Portland parish protests new priest’s policies

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Music will usually end up taking away unless a person is good at recollecting themselves while doing other things or are able to pray by singing.
 
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Compared to other methods of praying, singing at least gives the appearance of being inferior.
 
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I haven’t read much about singing in any of the lives of the saints or any spiritual books I read.
 
VanitasVanitatum said:
I haven’t read much about singing in any of the lives of the saints or any spiritual books I read.
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well, I wonder what you think of this:
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1157) makes a direct reference to St. Augustine’s experience when it teaches that the music and song of the liturgy “participate in the purpose of the liturgical words and actions: the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.”
The Mass itself is a song; it is meant to be sung. Recall that the Gospels only tell us of one time when Jesus sings: when he institutes the Holy Eucharist (Cf. Mt 26:30; Mk 14:26). We should not be surprised, then, that Christ sings when he institutes the sacramentum caritatis (the Sacrament of love), and that for the vast majority of the past 2,000 years, the various parts of the Mass have been sung by priests and lay faithful. In the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council strongly encouraged a rediscovery of the ancient concept of singing the Mass: “[The musical tradition of the universal Church] forms a necessary or integral part of solemn liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium,112). The Mass is most itself when it is sung."
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VanitasVanitatum said:
I haven’t read much about singing in any of the lives of the saints or any spiritual books I read.
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Think about it. Why do you think monks chant the Liturgy of the Hours instead of just reciting it without music? Music is obviously integral to their centuries of experience in the contemplative life, a life radically dedicated to constant prayer. They live that radical life, and probably the majority of what is not silence is sung.

Experience has shown that chant is the kind of music that can be used to pray hour after hour, day after day and year after year–even century after century!!–without ever becoming banal or distracting from prayerful contemplation. This is how those who are most advanced in contemplative prayer have prayed together for centuries.
 
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VanitasVanitatum said:
Compared to other methods of praying, singing at least gives the appearance of being inferior.
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“He who sings well, prays twice.” – St. Augustine.

112. The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as sacred song united to the words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy.

113. Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when the divine offices are celebrated solemnly in song, with the assistance of sacred ministers and the active participation of the people.

114. The treasure of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care.

– Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

Not to mention, how are the angels in heaven arrayed? In choirs.
 
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"In the Roman Catholic Church, heresy has a very specific meaning. Anyone who, after receiving baptism, while remaining nominally a Christian, pertinaciously denies or doubts any of the truths that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith is considered a heretic. Accordingly four elements must be verified to constitute formal heresy; previous valid baptism, which need not have been in the Catholic Church; external profession of still being a Christian, otherwise a person becomes an apostate; outright denial or positive doubt regarding a truth that the Catholic Church has actually proposed as revealed by God; and the disbelief must be morally culpable, where a nominal Christian refuses to accept what he knows is a doctrinal imperative.

Objectively, therefore, to become a heretic in the strict canonical sense and be excommunicated from the faithful, one must deny or question a truth that is taught not merely on the authority of the Church but on the word of God revealed in the Scriptures or sacred tradition. Subjectively a person must recognize his obligation to believe. If he acts in good faith, as with most persons brought up in non-Catholic surroundings, the heresy is only material and implies neither guilt nor sin against faith. (Etym. Latin haeresis, from the Greek hairesis, a taking, choice, sect, heresy.)"


Maybe Thomasbradley312 meant it in the “material heresy” sense rather than the “canonical heresy” sense?
 
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You know that “Internet Monk” blog was written by a Michael Spencer:
Michael was a libertarian-leaning conservative politically and an adventurous pilgrim theologically. He owed much to Baptists, the Apostles' Creed, Raymond Brown, Ed Beavins, Eugene Peterson, Paul Zahl, Robert Capon, C.S. Lewis, the Gospel of Mark, Michael Horton, N.T. Wright, Shakespeare, his dad, several pastors and always Martin Luther.
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I’m sure he has some insights but why are you trying to use this guy’s talking points to talk about music at Catholic Mass?
https://internetmonk.com/michael-spencers-bio
 
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Ignore the commentary and look at the quote. I didn’t know who he was and it didn’t strike as odd when I read it so I thought it was okay.
 
https://illuminarepublications.com/singing-the-mass-part-one/
"St. Augustine recounts in his autobiography Confessions an experience he had during the singing of the Mass:
“How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, and the voices that echoed through your Church! What emotion I experienced in them! Those sounds flowed into my ears, distilling the truth in my heart. A feeling of devotion surged within me, and tears streamed down my face — tears that did me good.”"
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Is this or is this not in St. Augustine's Confessions?
 
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I think I understand in a way what you are saying - - and what Augustine does acknowledge: music can be distracting and perhaps what we might describe as “sensual”.
That’s why liturgical music has to be carefully chosen! : )

One last note from Augustine:
In this extract from his Confessions S. Augustine discusses music and religion.

[XXXIII.] 49. The delights of the ear, had more firmly entangled and subdued me; but Thou did loosen, and free me. Now, in those melodies which Thy words breathe soul into, when sung with a sweet and attuned voice, I do a little repose; yet not so as to be held thereby, but that I can disengage myself when I will. But with the words which are their life and whereby they find admission into me, themselves seek in my affections a place of some estimation, and I can scarcely assign them one suitable. For at one time I seem to myself to give them more honour than is seemly, feeling our minds to be more holily and fervently raised unto a flame of devotion, by the holy words themselves when thus sung, than when not; and that the several affections of our spirit, by a sweet variety, have their own proper measures in the voice and singing, by some hidden correspondence wherewith they are stirred up. But this contentment of the flesh, to which the soul must not be given over to be enervated, doth oft beguile me, the sense not so waiting upon reason, as patiently to follow her; but having been admitted merely for her sake, it strives even to run before her, and lead her. Thus in these things I unawares sin, but afterwards am aware of it.
  1. At other times, shunning over-anxiously this very deception, I err in too great strictness; and sometimes to that degree, as to wish the whole melody of sweet music which is used to David’s Psalter, banished from my ears, and the Church’s too; and that mode seems to me safer, which I remember to have been often told me of Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria, who made the reader of the psalm utter it with so slight inflection of voice that it was nearer speaking than singing. Yet again, when I remember the tears i shed at the Psalmody of Thy Church, in the beginning of my recovered faith; and how at this time, I am moved, not with the singing, but with the things sung, when they are sung with a clear voice and modulation most suitable, I acknowledge the great use of this institution. Thus I fluctuate between peril of pleasure and approved wholesomeness; inclined the rather (though not as pronouncing an irrevocable opinion) to approve of the usage of singing in the church; that so by the delight of the ears, the weaker minds may rise to the feeling of devotion. Yet when it befalls me to be more moved with the voice than the words sung, I confess to have sinned penally, and then had rather not hear music. See now my state; weep with me, and weep for me, ye, who so regulate your feelings within, as that good action ensues. For you who do not act, these things touch not you. But, Thou, O Lord my God, hearken; behold, and see, and have mercy, and heal me , Thou, in whose presence I have become a problem to myself; and that is my infirmity .
 
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Parishioners have marched in the Portland Pride parade
Many felt the new priest aimed to better align St. Francis with the archdiocese, who some feel is out of step with Catholics in Portland.
Long-time parishioners knew the answer. They didn’t like being told how to worship.
“How can you be a priest?” she said. “I’ve been here over 15 years. You’ve been here a year.”
Sample made two changes to the liturgical handbook. One change instructed parishioners to kneel after the Agnus Dei during the consecration. St. Francis parishioners continued to stand. Standing, one parishioner explained, is raising your heart to God.
Tells you all you need to know…
 
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VanitasVanitatum said:
I’ll give in.
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Go farther. Really look into the importance of singing–really appropriate singing–in Catholic liturgy.
Such as:
https://ecatholic-sites.s3.amazonaw...019/3/Sing to the Lord a New Song 25-1-19.pdf
“Questions concerning the place of music in divine worship can be traced back to the earliest days of the Church. At around the time of the Edict of Milan (313 a.d.) and the legalization of Christianity, the question of the inclusion of music in sacred worship was raised and much debated. Did it have a place at all in the Church’s worship? Since the psalms, part of Sacred Scripture, were meant to be sung, music was seen, ultimately, to be part of the very integrity of the Word of God. Furthermore, since Christian worship was moored to the Sacred Scriptures, music was seen as necessarily worthy of being preserved and fostered in the public worship of the Church.”
“Therefore, in the tradition of all the Apostolic Churches, sacred music has been considered integral to the Sacred Liturgy. This means that the music proper to the Mass is not merely an addendum to worship, i.e. something external added on to the form and structure of the Mass. Rather, sacred music is an essential element of worship itself. It is an art form which takes its life and purpose from the Sacred Liturgy and is part of its very structure.”
 
Loud-living-dogma said:
When the musicians are visible and on display, it can’t help but turn into a performance. When the musicians are not visible and not on display, there is a hope that the music will be more like an offering, rather than a performance. Yes, a veritable “musical offering”. 😄
When the musicians are on display, heaven forfend “rocking out” in some way, it creates a different atmosphere and the liturgy has a different spirit. I think there’s a book about that…🤔
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I have played piano (and in the last five years, organ) in church for over fifty years, since I was a child.

i was taught by a piano/organ teacher who trained all of her students to “play only for the glory of God and to serve Him and His people.” We always prayed before we played in front of people, that the glory would go to God, not us.

I always practice my music in advance, not because I am “performing” but because I want to give my very best to God and His Church."

Even when I play for secular groups or soloists, or background music for a secular gig, I give the glory to God and thank Him for my fingers, eyes, and brain that enable me to play.

When I play, I am worshiping the Lord at the same time that I am hopefully helping others to worship the Lord. People tell me that I play beautiful music and that it helps them to worship during Mass. I have always been told by teachers and listeners that I have a “soft touch,” and this makes my music very lovely and for church-goers, reverent.

It was the Lord Who gave me any talent and ability that I have to play piano and organ. It was the Lord Who made sure that I had a teacher who taught me to use His talent to glorify Him.

If you remember the parable of the Talents, the Master was quite upset with the servant who buried his talent in the ground and didn’t use it. A person who plays or makes music in church during Mass has a responsibility to use their talent for Our Master, The Lord Jesus Christ.

I can assure you that most of us are NOT performing, and if it appears that way to you, then perhaps you should consider examining why you think this. I’m sure there are a few “prima donas” doing Mass music, but most of us are very aware that we are servants of the Lord and His people.
 
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