Refused to sing "a mighty fortress is our God"

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Loud-living-dogma

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Anyone else have that programmed today? We also had “Sing a new church”. I refuse to sing the “Battle hymn” of the Protestant Reformation. It’s different than other run-of-the-mill hymns by Protestants due to its history.
 
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While written by Luther, the song is hardly theologically problematic. Sure, you could perhaps argue that he had a bit of an anti-Catholic motive when it comes to some of the lyrics, particularly in the second verse, but the actual lyrics still don’t violate Catholic teaching.
 
I think they’re saying A Mighty Fortress Is Our God is a quintessentially Protestant hymn.

I disagree. A Mighty Fortress has 100% unambiguously orthodox lyrics. I’d consider Amazing Grace to be more of a “Protestant Battle Hymn”, and talk about troublesome lyrics. It’s also way overplayed.
 
AlbertDerGrosse said:
Amazing Grace
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I’m not sure I’d even call Amazing Grace problematic for a Catholic. I get that Protestants frequently paint the Catholic/Protestant divide as works vs. faith/grace, and John Newton may have had that in mind when writing the lyrics, but that’s really a Protestant misunderstanding. Catholicism is all about God’s grace.

The only part I can really see being at all considered “problematic” would be the part, “How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed.” But even that isn’t entirely outside of the Church’s teachings, based on CCC 1989:
The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion , effecting justification in accordance with Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.
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We do sing A Mighty Fortress in our church. I have noticed that our hymnal doesn’t use the word bulwark. I love the song.
 
This sounds like my Calvinist wife saying she won’t cross herself because it’s Catholic.

Just because icky Protestants wrote a hymn doesn’t mean it’s bad.
 
That’s the exact part I was thinking of. I understand that it can be understood in a Catholic light. I brought up Amazing Grace as an example of a more stereotypically Protestant hymn that is more ambiguous in its orthodoxy than A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.
 
I hate to say it but it is a much better hymn both in terms of lyrics and tune than most Catholic hymns. The problem is really hymns themselves. Hymns are Protestant. I personally generally don’t sing any of the hymns.
 
Does it? The hymns I’ve seen in the breviary are mostly Protestant.

The four hymn sandwich is an imitation of Protestant services. Singing the prayers of the Mass is certainly Catholic. Adding hymns to replace liturgical texts that can be sung is Protestant.
 
I refuse to sing that song also. I have only heard it played once in a Catholic church, though.
I did hear Marcus Grodi on The Journey Home once say he was shocked when he first heard it played in a Catholic church. His comment was more or less, that song was Luther’s marching hymn against the Catholic church and he thought it was wrong to be sung in a Catholic church. I think it is wrong to sing that song in a Catholic church also…
 
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Te lucis ante terminum? Aeterne rerum conditor? Vexilla regis? Lucis creator optime? These are all hymns of the breviary written within the first six centuries of the Church. Our hymnody goes back waaaaay farther than the Protestant Reformation.
 
Right, but those aren’t the hymns I’m talking about or that the vast majority of catholics ever encounter.
 
If the saints and angels are all around us at Mass, do you think it is to their liking to hear the song that Protestants sang when they slaughtered Catholics in the Thirty Years War?
 
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A mighty fortress is our God though written by Luther is much better than the sappy songs played weekly such as All are Welcome and Eagles Wings. The Melody is great and the lyrics spot on I tend to dislike most english songs and perfer gregorian chant to be sung in churches but I consider songs like A mighty Fortress is Our God and Holy God we Praise Thy Name revered and good songs that should be sung at Mass.
 
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As much as I do not like A mighty fortress, I agree with you regarding the other sappy songs. Dislike those also and some I refuse to sing.

Simply love Holy God We Praise Thy Name. It has been one of my favorites since I was very young.
 
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