjoy the music.
