Music Transforms Liturgy into Ecumenical Service

[Brownginger]

I will return to read all of the posts in this section, but the question has recently been asked whether the almost exclusive use at Mass of music written by Protestants and Evangelicals and secular musicians transforms the liturgy into an ecumenical service.

Music is an important part of the prayer that is the Mass and should be written with the Mass in mind. The songs used in the majority of the parishes in the U.S. have been composed by those whose view was that of another denomination, perhaps and usually one that at the very least did not like the Catholic Church. Our Catholic parishes now “resound” with the words of Luther, Wesley, Pritchard, those from the American Tract Society, and those written for mass audiences of Evangelicals and intended for commercial success.

It makes me physically ill to hear the chimes of our beautiful Cathedral ringing out to the City the tunes of Protestants; not because the tunes are ugly, but because it tells the community that we are not proud of our own Catholic musical tradition. A Church is known, in part, by its music. We are able immediately to recognize the works of the Lutherans; likewise, Catholic music is also immediately recognizable. This is not a divisive element, but one of denominational identity of thought. The meaning of the words is important in that it sets forth the dogma of the denomination; but the reason for the composition is equally important and prohibits the interchangability of works among differing denominations.

I believe that most lay Catholics would prefer to sing hymns written by Catholics specifically for the liturgy. Parish music directors have such great power, however, that they are free to choose hymnals that are comprised of the sacred songs of all traditions, least of all Catholic. They crave variety and give it to us, their captive audience, because they can.

Variety in our liturgical music should be the last rubric for the selection of the hymns we are asked to sing at Mass. If the powers that be believe that the use of modern music or music from Protestant denominations or Evangelical music writers will bring back our Catholic youth, they are, sadly, very much mistaken. Our youth love the Catholic hymns; if they so desire, they can hear the emotional tunes on the Worship radio stations.

One last thought – today we were asked to sing songs from the Church of Christ and two other Protestant songs, and the recessional hymn “Salve Regina.” There was very little participation in the first three, but the whole Cathedral literally rocked with the voices praising our Blessed Lady! It is so seldom that we have a Catholic hymn (outside of the Gloria) that it gave me the chills! Isn’t it time this post-Vatican II musical experiment be declared just another viasco and that we return to Catholic music for Catholic congregations in Catholic parishes?!?

 

[sphilomena]

I agree that we need truly Catholic hymns that express our faith. However, worse than an ecumenical service, was a song (not hymn) by a feminist nun about singing a new church into being.

 

[KathleenElsie]

I read this thread earlier and had to digest it.

But, I do believe that the use of some music does transform the Mass into an ecumenical service. It makes the visitors comfortable and the parishioners uncomfortable.

 

[bpbasilphx]

Hymns have always been ecumenism in action, and get borrowed back and forth across confessional lines for centuries.

I chuckled once when looking at a Seventh-Day Adventist hymnal, and finding a hymn containing a direrct invocation of the Theotokos. “O, higher than the cherubim, more glorious than the seraphim, lead their praises. Thou bearer of the eternal Word, most gracioius, magnify the Lord!”

And then there’s one beloved of Protesants that was actually written by a priest, “Faith of our Fathers.” (One particuarly strict traditionalist was shocked to see this in a missalette because he didn’t know its origin.)

And when you get to hymn tunes, the lines are even blurrier. The Protestant hymn “Sun of my soul” and the Catholic hymn “Holy God, we praise thy name” are sung to the same basic melody.

I think that the important thing is not who wrote a hymn, whether it’s “Protestant” or “Catholic”, but what doctrine it expresses.

 

[Brownginger]

I believe that “Faith of Our Fathers” actually qualifies as having been composed by a gentleman who was both Protestant AND Catholic. Father Faber was a clergyman in the Church of England and then converted to Catholicism, in which phase of his life the hymn was composed.

I have read that, prior to Vatican II, music used at Mass was required to have been written with that purpose in mind. Perhaps there were some hymnals that included hymns other than those and that were even composed by non-Catholics; but that does not make the current abominable situation any better. The “doctrine” in some of the non-Catholic songs, e.g., that we are all brothers and that Jesus’ Name is to be praised, may pass a very broad definition; but they are not in the spirit of Catholicism, expressed best by those who have since been canonized.

It is true that many of the post-Vatican II songs written by Catholics are even less to be cherished by Catholics than those written by Luther and Wesley (both of them). The fact remains that for many reasons, including esthetic, we should be singing Catholic hymns at our weekend liturgies. There are two other very persuasive reasons: the non-Catholic sects/denominations receive royalties for many of the songs that are included in the ecumenical hymnals; and, we, as Catholics, may not in good conscience thus support a denomination whose teachings are false (which would include all of them); and by using such songs, we are filling a void (if in fact there is one) that otherwise would more quickly be filled by Catholic composers.

As to the latter reason, if Catholics were bored or disgusted or frustrated by hearing the same music at Mass, they might be motivated to great things for the Church and for our posterity. That may still happen; but because music directors have chosen to go outside of our Faith tradition, it will happen very slowly. We have a duty to our tradition to honor those who have gone before us and we have an equally grave duty to encourage others so that tradition be continued. We must support Catholic artists, and we fail to do that when we choose to support Lutherans and Evangelicals.

Would it be proper to include in the Mass the prayerful writings of Protestant clergymen? What if their message were doctrinally correct in every regard? Why do we limit the ranks of those who may preach at Mass to certain ordained members of the Catholic clergy? Other clergymen are certainly capable of expressing Catholic doctrine. By the same reasoning, our music that has perhaps a greater role in our liturgy than the homily should be sourced from those who have been called to the Catholic Faith.

This seems to be so logical and so elementary. As I said in my previous post, Catholic music in a very wonderful way identifies our whole religion. When we go outside of our membership to find the majority of the music used at our liturgies, we in effect turn our backs on the whole membership and we say to the world that we are not capable of presenting to the Lord God His Son at Holy Mass without the help of those who have persecuted our Faith and who would have us destroyed.

 

[CatholicNerd]

…Catholic music in a very wonderful way identifies our whole religion. When we go outside of our membership to find the majority of the music used at our liturgies, we in effect turn our backs on the whole membership and we say to the world that we are not capable of presenting to the Lord God His Son at Holy Mass without the help of those who have persecuted our Faith and who would have us destroyed.

This is very well put. While I have no objection to utilizing a text written by a protestant that happens to be doctrinally sound as a motet, I really wish that we wouldn’t let those texts dominate our liturgies.

People have forgotten that the Church still commands us to sing the Proper of the Mass when possible. The Propers are the prayerful texts that the Church asks us to meditate upon at each and every Mass. The “theme” of the Mass, if you will. Why replace those rich treasures–never set aside by Vatican II OR the New Missal-- with sweet tasting pieces of garbage?

 

[Brownginger]

The people have forgotten because the Bishops have abdicated their authority in this matter. I was in college during and after Vatican II. I remember coming home to my parish when all of the changes were taking place, as if in some sort of nightmare. The laity was being commissioned to have imput into all of the areas we had theretofore never been given access. The priests were basically very fearful to stem the tide, and the Bishops gave them little if any guidance regarding music.

Even now, when many important lessons have been very painfully learned and some situations are in the process of being corrected, the area of liturgical music still is a major roadblock. Music directors, diocesan and parish, are in such high demand that many Bishops and pastors fear that if they were to question an MD’s authority, he/she would just pack up and move to another venue.

The situation always has been very sad – from the old guitar Masses that staged secular music that mentioned anything spiritual to the trombones to the exclusive use of non-Catholic music. The guidelines are there, were the Bishops only willing to apply them. They have all the cover they require; and if the USCCB were the issuing body of a new directive requiring that the Mass be sung (as you point out) according to pre-Vatican II format, no individual MD would be able to complain.