that is one person’s opinion. In the early years of the Charismatic movement, a majority of the music came from Word of God in Ann Arbor, It was Catholic and it was the Protestant groups that use it not the other way around. “I am the bread of life” is a very Catholic song.
I ought to know since I was there and the Protestant groups used the Catholic songs.
Amen!
Thank you for clarifying this and for giving witness to history that you were actually there to see happen.
I was Evangelical Protestant for 47 years, and was involved with the music programs of some of the most well-known Evangelical churches in the U.S. We never, ever, EVER sang any of the hymns that are done in Catholic Churches. They would have been called “too Catholic.”
What we did sing were the traditional hymns that Catholics love; e.g., Holy God We Praise Thy Name, and There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy", “Praise Ye The Lord The Almighty.”
So should those songs be eliminated by Catholic parishes because Protestants use them in their worship services?
Frankly, I don’t see why everyone worries about what the Protestants do. Catholics need to take music BACK that rightfully belongs to God and the Church. Just because a Protestant touches something doesn’t mean that it is “unclean.”
Same for so-called “secular” instruments. Take them back! The more the instruments are played in church, the less they will be considered “secular.”
When I was attending an Evangelical Protestant church, I honestly had no idea what “secular” music was because I listened to so little of it because I was too busy serving God in my church and playing “religious” music. I didn’t go into bars, or places where “secular music” was played, so for me, there was no “secular association” with rock music. It was just “God’s music.”
Perhaps some of you might want to try not listening to secular music and then you’ll stop comparing it to church music and finding simliarities. If you never or seldom hear secular music, you won’t know whether your Mass music sounds secular or not!
On CAF, I have often said that I associate chant with movies, because that’s the only place I’ve ever heard it. A few weeks ago, I watched my favorite actor in a little-known movie (it was a bomb), and the score of the movie was almost exclusively GREGORIAN CHANT. It was a “ghost” movie, about a cop that came back as a “ghost” to help a rookie cop. The rookie cop had quit the priesthood to become a cop, and that’s why Gregorian chant was used as the score. Anyway, I’ve heard chant in movies often, and that’s MY association with it. When I hear it, I don’t think “Catholic” or “church” or “God.” I think “movie” because that’s what I know. Those of you who listen to the radio a lot, or go to secular concerts, or spend any time at bars or lounges, will no doubt think “bar” or “concert” when you hear certain styles of music because that’s what you know.
But what we know doesn’t matter. The Church should take the music BACK and redeem it and sanctify it rather than rejecting it as “secular.” To me, this “taking back of the music” is symbolic of what happens to human beings–we are sinful and sorrowful, but when we become part of Christ’s Church, we are redeemed and have a hope of heaven!
I would really like to see the Catholic Church hold a conference on Mass music that includes ALL the musicians, not just one style of musicians who conveniently ignore all the other styles that they don’t “crave.” I guess that this issue isn’t considered very important at this time by the Church leaders, and I accept that. But I would still like to see it happen in my lifetime. It is an issue that seems to divide, and that alone, IMO, is reason enough for the Church to step up and get active. But it’s not up to me, or any of us.
