I am going to post part of an article that seems pertinent to this discussion – it is long, but makes a good point! I have already expressed some of the thoughts in this thread. I will break it in two parts so that it will be accepted.
The Catholic Church in the United States entered this new millennium with some very illicit baggage. Some of these encumberments have made headlines throughout the nation; others, though unpublicized, have had widespread ramifications, such as the music that congregations across the land are asked to sing at Mass each and every weekend.
Shortly after the dismissal of the bishops from Vatican II, parish priests began the process of getting the laity involved in daily decisions. Some wanted women and married men to be ordained to the priesthood, but it was evident that what the laity wanted most was some control over the most important thing in their lives, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Those eager to join the reforms directed by Vatican II were commissioned to be lectors, cantors, advisors, and ministers, replacing time-honored groups such as the Altar and Rosary Society and the Holy Name Club. With those commissions came many abuses that only recently have begun to be addressed. Up until now, however, the final area of abuse, the new age of music at the Mass, commonly has been sacrosanct.
When the office of Music Director replaced that of Choir Director and when the choir came down from its heights to join the congregation, two very peculiar things happened: Catholic liturgical music became ordinary and the music directors became omnipotent. Pastors were immensely relieved when they were lucky enough to find someone with knowledge of music who would, for pay, of course, provide the music for the weekend liturgies. In most cases, pastoral interference, such as more than superficial oversight of the Music Director, was out of the question, both because possibly pastors misunderstood the directives of Vatican II and because they dreaded the loss of the indispensable MD who was almost impossible to replace.
Thus began the disintegration of the tradition that was Catholic liturgical music, a tradition that had produced some of the most beautiful and most prized compositions the world has ever known. Music Directors had a position with duties to fulfill, and they had power. There would be no resting on their laurels and they no longer felt the need to rely on the expected Gregorian chants and the prayerful hymns almost every American Catholic knew by heart. Furthermore, if MD’s were to justify their newly-acquired power, they had to create change, they had to surprise. Now that they were free of the confinements of the choir loft, they would be able also to retire the very symbol of Catholic musical tradition, the powerful and inspirational pipe organ. This musical void was quickly filled with instruments that could join the cantors at the front of the churches – guitars, drums, keyboards, instruments that had recently become standards due to the popularity of secular folk music groups.
Like sheep, Mass-goers, now participants in the liturgy, who had been told they must go along with the alterations of the liturgy that had come from the hierarchy at Vatican II, slowly learned to adjust to the music as well. Young people preferred its entertainment value and appreciated the shock value of the hand-clapping and other machinations that often accompanied it. No longer was Mass the boring ritual they had always known; it was exciting.
When Guitar Masses became the rule and were no longer just an experiment, Music Directors began searching for other sources to relieve their not-to-be-underestimated creativity and further to enhance the excitement. They turned to catalogs of music that would give them an almost unlimited supply of weekly song choices as well as provide the shock that would demand the attention they had become used to: secular songs that could be reworded with references to the sacred, hymns from Catholic traditions theretofore unknown to most Americans, and the already sacred compositions that filled the hymnals of Protestant churches. The latter songs are those that have survived in Catholic parishes over the years since Vatican II; and those sacred songs have been supplemented with contemporary selections written for mass audiences of Gospel music in Evangelical churches and on Worship and Praise radio stations.
Besides the obvious loss of the integrity of the Mass itself, there are several despicable results of this musical trend, primarily the decay of traditional Catholic liturgical music. Secondarily is the loss of musical identity, by which Catholics were able to recognize themselves in what was sung on Sunday at Mass. Due to the distorted and poorly defined power of the Music Director, weekend Mass has become an ecumenical prayer service, written in large part by Martin Luther, the Wesley brothers, ordained ministers, long since deceased, of smaller Protestant denominations, and numerous Evangelical lyricists.
