Protestant songs in Catholic hymnal book?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Seagull
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
As beautiful as protestant hymns can be, I wish our hymnals were purely Catholic.
 
Many Catholics talk about “Protestant Hymns” like they talk about a “Catholic Bible”. But, beyond knowing there are both, they don’t have a clue about the theological similarities or differences.
 
Evangelicalism crosses denominations from Baptists to Presbyterians in addition to Anglicanism as Brendan_64 already mentioned. It’s not really a denomination.
Some Catholics might have heard of the Alpha course. That’s from an Evangelical Anglican parish in London.
 
Surgery was a success 🙂 She’s home now and very sore despite the meds. I’m keeping her in bed 2-3 days then limited movement for a week after that.
 
As beautiful as protestant hymns can be, I wish our hymnals were purely Catholic.
I grew up Protestant but went to Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic services because of a very mixed family and my own choices.

There are a ton of Catholic hymns in “Protestant” hymnals. They’re all in the fabric of our spiritual history, especially in the United States.
 
Last edited:
The lyrics will highlight the theological differences
If there are any…my point…there are a great many hymns by Wesley and Luther that stand up to Catholic theology that some Catholics would dismiss, assuming they were "Protestant " hymns based soley on who wrote them.
 
Last edited:
What is a Protestant hymn?

Just trying to imagine:

“Schism Forever!”
“Let us beat up the bishop”
“Shorter Bible, Shorter Bible!”

I don’t think that I have ever actually heard any of these.
 
We need a laugh button, although I understand why there’s likely not one.

I snorted on “Schism Forever!” 😂😂😂
 
The music my protestant colleagues play makes me feel like I’m in Hell. It’s like rock music without the cool guitar solo and wailing instead of singing. I feel I could be hypnotised by it and it makes my body want to cry. I have never heard anything like it and they play it at their churches too.
 
Just trying to imagine:

“Schism Forever!”
“Let us beat up the bishop”
“Shorter Bible, Shorter Bible!”
There are surely folk songs with such sentiments. For example, I googled “folk song papist” and found The Boyne Water, an Irish song about a battle at the Boyne River. The wikipedia article has this:
… The song also expresses the view that victory in the battle saved the Irish Protestant community from massacre by the Irish Catholics.
So praise God, all true Protestants,
And I will say no further,
But had the Papists gained that day,
There would have been open murder…
It’s not a hymn, though.
 
Last edited:
I shared a big house with two music students years ago. When I came home from work one evening I could hear one of them playing the piano. The young lady was just sitting by the piano “fooling around” as she called it. She then started playing a tune that every church sings in my country. She said “This is how it sounds like in the Lutheran churches,” continued playing and said “Salvation Army, Baptist etc.” She nailed it!

Taking a tune that is composed to be sung with traditional African instruments like congas and then playing the same tune with a “sleepy organ” during someone’s funeral makes me want to leave asap. It doesn’t matter if the words are lovely.

Looking at the wording is very important to me when choosing songs and hymns. My parish deacon and I had a chance to talk a little before Mass today about the liturgy in the parish. We could hear the children and teens singing at the same time. With a little nod on our heads we new that it would be a lovely Mass and it was.
 
Amazing geace has the worst music, very dreary.
The lyrics were set to a pre-existing tune, “New Britain”. It can be dreary, or it can be happy; that depends on how it’s played. If you hear it sung by a good Southern Gospel choir, I guarantee you won’t find it dreary.

Edit to add: And if you still don’t like it, you can sing the words to other tunes. “House of the Rising Sun”, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”, and the “Gilligan’s Island” theme come immediately to mind. But maybe not in church 😃

D
 
Last edited:
Well this morning at Mass the Gloria was sung and after the Gloria Gloria part the priest double clapped and maybe four parishioners did too.
 
Having heard many ‘Catholic hymns I understand why. Protestants have much better hymns. In fact a hymnal is really Protestant. Catholics should be chanting.
 
40.png
deMontfort:
My wife’s having back surgery today so I’m a little on edge…
I just saw this.

deMonfort, I hope all went well. Sending prayers for you and your wife.
Oh, just remembered something: My wife’s surgery was done three blocks from St James Cathedral 🙂
 
Ah! Such a small world we inhabit!

I of course park in the Cabrini Tower, about a block and a half up or so, all the time. 😉
 
Last edited:
I walked down to it once when I was a couple of hours early for a doctor’s appointment. Wasn’t opened yet, but outside was impressive 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top