Patriotic Songs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mary1973
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mary1973

Guest
Do you use Patriotic Songs on national holidays? For example, we will sing “America the Beautiful” for our recessional tomorrow. Is this wrong?
 
I don’t like the practice. I don’t think it is inherently evil, but shouldn’t we focus on God at the Mass and not on our country?

I also notice that people sing the patriotic songs a lot louder than the hymns. Are we more excited about American than we are about God?
 
I went to my local parish which I never attended before because my mom didn’t like the “non-traditional” (i.e. alter girls, women giving communion, holding hands during the Lord’s prayer, etc.) aspects of the Parish 20 years ago and judging from my experiance today, continue to do so. Anyway, America the Beautiful was also used at the end of Mass.
 
If I didn’t have the privilege of taking Holy Communion to some homebound parishioners after Mass, I would visit another parish tomorrow. I’m still reeling from having Corpus Christi hijacked by Flag Day in our parish.

I’m substitute organist for our parish, was playing for Corpus Christi, and five minutes before the start of the first Sunday Mass, the pastor called me to the sacristy and ORDERED me to use patriotic hymns for Communion. When I tried to protest, he got nasty. If I hadn’t been desparate to make a car payment, I would have walked. And I’m still seriously considering changing parishes in consequence.

Yeah, we’re doing patriotic again tomorrow. At least I’m not playing this time; I can keep my mouth shut. And I will.
 
We are using America the Beautiful only for the recessional. So, technically, the Mass is over. Of course, on Memorial Day we used more.

To emphasize Flag Day over Corpus Christi is horrible. And I think the people sing them louder because they know them better.
 
America the Beautiful references the blessings God has bestowed upon this great country of ours…is that not giving Him honor and praise? Should we not thank Him for the privelege of living in this land of freedom? Would any one of us trade places with a Catholic who is living in a place like Iraq?

Just food for thought…

May the good Lord continue to bless America and it’s residents so richly! And may we never,ever take those blessings for granted.:getholy:
 
I was sorta hoping that someone would bring this up. When I was a Lutheran, it was expected of me to choose patriotic hymns and play patriotic marches on the organ for a processional and recessional. There’s nothing terribly wrong with patriotism, but the protestants believe that “blood and iron” are the only way to rule and that earthly kingdoms are the only temporal authority we must obey (yay for Luther and the peasant revolts, right? lol). This is contrary to what we as Catholics believe.

We are loyal first and foremost to the Church before we are loyal to the United States of America. Does this mean that I’m gonna stop paying income tax or dodge a potential draft notice? No. We are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s but that’s it. We don’t have to go out in the streets waiving flags bearing “his” image. I’m being forced into playing patriotic music tomorrow and I really don’t want to. The best compromise I could come up with was to do that wretched ‘This is My Song’ from the OCP music issue and ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’ These sorta have patriotic overtones but are very much oriented towards God at the same time. And with so many families with kids in Iraq, I think that the latter is very well suited to the day.

What I would really like to see us do is to turn the 4th of July into a Marian day of sorts, since she Patroness of the Americas. I wanted to do all Marian hymns tomorrow but I got shot down by my cantor, who refused to do anything I suggested. Go figure. So yeah. Let’s give to Caesar what is Caesar’s but we must first give God the glory He is due. If you absolutely hafta play something ‘patriotic’ try pick something that avoids excessive references to America and her greatness.
 
We sang "My Country Tis of Thee’ and "America the Beautiful’ today. I really didn’t know what to think…

dream wanderer
 
Last night we sang one and only one verse of America, the Beautiful. I mentioned that we would offer this as a prayer for our country. I see no significant difference in this than any other prayer intention offered during Mass. I have been told to use God Bless America for the same reason. The song selection should relate to the readings or the liturgy.

On reflection, I remember singing Faith of Our Fathers for Father’s Day and mostly Marian hymns for Mother’s Day.
 
“Patriotic” songs that reference God are appropriate. So while the “Star Spangled Banner” is not, “God Bless America” is a fine choice. I would submit singing to the Lord to Bless our country or something along that line is absolutely putting Him before our government.

Another good example would be “Eternal Father Strong to Save” which is also the official Navy Hymn. This is the traditional closing hymn at many a Mass on Navy Bases.
 
“God Bless America” was our recessional today. I couldn’t get past the first line. That song always makes me sob.
 
The past two years, the organist and I have made it our business to go to the 8:00 daily Mass on Sept. 11. We sing *God Bless ** America * for meditation. The Holy Spirit must be guiding me as I have sung it very well (I’m just an amateur) and I have been able to get through it. Had a bit of a problem with *America the Beautiful * today, though.
 
For those who think America the Beautiful isn’t apt for Mass, think of how much worse it could be. The parish I used to go to often uses Battle Hymn of the Republic for the Gloria.:mad:

Pesonally, I would prefer hearing America the Beautiful or God Bless America. I especially like them on a day like today. Now, as for the idea to make July 4 a Marian day - Now *that *is an idea.

John
 
Detroit Sue said:
“God Bless America” was our recessional today. I couldn’t get past the first line. That song always makes me sob.
Click to expand...

Good for you! We sang “America the Beautiful” and “Eternal Father Strong to Save.” Both hymns put our fate in His hands–ours, our fellows’, and our country’s. What on earth could be more fitting in this appallingly secular age?! B.t.w., I always have trouble getting through that last one, too.
 
July 4th a Marian day?

I would have said we have enough Marian days under most other circumstances, but I really like the idea.

The nation is dedicated to Mary Imaculate, so why not? At least it would balance against some of that Battle Hymn of the Republic type of stuff. ( I like that song a lot, especially some of the more blatently religious references in it, but I was Red, White and Blued to the gills at Mass today)

Michael
 
I have no problems with a patriotic song for the recessional. Especially “God Bless America” I do however take issue with the priest who wanted one for communion, that doesn’t seem to add to eucharistic meditation and I don’t think the whole mass should be done with patriotic music.
 
Detroit Sue said:
“God Bless America” was our recessional today. I couldn’t get past the first line. That song always makes me sob.
Click to expand...

Me, too, Sue. I noticed that we are not alone either. Lots of hankies were waving in my immediate vicinity at Mass yesterday.

As we sang America the Beautiful yesterday, if felt so appropriate to me that we were counting the blessings God has bestowed on our country, and praising Him for each one. I agree with other writers that all patriotic songs are not appropriate, e.g. the Star Spangled Banner. But I really enjoy the use of those patriotic songs that let us thank God specifically for His kindness to our country.
 
40.png
armywife:
I have no problems with a patriotic song for the recessional. Especially “God Bless America” I do however take issue with the priest who wanted one for communion, that doesn’t seem to add to eucharistic meditation and I don’t think the whole mass should be done with patriotic music.
Click to expand...
Yesterday the song for communion was “God Bless the U.S.A. (Proud to be an American)” by Lee Greenwood. I thought it was a VERY bad choice. One of the lines is “I won’t forget the men who died…” I was disgusted because at that time we are supposed to be thinking of Jesus dying for us for our salvation, not about men who died so we could live in a free country! :mad:
 
So does this mean that there is no liturgical norm about this? Does the USCCB or the Vatican require that songs sung during mass must be specifically related to the topics of the mass or our faith? But the question is, if the Church wanted us to sing songs about our nation during mass, why wouldn’t they name these days feasts? If it was the feast of the patron saint of America, I’d feel a little better about a patriotic song here or there. Of course what would the reading be? “Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasars? Render unto God what is Gods?” That’s actually a good argument for leaving it out of mass.

I too am uncomfortable with patriotic songs sung during mass. At the church I went to yesterday, the organist played 15 minutes worth of patriotic songs prior to mass. The organ sounded like carousel music - very lively. At the end, just before mass began, she got a loud round of applause (from everyone but me and my husband). Every song in mass was somehow connected to our nation. I don’t actually remember the communion “hymn” (I was trying hard to focus on Christ) but it had NOTHING to do with Christ. Everyone seemed so touched by the beauty of America that they didn’t seem to care much about the presence of Christ, or the unity of heaven and earth that happened during mass yesterday. The readings had NOTHING to do with America. So the patriotic songs had NO connection to the mass itself. I feel cheated out of the chance to meditate on the topics introduced in the readings. When will we hear that Gospel again? Next year? In 3 years? What a shame!
 
40.png
ThyKingdomCome:
So does this mean that there is no liturgical norm about this? Does the USCCB or the Vatican require that songs sung during mass must be specifically related to the topics of the mass or our faith? But the question is, if the Church wanted us to sing songs about our nation during mass, why wouldn’t they name these days feasts? If it was the feast of the patron saint of America, I’d feel a little better about a patriotic song here or there. Of course what would the reading be? “Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasars? Render unto God what is Gods?” That’s actually a good argument for leaving it out of mass.

I too am uncomfortable with patriotic songs sung during mass. At the church I went to yesterday, the organist played 15 minutes worth of patriotic songs prior to mass. The organ sounded like carousel music - very lively. At the end, just before mass began, she got a loud round of applause (from everyone but me and my husband). Every song in mass was somehow connected to our nation. I don’t actually remember the communion “hymn” (I was trying hard to focus on Christ) but it had NOTHING to do with Christ. Everyone seemed so touched by the beauty of America that they didn’t seem to care much about the presence of Christ, or the unity of heaven and earth that happened during mass yesterday. The readings had NOTHING to do with America. So the patriotic songs had NO connection to the mass itself. I feel cheated out of the chance to meditate on the topics introduced in the readings. When will we hear that Gospel again? Next year? In 3 years? What a shame!
Click to expand...
I guess it all comes down to how it is done. As I understand it, the music should tie into the Mass and the readings. The Communion hymn should certainly reflect on the Eucharist. Our Father used the 4th of July homily to talk about how blessed we were as a country, that our freedom is a gift from God and that we have a responsibility to the rest of the world. Great message in my opinion that tied everything together. He even sang God Bless America himself after that. So while I love having Mass tie into our nation when appropriate, I would never want it to take away from the true focus: the Eucharist.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top