Protestant songs in Catholic hymnal book?

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I was surprised when I went through my Baptist Hymnal from the 70’s how many hymns I latter learned were of Catholic origin.

One of my favorites:


He leadeth me! O blessed thought,
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught;
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ’tis Christ’s hand that leadeth me.
He leadeth me! He leadeth me!
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine,
Nor ever murmur or repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since it is Thou that leadest me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When, by Thy grace, the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since Thou in triumph leadest me.
 
I believe ‘I heard the voice of Jesus say’ (by a member of the Free Church of Scotland) is also sung in Catholic churches since I remember members on CAF making mention of it.
Are these in any Catholic hymnals:
Hark! The herald angels sing
When I survey the Wondrous Cross
 
I would like to hear perogesi’s 3rd or 4th movement of Stabat Mater, but that’ll probably never happen.
 
Yes, they are both in the hymnal we use at my church. As a former Anglican, I recognise many of the hymns we sing - but often the tune is different, which throws me a little.
 
Kathleen18 said:
What is your point? If the song is not going against Catholic teaching, then so what?

“Amazing Grace” was written by an Anglican.
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Actually there is a rather suspect line in the hymn Amazing Grace “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”

So when do we first receive grace? At baptism or when we first believe? Does a baby need to believe in order to receive grace?
 
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One VERY popular hymnal found in many parishes actually uses that as a selling point bragging they have gathered the best songs from both Catholic and Protestant composers.
 
Brendan_64 said:
“How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”
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An alternative understanding which you may find more compatible with Catholicism is that his faith gave him a new appreciation of God’s grace. With eyes of faith, he could see how precious it was.
 
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RandomAlias said:
An alternative understanding which you may find more compatible with Catholicism is that his faith gave him a new appreciation of God’s grace. With eyes of faith, he could see how precious it was.
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What was the intended meaning of the song-writer? Given that it was written by an evangelical minister (reportedly about his own conversion experience) is it not likely to have been written from an evangelical perspective?

It is a lovely song, with moving words and a deeply spiritual meaning, but does it reflect (in this line) Evangelical or Catholic doctrine on grace?
 
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If I understand you correctly, you are parsing it as “That precious grace did appear,” while I am hearing “That grace did appear precious.” It’s too bad we can’t ask the author, but I would assume he intended it in the most grammatically straightforward order – mine, I believe. 😃
 
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Seagull said:
Anyone ever notice
That there seems to be a lot of Protestant songs -
within the Catholic hymnal book ?

Anyone know why -
or is it just because their fun songs 😇
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Depends on the Hymnal, but if it’s a OCP hymnal, then yes, there are a lot of Protestant songs.

In English, this is honestly due to the fact that the majority of English speaking Christians were Protestant, so most songs written before Vatican II in English were Protestant.

Some, like Amazing Grace, have become American classics.

Also, I often feel like OCP (like America Magazine) has been led by Catholics who suffer from Americanism - a heresy coined by Pope Leo XIII

God Bless
 
You can hardly escape a Catholic Mass these days without something by Marty Haugen, who is as Lutheran as they come.
 
The two are not separate, the Evangelical movement began within the Anglican church in the 18th century (and to this day there remains an Evangelical wing of the Anglican church).

“Newton became involved in the evangelical Christian movement and was ordained in 1764. He was appointed curate of a church in Olney, north west of London and soon gained a reputation as a preacher and hymn writer.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/slavery_business_gallery_05.shtml
 
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And then there is “Simple Gifts”, which is from Shakerism, an offshoot of Quakerism. Without passing any judgment on either Shakers or Quakers, I find that particular song to be non-Christian. No mention of God in any Person, and the “turn, turn” refers to their own version of “liturgical dance”.

D
 
The tune is from “The Lord of the Dance.” Very Christian if you read the lyrics
 
“The Lord of the dance” is probably my least favourite hymn.

“In writing the lyrics to “Lord of the Dance” in 1963, Sydney Carter was inspired partly by Jesus, but also partly by a statue of the Hindu God Shiva as Nataraja (Shiva’s dancing pose) which sat on his desk,[3] and was partly intending simply to give tribute to Shaker music.”


“Carter himself genially admitted that he had been partly inspired by the statue of Shiva which sat on his desk; and, whenever he was asked to resolve the contradiction, he would declare that he had never tried to do so.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1456932/Sydney-Carter.html
 
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Kathleen18 said:
The tune is from “The Lord of the Dance.” Very Christian if you read the lyrics
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You have it reversed. Sydney Carter, writer of “Lord of the Dance”, used the “Simple Gifts” tune to go with his poem. The tune predates his lyrics by more than 100 years.

D
 
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