Must a cantor be Catholic?

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I have been involved with my parish in Music Ministry for many years. We have recently hired a new Director of Music Ministry who is bringing in a number of her cronies. She has just announced that a new cantor will be joining our group. This young woman is a music major with a lovely voice. However, in a conversation I had with her prior to her appointment she told me that she was not Catholic.

Since a cantor is a highly visible participant in the Liturgy, is there a requirement that a cantor be Catholic?
 
I would hope so…I would hope that all ministers that are visible, like Extraordinary Eucharistic ministers, as well as Lectors are practicing Catholics. I don’t doubt that this cantor has a beautiful voice and probably is a wonderful person but I would certainly hope that she/he understood clearly what our liturgy means…and could fully participate in it. It might be a good idea to submit this question to the ask the apologist forum.
 
No, I don’t think so, although obviously it would be much preferred to have a Catholic cantor.

There are a lot of parishes that don’t have much talent within them for music for Masses and so hire others to come in and play every week, and these people often include Protestants.
 
A cantor does not have to be Catholic.

My daughter is not Catholic and she asked to cantor. The Director of Music at our large parish checked it out and assured us that a cantor does NOT have to be Catholic.

The mother of her best friend is a Catholic and is also the Director of Music at her parish. She too assured my daughter that a cantor does not have to be Catholic.

We are part of a very conservative, orthodox diocese with a bishop who is extremely careful to enforce reverence and correctness in the Mass. (Bishop Thomas Doran, Diocese of Rockford) We have had TLM in this diocese since the mid 1980s.

My daughter has cantored many times and people always enjoy her angelic voice. She is reverent and respectful and enjoys the Mass.

And in case anyone is wondering, cantoring has been a great way for her to learn about Catholicism because she has to attend Mass when she cantors. When she first started cantoring, she told us that she believes in the True Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament because Jesus said, “This IS My Body, this IS my Blood.” His use of present tense meant that He really IS present!

She attends a Catholic university and is part of the choir there, too.

She and her fiance have talked about becoming Catholic, but just haven’t taken the steps yet. (Busy with wedding plans.)

Back when we were Protestant, our family was kicked out of our Protestant church. My daughters, especially this daughter, were extremely hurt to the point where neither of them would attend any church for several years. We suspect that there may have been some kind of sexual abuse against this daughter in the Protestant church that we were attending, but can prove nothing.

When my husband and I became Catholic in 2004, my daughters attended Mass with us whenever they were home. This daughter, through cantoring, is learning to trust Christians and “church” again. I am grateful that the Catholic Church allows her to use her voice to cantor at Mass.

I don’t know if there is a different rule at a TLM. All the Masses we attend are NO. Perhaps someone else is aware of different rules for TLMs.
 
Cat said:
A cantor does not have to be Catholic.

My daughter is not Catholic and she asked to cantor. The Director of Music at our large parish checked it out and assured us that a cantor does NOT have to be Catholic.

The mother of her best friend is a Catholic and is also the Director of Music at her parish. She too assured my daughter that a cantor does not have to be Catholic.

We are part of a very conservative, orthodox diocese with a bishop who is extremely careful to enforce reverence and correctness in the Mass. (Bishop Thomas Doran, Diocese of Rockford) We have had TLM in this diocese since the mid 1980s.

My daughter has cantored many times and people always enjoy her angelic voice. She is reverent and respectful and enjoys the Mass.

And in case anyone is wondering, cantoring has been a great way for her to learn about Catholicism because she has to attend Mass when she cantors. When she first started cantoring, she told us that she believes in the True Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament because Jesus said, “This IS My Body, this IS my Blood.” His use of present tense meant that He really IS present!

She attends a Catholic university and is part of the choir there, too.

She and her fiance have talked about becoming Catholic, but just haven’t taken the steps yet. (Busy with wedding plans.)

Back when we were Protestant, our family was kicked out of our Protestant church. My daughters, especially this daughter, were extremely hurt to the point where neither of them would attend any church for several years. We suspect that there may have been some kind of sexual abuse against this daughter in the Protestant church that we were attending, but can prove nothing.

When my husband and I became Catholic in 2004, my daughters attended Mass with us whenever they were home. This daughter, through cantoring, is learning to trust Christians and “church” again. I am grateful that the Catholic Church allows her to use her voice to cantor at Mass.

I don’t know if there is a different rule at a TLM. All the Masses we attend are NO. Perhaps someone else is aware of different rules for TLMs.
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The TLM doesn’t have cantors, nor do they have lectors (in the way the Ordinary Form of the Mass allows). The priest pretty much does everything. If there is music, it is done by a schola (choir). Furthermore, only boys/men are allowed to serve at the Altar (altar servers). Girls are not.

When I was in Austin, our parish organist was Methodist and even wrote the music to many of the psalms we used. He even wrote the music for a new Gloria (but, was faithful to keeping the words intact in both cases 👍 ).
 
Pope John Paul II hired a Jewish man, to be the Vatican’s maestro.

At my parish, a woman organist from the Congregational Church across the street, has sometimes filled in for our organist, when she’s been out sick. You’d never know except that she plays better than our organist.

So I would accept a non-Catholic as a cantor, providing they are trained properly.

Who knows, the experience for the cantor may lead to their conversion?

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Who knows, the experience for the cantor may lead to their conversion?
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That was what led me to the Church. An organist-friend of mine was an Episcopalian, and while I was still a Methodist, he had hired me to sing for his Episcopal church choir. He was later hired by a Catholic church, soon converted (he had been thinking about it for quite some time beforehand, anyway), hired me again as cantor, and three years later was my sponsor for RCIA. 👍
 
No, not at all. At a church I know of, the main pianist/organist is a Methodist. The church does beautiful musical arrangements.
 
I think it is inappropriate that the cantor not be Catholic.

In terms of it being a requirement, the 1993 DIRECTORY FOR THE APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES AND NORMS ON ECUMENISM (at ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PCCUECU.HTM#4b ) has:

“133. The reading of Scripture during a Eucharistic celebration in the Catholic Church is to be done by members of that Church. On exceptional occasions and for a just cause, the Bishop of the diocese may permit a member of another Church or ecclesial Community to take on the task of reader.”

Here the permission is not being given for “exceptional occasions”. The intention is that this person regularly proclaim the psalm as the cantor. So, I think, that even the bishop lacks the authority for this.

From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“107. The liturgical duties that are not proper to the priest or the deacon and are listed above (cf. nos. 100-106) may also be entrusted by a liturgical blessing or a temporary deputation to suitable lay persons chosen by the pastor or rector of the church.”

This applies to the psalmist (n. 102), the choir (n. 103) and the choir director and cantor (n. 104). So the parish priest (i.e. pastor) decides who the cantor is. And those performing ministries are to be “suitable lay persons”.
 
pnpmary said:
Since a cantor is a highly visible participant in the Liturgy, is there a requirement that a cantor be Catholic?
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Although I think it is ideal if a cantor is Catholic, I believe that if the non-Catholic cantor understands the liturgy and is respectful of the faith, it is fine. And as others have mentioned, it might bring these people to the faith. We know a musician who was Episcopal and was very involved in his church until the priests there told him that he was “too Catholic”. And he actually became a Roman Catholic afterwards.

I do have to say, though, that when you do bring in “guest cantors” for weddings who don’t know anything about the liturgy, it is stressful for the other musicians involved. My organist friends have relayed nightmares about that and some have now stopped guest cantors unless they are very familiar with the liturgy. It’s not as noticeable for instrumentalists though.
 
Well, when you say cantor I’m assuming you mean somebody who is leading the congregation in the psalm. I’ve heard that since the psalm is reciting the Word of God, it’s proper that only a fully initiated Catholic participate. However, that would not prohibit anyone from being in the choir. I’ve noticed at my school that while there are several non-Catholics who are part of the various choirs, they never lead the psalm (actually, our director of Liturgy doesn’t allow it). In reality though, many parishes may not have the option of only permitting Catholics to cantor, or they might not know about that requirement.
 
THutch04 said:
Well, when you say cantor I’m assuming you mean somebody who is leading the congregation in the psalm.
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This is true, but most churches will usually have one person lead the psalm, Gospel Acclamation, hymns, etc. especially when there is no choir. So the OP is probably meaning someone like that. Only when I’ve attended the large Cathedral masses is when I’ve seen a cantor for the psalm and another singer for everything else.
 
My thoughts. If we have the need to bring in a non-Catholic cantor, then there may be much deeper problems that meets the eye.
 
Really? :confused: As if only Catholics may proclaim a psalm? I think it is extraordinarily arrogant to deem that only Catholics may sing psalms during Mass…unless of course it is an actual RULE of the church, not just a few opinions. Then of course, I bow to the authority of the church
.
 
Seeker1963 said:
Really? :confused: As if only Catholics may proclaim a psalm? I think it is extraordinarily arrogant to deem that only Catholics may sing psalms during Mass…unless of course it is an actual RULE of the church, not just a few opinions. Then of course, I bow to the authority of the church
.
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Yes, really. The Mass is Catholic worship and its roles belong to Catholics first.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The question is, why are Catholics not stepping up to the plate?

Jim
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That’s a very good question. I think it stems from a few things.
  1. Those who can sing and like to do it in a congregation or choir may not feel comfortable singing by himself/herself up there in front of everyone for all to see and hear.
  2. It might be a small parish which don’t have the kind of voices which would be good for chanting the psalm or are like those in No. 1.
  3. There may not be any musicians in the congregation and feel intimidated about learning music especially if the music director isn’t too nice.
  4. As a people on a whole, we’re not encouraging our children and our peers the importance of music and singing in the liturgy.
  5. Those who are trained musically may have found the music program at their parish not so great and a music director not open to expanding it or a pastor not wanting to do anything about the lack of a music program. So, they go to other parishes or find music jobs in churches of other denominations. If you aren’t a director or don’t have a flexible director, you can’t make something go from bad or mediocre to something really beautiful.
  6. There are some music programs which are “clicky” and if you aren’t in the click and they don’t like you for whatever reason, no matter how talented you are, you are either not going to be treated well, or you will leave.
  7. Some don’t want to commit to singing every weekend (which is the case in some parishes) when they might want to go away or attend mass somewhere else for a given Sunday. This is very understandable. I cantor almost every Sunday at the 12:15, but I am also paid for doing this, so it’s a totally different story. When I do need to be somewhere else, there are three other paid cantors that I can switch masses with or ask to substitute with.
I’m sure there are other reasons, but I think the lack of importance in liturgical music is a major reason. I don’t know any cantors who aren’t Catholic, although I have known cantors who should not have been cantors with voices that could peel paint, but no one else “stepped up to the plate” as you said, in their parishes.

I can understand a director or pastor bringing in a person with musical talent not of the Catholic faith, but is interested enough in the faith to want to volunteer her/his time and has a good amount of respect and understanding of the faith. When no one in the parish wants the “job” and if you as the pastor would like someone to chant the psalm, gospel acc. and other parts of the mass, instead of just reciting it, I understand bringing in someone from outside of the church.
 
Sarabande said:
That’s a very good question. I think it stems from a few things.
  1. Those who can sing and like to do it in a congregation or choir may not feel comfortable singing by himself/herself up there in front of everyone for all to see and hear.
  2. It might be a small parish which don’t have the kind of voices which would be good for chanting the psalm or are like those in No. 1.
  3. There may not be any musicians in the congregation and feel intimidated about learning music especially if the music director isn’t too nice.
  4. As a people on a whole, we’re not encouraging our children and our peers the importance of music and singing in the liturgy.
  5. Those who are trained musically may have found the music program at their parish not so great and a music director not open to expanding it or a pastor not wanting to do anything about the lack of a music program. So, they go to other parishes or find music jobs in churches of other denominations. If you aren’t a director or don’t have a flexible director, you can’t make something go from bad or mediocre to something really beautiful.
  6. There are some music programs which are “clicky” and if you aren’t in the click and they don’t like you for whatever reason, no matter how talented you are, you are either not going to be treated well, or you will leave.
  7. Some don’t want to commit to singing every weekend (which is the case in some parishes) when they might want to go away or attend mass somewhere else for a given Sunday. This is very understandable. I cantor almost every Sunday at the 12:15, but I am also paid for doing this, so it’s a totally different story. When I do need to be somewhere else, there are three other paid cantors that I can switch masses with or ask to substitute with.
I’m sure there are other reasons, but I think the lack of importance in liturgical music is a major reason. I don’t know any cantors who aren’t Catholic, although I have known cantors who should not have been cantors with voices that could peel paint, but no one else “stepped up to the plate” as you said, in their parishes.

I can understand a director or pastor bringing in a person with musical talent not of the Catholic faith, but is interested enough in the faith to want to volunteer her/his time and has a good amount of respect and understanding of the faith. When no one in the parish wants the “job” and if you as the pastor would like someone to chant the psalm, gospel acc. and other parts of the mass, instead of just reciting it, I understand bringing in someone from outside of the church.
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Hence, my previous remark. If we feel the need to have non-Catholic cantors at our liturgy, then we have deeper problems that need to be addressed at the core.
 
porthos11 said:
Hence, my previous remark. If we feel the need to have non-Catholic cantors at our liturgy, then we have deeper problems that need to be addressed at the core.
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For clarification, are you suggesting that parishes should do without a cantor if they cannot get a Catholic one until such time as the problems you note are fixed and a Catholic one becomes available, or is it are you simply noting the problems?
 
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