Rock Music at Mass

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OCP offers grants for parishes that do not have the resources to buy their music. When I served at the Cathedral, we used their Flor y Canto books only because OCP has a choke-hold on the Spanish-language music. They repeatedly tried to get us to buy their stuff, but, we declined, since we had purchased the Worship III hymnals from GIA. There was even an invitation to apply for a grant, since our diocese, oddly enough, is still considered a missionary diocese–don’t ask me why. In fact, I am still on the OCP mailing list (both snail mail and email). That is how I know about these grants.

In fact, the article that Sarabande referenced (and, whose link I included in a post) discusses the manners by which OCP goes out to purvey its wares.

I do know that most of our parishes have bought into the OCP trap, to the point that some of the music directors are following the OCP liturgical planner as though it were the GIRM.
 
We had a really great band for our charismatic mass back at my home parish in the states.

They used contemporary instruments but played a lot of the older more traditional hymns. I thought it was really neat the way they were able to bring a new sound to the old songs (which I like just fine the way they are meant to be played too).

One thing I will note is that they always played the more upbeat songs for the entry and exit and perhaps the offering… but as a rule the music played durrring communion was always calm and prayerful.

I enjoy all forms of mass, but this was the best charismatic service I’d ever been to. 👍
 
Having prayerfully considered the harm being done by putting OCP in a bad light, I believe it is necessary to offer a second opinion, and entrust the results to the Lord.

Those who use this hymnal in their parishes may have formed a very negative opinion concerning their pastors and/or musicians who purchased this worship aid for their churches, if they read only those posts that put it down.

In the inside cover is the wording “Concordat cum originali” and the statement that this missal was approved for liturgical use by the USCCB. Our parish uses Breaking Bread, which has 750 hymns, not counting the psalms. Even if 3/4 of them were not appropriate, as has been alleged, that still leaves 187 beautiful good hymns of traditional nature, which IMO is quite a repertoire for a parish musician to choose from. I don’t believe that there are 563 bad hymns in this hymal, or it would never have been approved.

This percentage is well beyond the norm, and is somewhat of an exaggeration, but let’s assume 50% are bad. That still leaves 375 good and useful hymns for the parish to use. Most music directors are skilled professionals who know the wording of many hymns well enough to be able to make proper selections for the liturgy, otherwise, they would not be in the position of “director.”

May we pray for our parish leaders and keep our hearts open to believing their good will toward us. If our spirit is in the singing, with proper focus on the Lord, even a less suitable hymn can be highly devotional.
 
However, the content of the music needs to be studied. A good deal of the OCP stable writes songs that celebrate the community, rather than offer God fitting worship and adoration. Many of the SLJ and Bob Hurd pieces extol the community and what we are doing as opposed to focusing the attention to God.

Furthermore, OCP takes excessive liberties with the prayers of the Mass when their composers set them to music. The Spanish version of the Gloria sounds as though its been taken through a food processor. Any references to God the Father are omitted and Jesus’ name is also not mentioned. These versions do not resemble the official Spanish translation at all. Strangely enough, OCP labels one of them “traditional”, which is hardly the case.

The English versions also take liberties, as the often-mentinoed (and dreadful Christopher Walker version of the) Gloria have shown. Even some of the settings for the Mass found in Spirit and Song are highly suspect, as they take liberties with the original text.

GIA fares only slightly better. Of its three books, the best one is the Worship III (older translation). Interestingly enough, beautiful hymns such as “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”, “Word of God to Earth Come Down”, “By All Your Saints Still Striving”, "O Sun of Justice (which is an ancient hymn), “By All Your Saints Still Striving”, “O Holy City Seen of John”, “Lord, Let Your Servant Go in Peace”, and “Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether.” Furthermore, OCP’s re-translations of certain hymns such as “At That First Eucharist” have managed to mangle up the song.

Furthermore, it seems as though OCP may not know that Liturgicam Authenticam, the Vatican document governing translations for liturgical use, even exists. Were the folks at OCP to have read that, perhaps their mistreatment of the parts of the Mass, as I referenced earlier, would never have happened. In addition, had the publishes read the Chirograph on Sacred Music as well as Sacramentum Caritatis, they wouldn’t be putting in so many pop-sounding songs into their arsenal of music.

This is one case where being all things to all people doesn’t help at all because in the end, it only serves to produce music that is not fitting for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
 
Thank you joysong.

I have been prayerfully considering what could be done when a poster feels it necessary to slander any oposing point, as was done regarding seminaries.

Hopefully lurkers will realize an arrogant opinion is not necessarily fact.

Lux
 
I copied these hymns which are Benedictgal’s favorites from her post recently. May I ask which, if ANY, are NOT in the OCP missalette? I cannot see a single hymn that is not in OCP’s Breaking Bread, except maybe Tu es Christus and O Holy City Seen of John, and I do say “maybe” since they might be in the hymnal, but not be in use by my parish. We have sung every one of these other hymns, on a regular basis. I think the worth of a hymnal remains with the Music Director who is able to bring forth the “old” and the “new” and choose hymns wisely according to the seasons and the readings.

Attende Domine
Regina Caeli
By All Your Saints Still Striving
All Glory, Laud and Honor
How Firm a Foundation
O Sacred Head Surrounded
Our Father, We Have Wandered
Tu es Christus
Those Who Love and Those Who Labor
Alleluia, Sing to Jesus
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tehter
Shepherd of Souls (refresh and bless)
At that First Eucharist
Draw Near and Take the Body of Your Lord
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
O Sun of Justice
For All the Saints
Ye Watches and Ye Holy Ones
God We Praise You
Holy, Holy, Holy
Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today
Word of God to Earh Come Down
Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
On Jordan’s Bank
Pangia Lingua
O Sanctissima
Salve Regina
Come, Holy Ghost
To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King
At the Name of Jesus (version from Worship III)
Where Charity and Love Prevail
The Glory of These 40 Days
Sing My Tongue the Song of Triumph
O Sons and Daughters
Creator of the Stars of Night
Go, Make of All Disciples
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
Lord, Let Your Servant Go in Peace
O Holy City Seen of John
 
Lux_et_Tenebrae said:
Thank you joysong.

I have been prayerfully considering what could be done when a poster feels it necessary to slander any oposing point, as was done regarding seminaries.

Hopefully lurkers will realize an arrogant opinion is not necessarily fact.

Lux
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Actually, no one is slandering any one. The truth of the matter is that the music simply is not good at all. In addition, the fact that the publishing house takes excessive liberties with the parts of the Mass, as evidenced in its mishandling of the Gloria in Spanish and some of the English-language portions is not a good sign.

Look at the words of their servie music and compare them to what is in the Roman Missal. There are serious problems, especially in Spanish, where direct references to both God the Father and Jesus are omitted from the Gloria. And these are sung during Mass! This is wrong.

If the publishing house does not take care of this problem, then how can anyone trust it when it inserts pop/rock pieces in its Spirit and Song book?
 
Joysong said:
I copied these hymns which are Benedictgal’s favorites from her post recently. May I ask which, if ANY, are NOT in the OCP missalette? I cannot see a single hymn that is not in OCP’s Breaking Bread, except maybe Tu es Christus and O Holy City Seen of John, and I do say “maybe” since they might be in the hymnal, but not be in use by my parish. We have sung every one of these other hymns, on a regular basis. I think the worth of a hymnal remains with the Music Director who is able to bring forth the “old” and the “new” and choose hymns wisely according to the seasons and the readings.

Attende Domine
Regina Caeli
By All Your Saints Still Striving
All Glory, Laud and Honor
How Firm a Foundation
O Sacred Head Surrounded
Our Father, We Have Wandered
Tu es Christus
Those Who Love and Those Who Labor
Alleluia, Sing to Jesus
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tehter
Shepherd of Souls (refresh and bless)
At that First Eucharist
Draw Near and Take the Body of Your Lord
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
O Sun of Justice
For All the Saints
Ye Watches and Ye Holy Ones
God We Praise You
Holy, Holy, Holy
Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today
Word of God to Earh Come Down
Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
On Jordan’s Bank
Pangia Lingua
O Sanctissima
Salve Regina
Come, Holy Ghost
To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King
At the Name of Jesus (version from Worship III)
Where Charity and Love Prevail
The Glory of These 40 Days
Sing My Tongue the Song of Triumph
O Sons and Daughters
Creator of the Stars of Night
Go, Make of All Disciples
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
Lord, Let Your Servant Go in Peace
O Holy City Seen of John
Click to expand...
Where, exactly are these hymns? They are certainly not in Journeysong, let alone Glory and Praise. Furthermore, are you not aware thet Breaking Bread is a paper song book? Where, just where are they?

Furthermore, the Attnde Domine translation does not match the one found in the older hymnals. In fact, some of the “newer” translations to the traditional hymns do an injustice to the original. The USCCB found that in the case of “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence’”, the new translation takes away the word “decendeth”, which is present-tense and replaces it with “descended”, which is past-tense, rendering the song to mean that Christ our God only descended once, as opposed to his descent to earth at every Mass during the Consecration.

Unidos en Christo, which is the bilingual songbook does not have any of the hymns that I listed in my post. This is the one commonly used in many bilingual parishes, along with One Voice/Una Voz, which also doesn’t have these hymns.
 
benedictgal said:
Actually, no one is slandering any one. The truth of the matter is that the music simply is not good at all. In addition, the fact that the publishing house takes excessive liberties with the parts of the Mass, as evidenced in its mishandling of the Gloria in Spanish and some of the English-language portions is not a good sign.
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Why don’t you look up the definition of slander.
The truth of the matter is that the music simply is not good at all.
Click to expand...
According to whom? That is a slanderous remark.

Lux
 
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