Old Folks' Folk Mass

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimG
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
stpurl said:
“Here I am, Lord”.
Click to expand...
This beautiful hymn, “Here I Am, Lord,” along with “Gather Us In,” was a key reason why I made the decision to end 47 years of uber-involvement with Evangelical Protestantism and convert to Catholicism.

Maybe if you were ever Protestant, you would “get” this hymn.

ALL hymns that Christians write (and even that non-Christians write!) have a purpose and a “target” audience. You may hate a certain hymn, while others hearing that hymn are dissolving into tears and finding themselves convicted of the need to fly to the Lord Jesus and consecrate themselves to Him.

I think we all need to stop being critics of hymns written by Christians who have the Holy Spirit working through them. The Holy Spirit leads people to write/compose hymns with someone in mind. Perhaps that “someone” isn’t even alive yet, but the Holy Spirit knows that someday, that person will be alive, and will hear that hymn that EVERYONE else hates, but will be the deciding factor for that one person to commit themselves to the Lord Jeus Christ.

EVERY hymn has merit for someone. EVERY HYMN!!!

Stop criticizing hymns You never know. That person might be YOUR child, or YOUR spouse, or YOU!
 
Last edited:
We can and should be critics of the correct use of Liturgical music vs devotional music though.
 
PLUS, the only thing I was stating about "here I am Lord’ is the unintentional HUMOR of seeing a hymn which started out with the vocalization of "you who’ AKA ‘yoo-hoo’ (a calling) followed by “Here I am”.

I wasn’t even stating anything at ALL about “here I am” as a hymn.

Not one word of so-called criticism.

Look, there are some hymns I totally adore that for others are a snore (see, I used a rhyme here for humor). . . but I don’t go around flaming.
 
Last edited:
During the 1960s and 1970s, I struggled with popular songs of the day being song at Mass. It just did not seem appropriate.
 
Well I played guitar and sang with a group at Mass through the 90’s and part of the early 2000’s.

Want to blame someone for us playing old music from the 70’s ?

Blame the lawsuits which forced the Bishops to only allow groups to play what was approved in the Missalets and Hymnals of the dioceses.

Heck, many of the hymns go back to the beginning of the 20th century.

We did play some hymns from John Michael Talbot, like “Holy Is His Name,” but his hymns were not in the approved hymnal and we could not copy the song and hand it out to the congregation.
 
If only Britain had still been a Catholic country by that time.
 
stpurl said:
One person’s ‘criticism’ is another person’s observation
Click to expand...
So…if I make an observation about your appearance that isn’t exactly flattering, that’s an observation or a criticism?
 
For your listening pleasure 😁

www.folkmass.us

Folk Music Original Recordings

Folk Mass Music Site
www.folkmass.us

I grew up with this music at Mass during the 1970s, and I also played guitar when we gathered for Mass at my Catholic grade school. For me, it’s nostalgic, and I still like hearing the old songs from time to time.
 
Last edited:
Another excerpt from the original article:

"In a similar vein, how much damage has been done, do you suppose, by that one little book The Environment and Arts in Catholic Worship (1978) – something that was never ratified by the U.S. bishops but was taken as the visual blueprint for Catholic churches over the next forty years?

So you start building soulless modernist churches and fill them with ugly art and music, and ad hoc banal liturgies, and you’re shocked, shocked to find the places emptying out?"
 
The a capella Church of Christ also had wonderful music.

I used to go to the Church of Christ and wow, these people can sing.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
About " It is Well", do you know this hymns history? Asking respectfully.
For someone to lose their family like that, and then write these words? Powerful witness, that.
I’ve always taken it to mean that whatever might be going on in my life, however rough, hard, and unwanted, my soul remains fixed on Jesus.

“Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”
Click to expand...
For that matter, I dislike the poem “Invictus” (William Ernest Henley). I am not the master of my fate, I am not the captain of my soul — Almighty God is. I am not suggesting that it is heretical (though that “whatever gods may be” business is kind of shaky), I am just mindful that I need not even exist. Only God has to exist. Take it from there.

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

It vaguely reminds me of the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. If you go to Europe, for some bizarre reason, you will hear it all the time. Never figured that one out. I was watching a Dutch TV show one time when I was in Europe, and the entire cast spontaneously burst into song… you knew what was coming. The vast majority of Dutch speak better English than even some native-born Americans do, so that part was no surprise. :netherlands:
Click to expand...
 
Bad music is a major concern when it comes to evangelization. Not just an issue of style, but of quality.
My mom has been “close” to considering Catholicism for years… one of her issues has been terrible, bland, poorly executed music. Why can every Protestant church have spectacular music and every Orthodox Church have incredible out of this world chant… yet too many Catholic Parish has music that makes you cringe? It’s a real stumbling block for some potential converts.

Of course when Catholic music is done well, its like nothing else this side of heaven. Our cathedral has an incredible organist and polyphonic choir.
 
Last edited:
twf said:
Bad music is a major concern when it comes to evangelization. Not just an issue of style, but of quality.
My mom has been “close” to considering Catholicism for years… one of her issues has been terrible, bland, poorly executed music. Why can every Protestant church have spectacular music and every Orthodox Church have incredible out of this world chant… yet too many Catholic Parish has music that makes you cringe? It’s a real stumbling block for some potential converts.

Of course when Catholic music is done well, its like nothing else this side of heaven. Our cathedral has an incredible organist and polyphonic choir.
Click to expand...
As a practical matter, it’s not a high priority in Catholic churches. Some larger TLM churches would be exceptions. A traditional Latin High Mass, with all the stops pulled out, is one of the most beautiful things (from a theological standpoint, THE most beautiful thing!) you will ever see and hear in this life.
 
Were we talking about personal appearance, or about musical works?

And as I told you right after, I didn’t even criticize. I’ll try the joke again:
Picture on the song schedule lineup:

First song: On Eagles’ wings: First line of song, “You who” (which sounds if you are simply listening and not reading) like “Yoo-hoo” (a call).
Second song: Here I am Lord.

It looks or sounds as if the first song with the opening of ‘yoo-hoo’ is being answered by “Here I am”.

Look, I have a 7 and an 8 year old and we tend to have this kind of ‘knock-knock’ jokiness going on as they are learning about humor.

NOT meant as a criticism of the song.

Remarking on the song’s composition is genuine criticism, as in a discriminating way one sees the construction that works musically, or lyrically, or in combination. . .or does not, regardless of the effect any of the above has on an individual emotionally.

Some people cry at the kind of obvious things like “My heart will go on”. Others cry at what seems like something totally weird. I tear up a bit on Darktown Strutters Ball which my father, gone more than 50 years, used to sing to me. But one can discuss the musical notes, structure, dialect if used (Stephen Foster, et al), in a dispassionate manner. . .at least one used to be able to do so more than today. . .
 
"You’ll never walk alone’ is from the movie Carousel which was based on a European play “Green Grow the Lilacs”. this song takes place at the end of the show where the main character of Billy Bigelow, who died committing a robbery in order to provide for his unborn child, and who asked to be ‘judged by the highest court of all’ was sent back to Earth and saw his child, then age 15, and his widow, tried to make amends to them, thought he failed when his daughter ran off, then saw that his wife and child were both loved, accepted, and at peace in their town; that "God will provide’, and that’s how the show ends, with all singing that one ‘will never be alone’.
 
Last edited:
stpurl said:
"You’ll never walk alone’ is from the movie Carousel which was based on a European play “Green Grow the Lilacs”. this song takes place at the end of the show where the main character of Billy Bigelow, who died committing a robbery in order to provide for his unborn child, and who asked to be ‘judged by the highest court of all’ was sent back to Earth and saw his child, then age 15, and his widow, tried to make amends to them, thought he failed when his daughter ran off, then saw that his wife and child were both loved, accepted, and at peace in their town; that "God will provide’, and that’s how the show ends, with all singing that one ‘will never be alone’.
Click to expand...
I am aware of where the song came from, though I didn’t know the backstory you provided, thanks. It seems to be a favorite anthem at football (soccer) games, though it’s not confined to that. The Dutch TV show I mentioned wasn’t a sports program. Maybe it’s because the lyrics are very simple English and it’s a pleasant song to listen to. I once opened a greeting card with a music chip in it, in Belgium, and that was the song you heard. Europeans love them some YNWA!

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/ynw...liverpool-fc-anthem/selbcrlre9lz1n9dat1b1e60q



What will they come up with next to get people to spend money?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top