Praise Music Used in The Catholic Church

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italian_man said:
The only music that is to be used in the liturgy, according to Sacred Tradition, is the gloriously sublime Sacred Music, gregorian chant, composed by the greatest musical minds Western civilization had ever produced.

What you are experiencing is one of the many bad fruits of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
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A fairly exlusive concept of the word “ecclesia” don’t you think? When considered against the reality of diverse peoples and styles of worship ALLOWED BY :newidea: the Church?
 
italian_man said:
The only music that is to be used in the liturgy, according to Sacred Tradition, is the gloriously sublime Sacred Music, gregorian chant, composed by the greatest musical minds Western civilization had ever produced.
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Oh come on. Even the staunchest traditionalists don’t claim that Gregorian chant is the only music that’s appropriate for the liturgy. At the absolute least, sacred polyphony, later plainchant, and liturgical organ music are all well-suited to the liturgy.

I’d also say it’s a stretch, from the standpoint of history, to claim flat-out that Gregorian chant was composed by the greatest Western musical minds of all time. Greater than all the later classical composers and composers of sacred polyphony? Greater than Brahms and Mozart and Palestrina and Bach and Beethoven? Gregorian chant is beautiful and the ideal music for the liturgy for a number of reasons, but it’s just silly to claim that it the most technically and artistically accomplished music of all time.
 
Transformer said:
Oh come on. Even the staunchest traditionalists don’t claim that Gregorian chant is the only music that’s appropriate for the liturgy. At the absolute least, sacred polyphony, later plainchant, and liturgical organ music are all well-suited to the liturgy.

I’d also say it’s a stretch, from the standpoint of history, to claim flat-out that Gregorian chant was composed by the greatest Western musical minds of all time. Greater than all the later classical composers and composers of sacred polyphony? Greater than Brahms and Mozart and Palestrina and Bach and Beethoven? Gregorian chant is beautiful and the ideal music for the liturgy for a number of reasons, but it’s just silly to claim that it the most technically and artistically accomplished music of all time.
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Cosign. While I believe that Gregorian Chant is ALWAYS the most appropriate music, I do not believe it has absolute dibs on celebrations of the Roman Rite.
 
KLJM12 said:
How can this be so difficult? You are watching Christ have nails driven through his hands and his feet. He is dying in front of you. Then you are approaching the altar and eating a piece of His most holy Flesh. At that moment in time, if one considers what is actually going on, there is no cause for clapping, laughing, singing, or having a great time. I did not say one could not be joyful interiorly. Just that the circumstance is not one of outward expressions of joy.

I was only expressing in my previous comments that the liturgical music so often used, conveys a different messge than one of somber joy. Good grief no one ever said that we can’t be joyful that Christ gave His life for us and allows us to eat His Flesh.
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Actually…we’re not. The Mass is the UNBLOODY sacrifice of Calvary made present before us.

I work closely with many young people in the Church. I love Gregorian chant as much as the next person, but the reality is that most young people don’t. Why are Steubenville Youth Conferences so popular? I think there are many reasons for this, first among them is the work of our Lord. But, I don’t think we can ignore that the music appeals to the senses of the average young person.

I’d rather have young people come to Mass and be converted to being a disciple of our Lord than not coming. If Matt Maher and his music can be the conduit to that conversion, so much the better.
 
KLJM12 said:
Indeed we ought be joyful as Catholics, in this I agree. Especially when receiving our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist. However, this is an inward joy.

It is the exact same moment in time when he was crucified 2000 years ago. It is his death. period. The exact moment when Our Lady was at the foot of the cross weeping for her Son. When our God was killed. And it is happening right before our eyes. Would you feel compelled, with the Blessed Virgin to your side, to express your joy outwardly at that moment in time? I very much hope not.

This is not to say that we ought disobey the rubric of the OF and be silent. The point that I was originally tried to make was that the Mass is not a time for lovey-dovey emotions amongst the faithful. The music ought set the tone for the Sacrifice. Drums, guitars, and modern vocals do not do justice to the action taking place.

The definition of reverent is " showing or feeling deep and solemn respect ". Modern music is not appropriate to fulfill this role. Ever. Why would anyone want secular-sounding music at the Mass? It is because people forget too often that a death is taking place.
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Dear KLJM12,

Cordial greetings and a very good day. A warm welcome to the world of CAF and I trust that you will find your time here spiritually profitable and informative. Jolly splendid post and my sentiments entirely.

There is in much contemporary Catholicism, dear friend, an inordinate emphasis on being joyful and smiling, which I think has been imported by former Evangelical converts who have crossed the Tiber to the Church. Unfortunately, the singing of repetitive ditties and rousing ‘worship songs’ has gained currency within Catholicism in recent decades and this has not been conducive to a spirit of reverence and a sense of the numinous within divine worship. Indeed, a want of due reverence has resulted in Holy Mass resembling more a Protestant Pentecostal style service, complete with hand clapping and swaying in the pews. This irreverent informality, of course, suits the free and easy approach to public worship favoured by so many today, especially the youth, as it is much less formal and dignified. It is also a lot less demanding than Gregorian Chant and even the traditional hymn singing.

It is said that Christians have much to be joyful and smile about and that each Sunday is a sort of minor celebration of Easter, but Holy Mass is supposed to be a solemn occasion. Moreover, there is, dear friend, a complete misunderstanding as to what authentic Christian joy actually is. True joy is something deep within a man’s soul and is often not even expressed in the countenance, but is is, nonetheless, very real. It is, as I know from personal experience, the sort of joy that will get a man through his darkest affliction filled hours by giving him the necessary fortitude to withstand his various trials and tribulations - it is the ‘joy of the Lord’ which is his strength. In any event, it needs to be remembered that not everyone who has a smile upon their face necessarily has a smile upon their heart.

Having said that, dear friend, I will sing anything provided that it is orthodox and provided that it fosters a holy reverence. Much of the great Anglican hymnology is jolly splendid stuff and fits the bill perfectly and I was pleased to discover that Catholic parishes here in the UK do include many Anglican hymns in their hymnals. However, the majesty and splendour of those Anglican hymns are poles apart from Pentecostal style worship songs, which lack depth and a sense of the numinous and are more at home in a sing along party atmosphere.

The need of the hour is to teach our present day youth to approach divine worship in a more reverent and dignified manner, inculcating to them that the Sacrifice of the Mass is a very solemn occasion - “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”.

God bless.

Warmest good wishes,

Portrait

Pax
 
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Cat said:
I hope that all who do not find modern liturgical music reverent and worshipful will be able to find and joyously attend a more traditional Mass, just as many of us who do not find ancient music worshipful or beautiful are able to joyously attend a more modern Mass.

Holy Mother Church is truly wise to allow for so many different musical styles in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
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I certainly hope so too. The problem lies in the fact that for 50+ years, we have been permitted this contemporary music to spread and gain a toehold (some might say, a death grip) in 95% of parishes around the world. The problem is that the music preferred by the Church, that is proper antiphons, psalms, Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, the use of the organ and of Latin, have been all but nonexistent since the reforms of Vatican II. It is interesting to see people “vote with their feet” when they are given the option of one or the other whatever type of thing.

Certainly there is a wide spectrum of licit music that is acceptable for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Unfortunately, the likes of OCP have gained such currency in the Church of today that it is difficult to express the idea that this wide spectrum exists, rather than a tiny band of contemporary compositions from a small farm of composers mostly working in the 70s and 80s.

It would be fantastic even if a significant minority of parishes provided music in the vein of types that have been discussed here, particularly of the types recommended by the Church. But the fact remains that that music has been unavailable and unheard for many decades. The fact remains that many of the faithful are not so much resistant to this kind of music as they are resistant to any kind of change happening. As I am exploring in my own thread, when you throw away the old trusty hymnals and impose chant by fiat, a lot of things can and will go wrong. But I do have faith in God, as well as faith in human nature. I believe that people can be obedient and open-minded when it comes to the mind of the Church. I believe that if people are properly catechized and prepared, that they will welcome, with open arms, liturgical reform that conforms to the will of God and of the Church. I grant that contemporary music with certain instruments can still be offered to the faithful who need it, in a pastorally appropriate setting, but I firmly contend that the requirements of the Church should be first and foremost considered when effecting liturgical reform of any kind, especially music.
 
Elizium23 said:
I certainly hope so too. The problem lies in the fact that for 50+ years, we have been permitted this contemporary music to spread and gain a toehold (some might say, a death grip) in 95% of parishes around the world. The problem is that the music preferred by the Church, that is proper antiphons, psalms, Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, the use of the organ and of Latin, have been all but nonexistent since the reforms of Vatican II. It is interesting to see people “vote with their feet” when they are given the option of one or the other whatever type of thing.

Certainly there is a wide spectrum of licit music that is acceptable for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Unfortunately, the likes of OCP have gained such currency in the Church of today that it is difficult to express the idea that this wide spectrum exists, rather than a tiny band of contemporary compositions from a small farm of composers mostly working in the 70s and 80s.
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At this time in history, various musical styles, including contemporary musical styles, are still considered “liturgically correct” and not only allowed, but encouraged for use in the Holy Mass. No parish is doing anything “inferior” to offer the best music in modern styles that they are capable of offering.

I doubt very much that that OCP infiltrated the Church in the U.S. and “took over” the “good music” out of any “sinister” motives.

Rather, the OCP was able to meet a very genuine need for easy Mass music that could be sung or listened to by people who had virtually no knowledge or background in choral singing due to the decline or elimination of music education in the public schools beginning in the 1970s.

IMO, OCP is to be highly commended for meeting that need. Without them, it is possible that there would be no Mass music, other than in the “big city” churches that are able to attract musicians and parishioners from nearby universities.

For several years in the early 1980s, all sports and arts were eliminated in our city’s public schools due to lack of funds. There was a large exodus of children and teenagers to the parochial and private schools in the city, and also the beginnings of a home school movement. But the majority of families didn’t have the income to leave the public schools for private schools.

I know that other school districts in the U.S. have experienced the loss of sports and arts due to lack of funding. The pressure on public schools to vamp up the academics (math, science) is tremendous, and has resulted in a decline in the arts and sports programs.

In our city, public school elementary students currently receive a mere half hour PER WEEK in choral singing. Unfortunately, the music used in many of these chorus times is hip-hop or Tejano, or some other music that is appealing to African Americans and Hispanics. Euro-Centric music is simply not done, mainly out of fear of offending people and creating racial tension. (Our public schools were embroiled in a discrimination lawsuit in the 1990s that really hurt the schools.)

**We simply MUST take into the account the considerable harm that the complete or partial loss of public school music programs, even for a few years, has had on music in our churches and in the secular realm as well. ** It is not a question of Christians being “unwilling” to sing more traditional music, or “rebellious” against traditional music. The people don’t know HOW to sing or even listen to this type of music! We would have an easier time teaching cats to sing chant, rather than graduates of the U.S. public school system.

I think that sometimes, those of us who revere music and raise up our children counter-culturally by giving them a rich music education in our homes tend to think that other people are doing the same thing we are doing. Not true. In many homes, the only music heard is pop music. In more homes than we care to admit, traditional and classical music is not only ignored, but denigrated.

Various posters on CAF suggest that “if we did Gregorian chant in the Mass, the kids would come.” I think they are not being realistic. Certainly some teenagers would be attracted to this music because it is a novelty. Also, there are always teenagers who are “counter-cultural” and willing to buck the current trends and be true to themselves.

But because of the lack of music education and training, both in and out of schools, the majority of teenagers, along with the majority of adults, would find the chant unappealing and would very likely fall into the habit of avoiding Mass.

We are facing some very real and huge barriers to bringing “traditional” music back to the Catholic Church and for that matter, back to the Protestant churches. A lot of work must be done, and there are very few workers to do this work. Do NOT oversimplify the issue of “traditional vs. modern” Mass music.
 
Cat said:
At this time in history, various musical styles, including contemporary musical styles, are still considered “liturgically correct” and not only allowed, but encouraged for use in the Holy Mass. No parish is doing anything “inferior” to offer the best music in modern styles that they are capable of offering.

I doubt very much that that OCP infiltrated the Church in the U.S. and “took over” the “good music” out of any “sinister” motives.

Rather, the OCP was able to meet a very genuine need for easy Mass music that could be sung or listened to by people who had virtually no knowledge or background in choral singing due to the decline or elimination of music education in the public schools beginning in the 1970s.

IMO, OCP is to be highly commended for meeting that need. Without them, it is possible that there would be no Mass music, other than in the “big city” churches that are able to attract musicians and parishioners from nearby universities.

For several years in the early 1980s, all sports and arts were eliminated in our city’s public schools due to lack of funds. There was a large exodus of children and teenagers to the parochial and private schools in the city, and also the beginnings of a home school movement. But the majority of families didn’t have the income to leave the public schools for private schools.

I know that other school districts in the U.S. have experienced the loss of sports and arts due to lack of funding. The pressure on public schools to vamp up the academics (math, science) is tremendous, and has resulted in a decline in the arts and sports programs.

In our city, public school elementary students currently receive a mere half hour PER WEEK in choral singing. Unfortunately, the music used in many of these chorus times is hip-hop or Tejano, or some other music that is appealing to African Americans and Hispanics. Euro-Centric music is simply not done, mainly out of fear of offending people and creating racial tension. (Our public schools were embroiled in a discrimination lawsuit in the 1990s that really hurt the schools.)

**We simply MUST take into the account the considerable harm that the complete or partial loss of public school music programs, even for a few years, has had on music in our churches and in the secular realm as well. ** It is not a question of Christians being “unwilling” to sing more traditional music, or “rebellious” against traditional music. The people don’t know HOW to sing or even listen to this type of music! We would have an easier time teaching cats to sing chant, rather than graduates of the U.S. public school system.

I think that sometimes, those of us who revere music and raise up our children counter-culturally by giving them a rich music education in our homes tend to think that other people are doing the same thing we are doing. Not true. In many homes, the only music heard is pop music. In more homes than we care to admit, traditional and classical music is not only ignored, but denigrated.

Various posters on CAF suggest that “if we did Gregorian chant in the Mass, the kids would come.” I think they are not being realistic. Certainly some teenagers would be attracted to this music because it is a novelty. Also, there are always teenagers who are “counter-cultural” and willing to buck the current trends and be true to themselves.

But because of the lack of music education and training, both in and out of schools, the majority of teenagers, along with the majority of adults, would find the chant unappealing and would very likely fall into the habit of avoiding Mass.

We are facing some very real and huge barriers to bringing “traditional” music back to the Catholic Church and for that matter, back to the Protestant churches. A lot of work must be done, and there are very few workers to do this work. Do NOT oversimplify the issue of “traditional vs. modern” Mass music.
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At our local Catholic school they simply added another credit requirement that all but forced many students out of the music program.The public schools cut the arts first when tax levies fail.

This thread brings to light issues of culture and taste. The fact is, the wealthy white Western European male is not going to dominate the world’s culture as he did through most of the last 2000 years. Our tastes in music will reflect that fact, there is no way around it. If you want to hear pipe organ and chant used universally at Mass, this is not a good development. But if you are an African person for instance, this is a great development.

Those who are determining culture will be more Oriental, Mideastern, Hispanic and African, relatively speaking. And the communication of this culture is instantaneous… the cat is out of the bag and it’s not going back in. The days when one culture could hand-write music and liturgy, for a homogeneous audience, without (name removed by moderator)ut from other cultures, and have it be the same for 1600 years, are over. It’s a done deal. The question needs to be, how do we keep and honor our tradition while at the same time respecting the needs and cultures of people who do not know our traditions, or may know them and even resent them?

If music at Mass expresses the truth of the Church, it needs to be respected regardless of genre.
 
I don’t think we should generalize that persons of African or other descent, young people, or even those who like modern music styles outside of church want these things always in church. My wife is Japanese, is not a Catholic, and likes modern R&B (sadly). But she would hate to hear something sounding like a Catholic Jay-Z in church when she comes with me! I like rock among many styles of music I have affection for, but I hate Christian rock style music and prefer traditional hymns, organs, chant of the Mass, etc. in church. It’s reverent, timeless in a real sense, and beautiful…it fits worship in the Mass much better by my lights than do guitars and raspy singing.🤷
 
Blacksword said:
I don’t think we should generalize that persons of African or other descent, young people, or even those who like modern music styles outside of church want these things always in church. My wife is Japanese, is not a Catholic, and likes modern R&B (sadly). But she would hate to hear something sounding like a Catholic Jay-Z in church when she comes with me! I like rock among many styles of music I have affection for, but I hate Christian rock style music and prefer traditional hymns, organs, chant of the Mass, etc. in church. It’s reverent, timeless in a real sense, and beautiful…it fits worship in the Mass much better by my lights than do guitars and raspy singing.🤷
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I don’t disagree with that at all. Actually one of the points of my post is that we should NOT make assumptions about what music works best for all people at Mass.
 
Cat said:
There is a difference between joviality and joy. Why should we not be joyful to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion and become One with our Christian brothers and sisters? Yes, the Mass is the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are also living in the reality of His glorious resurrection from the dead. He has conquered our enemy death, and given to human beings the hope of heaven! Make a JOYFUL NOISE unto the Lord!

As for modern liturgical music–it’s used because to many people with modern ears (like me), it is reverent, worshipful, and beautiful, and helps us to concentrate more fully on the Lord Jesus.

!
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That may be so but for about 2 thousand years there was no liturgical tradition of modern liturgical praise music in the Divine Liturgy.
 
…and the almost exclusive use of such music is a break with the liturgical musical tradition of the liturgy but it is allowed by our leaders.
 
a coupel points I want to make about praise music and the Catholic Church and how I may handle it if God so calls me to be a priest.

first of all I don’t believe praise and worship music is appropriate for the mass. The center and summit of the Christian faith is Christ, and in the Mass the focus should be Christ. Our worship in the mass should be focused on God and his work in the liturgy, anytime we are drawn in by some emotion some entertainment we are losing that focus on God that focus on the summit of our Christian Faith. Christian music is centered on taping into human emotion, turn on K-love or the message and listen to it yourself, many times music comes on about how God helped me through the bad times, how God saves our lives even in the bad. A-lot of the music on those stations are written in a way played in a way to try to tap into people’s emotions and convert them that way. Personally I don’t see to much issue with people doing this, but it is not appropriate during the mass at all. It distracts us from God who should be the focus of our worship. I don’t believe God primarily tries to reach us through emotion. While I’ll admit God has used emotions to bring me to certain places in my life, but in prayer the most changing times in my life has been when God has used a speaker who said something that makes sense to me, a passage in scripture that speaks directly to my heart or something. Or even just meditating on my life and looking at who I am has changed my life more then some emotional song.

I could go into alot of theological reasons why Praise and Worship isn’t appropriate for Mass but I would probably bore you and it will probably be brought up. The simple thing is that Christian rock distracts us from what we should be focusing on in the mass that is why it should not be in the mass.

BUT and I think this can be important for the lay faithful as well (which I still am) but the simple fact with human nature is that people don’t handle change well. So lets say you move and you go into a part of the country where Catholic Churches are few and far between, or based on some situation you are only able to attend one church. This Church has a youth mass, they have praise and worship they have things to try to get the youth involved which in some cases may be liturgical abuses but are small and don’t invalidate the mass even closely. You coming from a very traditional Catholic Background hate that this is the case, you think it should change, you go to the priest and you say you need to end the mass, and he flat out tells you, in a pastoral way, no I will not. Now here are the reasons the priest probably won’t change it. Imagine the reaction of the average Catholic someone who only goes to church sunday hasn’t been introduced to the beauty of the TLM or the beauty of what the Catholic Liturgy can be would react if a priest all of a sudden stopped all of the youth mass stuff. Do you think the reaction of the parish would be positive. Priests are shepherds of souls and one of the first and most important aspects of their ministry is their relationship with their parish. If he does something that takes away from that relationship and that change wasn’t absolutely necessary his ministry will be negatively effected.

my whole point to all this is first I agree traditional music is best for the Church and Christian praise and worship music should be avoided, but be patient with changes in our church, from my own seminary experience there are some amazing holy guys right now who are going to make amazing priests and are going to help reenliven the Church, but this stuff doesn’t happen over night. I’m in a diocese where youth masses are common and I think there is a good chance if God so calls me there that I will be put in a parish that has a youth mass with praise and worship music, and maybe alittle to much involvement of the youth. I as a pastor would hope to change that but first of all I would change things mainly with the approval of my bishop so if my bishop wants to keep that youth mass there is nothing I can do, and if I am to change it I will slowly get rid of it, not one day we have a youth mass and the next sunday it is no longer there.

I’m going on alittle long on this post but I’ll leave it at this, praise and worship music isn’t for Mass, but we must be patient if we want to stop it from happening in parishes a change is coming int he Church but I think as shown through the centuries God slowly works changes and this is one of those slow changes IMO.
 
This is a weird question for the traditional Catholic forum. In fact, it is a strawman. I bet Worship and Praise music is never used in conjuction with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. So who cares? Else where, such decisions are left to the authority that is locally present and aware of the needs of the parish where the Mass is. For something like a Charismatic Mass, then it might be more impropriate than Gregorian Chant.
 
KLJM12 said:
How can this be so difficult? You are watching Christ have nails driven through his hands and his feet. He is dying in front of you. Then you are approaching the altar and eating a piece of His most holy Flesh. At that moment in time, if one considers what is actually going on, there is no cause for clapping, laughing, singing, or having a great time. I did not say one could not be joyful interiorly. Just that the circumstance is not one of outward expressions of joy.

I was only expressing in my previous comments that the liturgical music so often used, conveys a different messge than one of somber joy. Good grief no one ever said that we can’t be joyful that Christ gave His life for us and allows us to eat His Flesh.
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But every Sunday is a little Easter, not a little Good Friday! We are celebrating the resurrected Lord. Our God is living not dead.

We can indeed by joyful.
 
celticpearl said:
Being Baptized into the pre-Vatican II Church and saying the Latin Mass up unitl I was 7 or 8. Since then the music has gone from using Anglican Hmynals to what we are singing
now which is most Marty Haugen who is not even Catholic composing Mass music is
something I find rather strange. And to top it off we are now singing a great deal of Christian Praise music being brought into the church music programs that are based on what is on the Christian Music radio stations.
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I don’t see anything wrong with this. Christian praise music, gospel music or other Christian music, it all serves the same purpose, doesn’t it? That is, worshiping Christ. My parish primarily sings gospel hymns from the Black Catholic “Lead Me Guide Me Hymnal” and it is absolutely lifting and profoundly spiritual.
 
Our church has a large, enthusiastic, but untrained choir. We are led by a director with no professional training who sang professionally with a rock band and was raised in the Baptist Church. Our organist is a self trained musician and is not Catholic. Our priest thinks the choir is wonderful because there has not been a choir at all for many years. To say the least music selections are often questionable, and the music is often taught incorrectly to choir members, most of whom sing by ear. The few members who do have musical training often become discouraged and drop out because it is so difficult to sing music incorrectly. The organist transposes almost everything we sing to a key that is so low even the altos complain–supposedly to encourage congregational singing! Our congregations thinks we are wonderful! I drool at the descriptions of the cantors I’ve read here…we often use anyone who wants to do it…whether they can sing or not and most of them are awful! I keep on singing hoping that by increments we will improve, but I get so frustrated! Praise music is a standard every Sunday. Some days I feel like people coming in off the street will think we are First Baptist! Any advice?
 
My opinion:
In an area where there are few masses avaialble: Then I would suggest every mass should be as close as possible to the gold standard set out in the GIRM or taking that and addind local musical concepts to the GIRM standard.

In a larger town or city where there are several parishes near eachother, or even where the church has more than one mass per Sunday then I would suggest that the main Sunday celebration on Sunday Morning should aim to come as close as possible to the GIRM standard - Gregorian Chant. Sung Propers. the Gradual - not “Hymns” borrowed from other faiths or strongly influenced by them…
As a catholic I have the right to have access to such a mass, but have never had the chance to experience it in its full expression.

Once that is in place and available there is a lot of scope for youth communities to develop other liturgical styles. be they “Folk” or a more charismatic “Praise and worship” style - subject to suitable guidance and limits on theological suitability and on artistic quality.

The Word Catholic means “Universal”. it should offer outreaches and ministries to everyone. The Mass is the summit of our worship, but in this poorly catechized world many of our young people, our lapsed or luke-warm members, our potential converts… many of these may be more easily introduced to a mass where the musical style is more culturally relevant to them.
Once they understand who Jesus is. and what His Sacrifice in the Mass actually means they can be more receptive to the traditional musical culture of the Roman Rite.

Now dont for one minute think I’m advocating significant liturgical abuses in the above… I’m talking about helping people in their journey of faith to come to a love and appreciation of the true Eucharist, as that is essential. The “Gold Standard” of the churches musical tradition is an adornment to the mass. it is not essential… only greatly to be desired. there’s a massive difference!!!
 
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