"Sing a New Church"

[sidonius]

Our pastor has forbidden us to use the song “Sing a New Church” in our parish. He says it’s heretical. He’s an awesome priest!

Wonderful! I refused to sing it at my former parish - which was orthodox in every other way. It neither praises God, nor asks his blessing, nor makes intercession. Simply put, it is not a hymn, it is self-congratulatory drivel.

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

… I mean, did they have to check on Tantum Ergo, Attende Domine or O Sacrament Most Holy?

Read OCP’s English translation of Panis Angelicus in one of their hymnals and just try to hold on to your dinner.

 

[CradleCath]

Hate it. Refuse to sing it. There’s nothing wrong with the original Church, thank you.

Betsy

Agreed. The one instituted by Christ is just fine with me.

 

[CradleCath]

It comes from OCP’s Spirit and Song. I refuse to sing it when the director programs it into the rotation. I’ve tried to talk to my pastor but, he’s bought into the OCP mess lock stock and barrel. I may ask him once again, maybe bribe him over dinner with something, anything, to see some solid traditional music.

I have lent him my copy of Spirit of the Liturgy in the hopes that maybe the Holy Father’s words might make a dent into his subconscious regarding the importance of sacred music.

Perhaps he’s never seen the letter sent to all Bishops in 1974. It came from the Congregation for Divine Worship. An excerpt:

Eminence, Excellency,

Our congregation has prepared a booklet entitled, “Jubilate Deo”, which contains a **minimum selection **of sacred chants. This was done in response to a desire which the Holy Father had frequently expressed, that all the faithful should know at least some Latin Gregorian chants, such as, for example, the “Gloria”, the “Credo”, the “Sanctus”, and the "Agnus Dei".[1]

It gives me great pleasure to send you a copy of it, as a personal gift from His Holiness, Pope Paul VI. May I take this opportunity of recommending to your pastoral solicitude this new initiative, whose purpose is to facilitate the observance of the recommendation of the Second Vatican Council "…steps must be taken to ensure that the faithful are able to chant together in Latin those parts of the ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.

They received this letter 34 yrs. ago. Do you think that they might be ready to reread it with an eye towards obedience. :banghead:

 

[Nessie86]

I’m in the choir, and we did this song a couple weeks ago. Honestly, I hardly paid attention to the words, because “Come thou font of every blessing” is one of my FAVORITE hymns, especially as a former protestant, and I was indignant that the words were completely changed! I’ve noticed this is done a lot to “Protestant” hymns, and I’d sure like to know why, as most of them aren’t at all contrary to Catholic teachings. Or, like this one: we sang the lovely old hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth” last week, but in the line “Lord of all to thee we raise…”, “thee” was replaced with “you”. Why??? It sounded so stupid. Argh. Not the ANYONE except my band teacher boyfriend sings at my church anyways… what is UP with that…

 

[pnewton]

Read OCP’s English translation of Panis Angelicus in one of their hymnals and just try to hold on to your dinner.

I can imagine. Don’t tell me they went all inclusive.

This is why I have a preference for classic hymns in English, as opposed to translated ones.

 

[baltobetsy]

I’m in the choir, and we did this song a couple weeks ago. Honestly, I hardly paid attention to the words, because “Come thou font of every blessing” is one of my FAVORITE hymns, especially as a former protestant, and I was indignant that the words were completely changed! I’ve noticed this is done a lot to “Protestant” hymns, and I’d sure like to know why, as most of them aren’t at all contrary to Catholic teachings.

Welcome to the forums, Nessie86!

I’d like to direct your attention to the back of your hymnal, where you will probably find something called a “metrical index.” It will have a bunch of tune names, like “Nettleton,” which is the familiar tune for “Come thou fount of every blessing,” followed by groups of numbers, like 8.7.8.7.D, or similar. The numbers refer to the number of syllables in a line of text, and the letter “D” means double, or do it twice.

What this index tells you is that many familiar texts can be sung to various melodies, because they have the same number of syllables per line of text. You’ll see people exclaiming over the fact that certain hymns can be sung to the tunes of popular songs sometimes. I think you can sing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” for example, and vice versa.

The purpose of this listing is to show singers and other musicians other options for melodies, if they prefer a different tune or in case the melody given for the text they want to use is unfamiliar or difficult or ugly. For example, you can sing the words of “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” to the tune of “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”

What happened to that beautiful tune from “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is that someone wrote a nasty new text, “Sing a New Church,” that is the same meter, and the “Nettleton” tune got used for it. It’s not that “the words were completely changed.” It’s unfortunate, but not really worth getting upset over. The original hymn is untouched. It may not be in your hymnal, but at least nobody messed with it.

Now, we do have instances where people take perfectly good hymn texts and try to modernize them, while continuing to use the original tune. They remove the “thee” and “thou” and the gender references, and otherwise butcher the lovely original poetry. THIS is worth getting upset about.

I’m with you, Nessie, on “Come Thou Fount.” It’s one of my very favorite hymns of all time. I want it sung at my funeral. It tells the story of my life, falling into sin and coming back - “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.”

Betsy

 

[katy]

I’ve solved my problem with this kind of drivel by refusing to sing it. It’s not a satisfactory solution, because I’d really like to sing some good hymns. That only happens about once a month, tho.

 

[Nessie86]

Welcome to the forums, Nessie86!

I’d like to direct your attention to the back of your hymnal, where you will probably find something called a “metrical index.” It will have a bunch of tune names, like “Nettleton,” which is the familiar tune for “Come thou fount of every blessing,” followed by groups of numbers, like 8.7.8.7.D, or similar. The numbers refer to the number of syllables in a line of text, and the letter “D” means double, or do it twice.

What this index tells you is that many familiar texts can be sung to various melodies, because they have the same number of syllables per line of text. You’ll see people exclaiming over the fact that certain hymns can be sung to the tunes of popular songs sometimes. I think you can sing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” for example, and vice versa.

The purpose of this listing is to show singers and other musicians other options for melodies, if they prefer a different tune or in case the melody given for the text they want to use is unfamiliar or difficult or ugly. For example, you can sing the words of “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” to the tune of “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”

What happened to that beautiful tune from “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is that someone wrote a nasty new text, “Sing a New Church,” that is the same meter, and the “Nettleton” tune got used for it. It’s not that “the words were completely changed.” It’s unfortunate, but not really worth getting upset over. The original hymn is untouched. It may not be in your hymnal, but at least nobody messed with it.

Now, we do have instances where people take perfectly good hymn texts and try to modernize them, while continuing to use the original tune. They remove the “thee” and “thou” and the gender references, and otherwise butcher the lovely original poetry. THIS is worth getting upset about.

I’m with you, Nessie, on “Come Thou Fount.” It’s one of my very favorite hymns of all time. I want it sung at my funeral. It tells the story of my life, falling into sin and coming back - “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.”

Betsy

Thanks Betsy! That was actually pretty interesting. I’ll have to check that out the next time I’m at church.

 

[GailMac]

No, I don’t like this song either. Have a nice day.

Peace,

Gail

 

[Writer]

Welcome to the forums, Nessie86!

I’d like to direct your attention to the back of your hymnal, where you will probably find something called a “metrical index.” It will have a bunch of tune names, like “Nettleton,” which is the familiar tune for “Come thou fount of every blessing,” followed by groups of numbers, like 8.7.8.7.D, or similar. The numbers refer to the number of syllables in a line of text, and the letter “D” means double, or do it twice.

What this index tells you is that many familiar texts can be sung to various melodies, because they have the same number of syllables per line of text. You’ll see people exclaiming over the fact that certain hymns can be sung to the tunes of popular songs sometimes. I think you can sing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” for example, and vice versa.

The purpose of this listing is to show singers and other musicians other options for melodies, if they prefer a different tune or in case the melody given for the text they want to use is unfamiliar or difficult or ugly. For example, you can sing the words of “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” to the tune of “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”

What happened to that beautiful tune from “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is that someone wrote a nasty new text, “Sing a New Church,” that is the same meter, and the “Nettleton” tune got used for it. It’s not that “the words were completely changed.” It’s unfortunate, but not really worth getting upset over. The original hymn is untouched. It may not be in your hymnal, but at least nobody messed with it.

Now, we do have instances where people take perfectly good hymn texts and try to modernize them, while continuing to use the original tune. They remove the “thee” and “thou” and the gender references, and otherwise butcher the lovely original poetry. THIS is worth getting upset about.

I’m with you, Nessie, on “Come Thou Fount.” It’s one of my very favorite hymns of all time. I want it sung at my funeral. It tells the story of my life, falling into sin and coming back - “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.”

Betsy

Yes, thank you sharing that interesting post! As discussed in this month’s *This Rock, *though, I do suggest this hymn something to get upset over. This goes hand in hand with a lot of other issues–poor catechizing, for instance. Words mean things, and singing hymns which are all about glorifying ourselves, instead of turning to God, miss the point on so many different levels. It is preaching the heresy of universalism. Besides dishonoring the Mass, the hymn is teaching incoherent theology. The Church used to have the best music and the best art, but today it’s quickly losing ground on both fronts. Unfortunately, it’s hard to know where and how for most of us to take a stand.

 

[baltobetsy]

Yes, thank you sharing that interesting post! As discussed in this month’s *This Rock, *though, I do suggest this hymn something to get upset over. This goes hand in hand with a lot of other issues–poor catechizing, for instance. Words mean things, and singing hymns which are all about glorifying ourselves, instead of turning to God, miss the point on so many different levels. It is preaching the heresy of universalism. Besides dishonoring the Mass, the hymn is teaching incoherent theology. The Church used to have the best music and the best art, but today it’s quickly losing ground on both fronts. Unfortunately, it’s hard to know where and how for most of us to take a stand.

I agree with you that the text of “Sing a New Church” is worth getting upset over. What I was thinking was that the OP need not worry that her favorite hymn had been overhauled or done away with by the Catholic Church. Some random person wrote “Sing a New Church,” and some publisher sold it, but “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is still out there and still OK.

Betsy

 

[benedictgal]

I agree with you that the text of “Sing a New Church” is worth getting upset over. What I was thinking was that the OP need not worry that her favorite hymn had been overhauled or done away with by the Catholic Church. Some random person wrote “Sing a New Church,” and some publisher sold it, but “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is still out there and still OK.

Betsy

Betsy, have you heard what OCP did with “Come, Holy Ghost”, or, rather, at least what they’ve allowed Bernadette Farrell to do with the song? She incorporated something along the lines of Sing a New Church into this venerable hymn and totally ruined it.

I am beginning to wonder just who these experts are who are reviewing the music. I am going to be in St. Louis next week for a conference, but, I plan to sneak out to the Gateway Liturgical Conference to hear the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments speak. Maybe, if I am permitted, I will ask him if the CDWDS plans on doing anything to clean up the mess we have with music such as what we’re subjected to week after week.

 

[Writer]

I agree with you that the text of “Sing a New Church” is worth getting upset over. What I was thinking was that the OP need not worry that her favorite hymn had been overhauled or done away with by the Catholic Church. Some random person wrote “Sing a New Church,” and some publisher sold it, but “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is still out there and still OK.

Betsy

Sorry if I misunderstood that a bit. I seem to be misunderstanding a lot on the Forums lately. Have to get my eyes checked again…

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

I think you can sing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” for example, and vice versa.

You can also sing Amazing Grace to the theme from Gilligan’s Island.

For example, you can sing the words of “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” to the tune of “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”

One of my gripes is that OCP will use the same few, primitively-arranged tunes for several hymns. A few years ago, the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken” was reassigned to the “Ode to Joy” tune from its former tune of “Austria.” Why? OCP felt that “Austria,” which is also the widely known tune for “Deutschlandlied” (a.k.a. Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles, the third verse of which is still used as Germany’s national anthem), had origins with the Nazis. In fact, the original Haydn tune was written as a national anthem for Austria and was reworded for German use (a sore spot among Austrians to this day) long before Hitler was born.

They also love to remove the “thees and thous” from hymns, thinking that these archaic forms are somehow unduly formal. These are actually familiar forms that showed an intimacy with God (such as “tu” in Spanish or “du” in German). God is not an earthly lord whom one would address with the formal “you,” but a Father with whom one would use the familial “thou.”

 

[Phemie]

They also love to remove the “thees and thous” from hymns, thinking that these archaic forms are somehow unduly formal. These are actually familiar forms that showed an intimacy with God (such as “tu” in Spanish or “du” in German). God is not an earthly lord whom one would address with the formal “you,” but a Father with whom one would use the familial “thou.”

I hate how “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” was ‘updated’ for CBW III.

 

[baltobetsy]

I think one thing we must remember is that, unlike in the Protestant denominations, there is no official Catholic hymnal. We have a bunch of publishers who put out hymnals in order to make a profit. They have more or less reliable ways of determining the suitability of the contents for Catholics to sing. But none of them, I repeat, none, have the authority of a Vatican congregation. They’re just business people.

Betsy

 

[Phemie]

I think one thing we must remember is that, unlike in the Protestant denominations, there is no official Catholic hymnal. We have a bunch of publishers who put out hymnals in order to make a profit. They have more or less reliable ways of determining the suitability of the contents for Catholics to sing. But none of them, I repeat, none, have the authority of a Vatican congregation. They’re just business people.

Betsy

Canada has an official hymnal “The Catholic Book of Worship III”, published by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of Haugen & Haas in it and the compilers went for modernized language, removing ‘thee’, ‘thou’, ‘ye’, etc. from hymns like “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” and “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”. Not to mention that just about every mention of ‘men’ has been changed to ‘us’.

BUT, on a positive note – it doesn’t have “Sing a New Church”.

 

[Writer]

If any Forum members want to join us in writing letters (and e-mails) on this issue, I can share some contacts via e-mail upon request. As of this time, we’ve received only short responses from the archdiocese and OCP. Unfortunately, the archdiocese reply was particularly unhelpful.

I know of new letters going out this week, though, which may prove more helpful to the attempt to get this hymn removed. Contacts with a particular large Catholic fraternal organization have been a bit disappointing, but we haven’t crossed them off the list completely. If nothing further this week is received, I hope to make a phone call or two next week to the organization’s leadership.

As an encouraging aside, one small parish priest said that this effort made him decide to create a “do not play” list of hymns for his parish. Although it’s only one parish right now, I thought that was encouraging news for those of us who care about the music of the Mass.

At any rate, drop me a note if more details are desired–and thanks again to everyone who participated in this thread!

 

[Catholic_Kenpo]

I’m just curious as to your thoughts on the course of action we should take if we’re in the choir. I can’t exactly close my hymnal and refuse to sing. I don’t believe our hymnal contains “Sing a New Church”, but I could be mistaken. It seems like a lot of songs we end up singing sound oddly like the songs I used to sing as a protestant. My old parish sang in latin on a fairly regular basis, but I don’t think I’ve sung anything at all in latin since I got to this parish some 6 months ago.



-CK