Sister Christina

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Sorry, i have to admit when I hear this version it cracks me up and whilst singing yesterday I heard it in my mind and had to exert some control…a good thing.

A Church nearby but not mine has a regular band of musicians and I find their music disruptive and not helpful to quiet thoughtful prayer and respectful worship. I used to play bass guitar myself in a couple of bands and it has its place in the tapestry of life but in Church, I want peace and tranquility. There is noise enough elsewhere I think.
 
AlNg said:
Do you think that her mission as a singer will bring people to attend church more often?
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It’s hard to tell, but it certainly wouldn’t be the only time a noticeably religious musician helped make people interested in going to church. Besides, part of what keeps some people away from church is the “NO FUN ALLOWED” perception, and stuff like this definitely tears that notion down.

But even if not a single person in the entire world was moved to come to church more often because of her performance, if she did it for God with the hope of bringing glory to Him, then she did her part.
Latetotheparty said:
“She is linking Jerusalem to Babylon.”

Cue picture of her in full nun habit and sensible shoes sitting on steps, playing an acoustic guitar.
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I stopped after his comment about serving Bael. Because apparently when God created the world, He gave the work of creating certain sounds, rhythms, and melodies over to Bael. :roll_eyes:
AlNg said:
In either case, it is mixing the sacred with the profane.
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How are pop, dance, rock, and other genres profane? It’s music. It’s taking what God created and using the creative ability God gave us to produce something beautiful, whether conventional or unconventional. Sure, you can attach some inappropriate lyrics to it or do it badly, but no music is inherently profane.
 
This young lady is using her God given talents out in the world. This is called Evangelization.

I did not watch the video, because, after the comments I do not want to have uncharitable feelings toward the narrator.
 
Brings to mind that old joke about married Baptists.

Dancing is not a sin. We are not Southern Baptists or Holiness Pentecostals.
 
AlNg said:
In this video people are dressed modestly, but their dancing is somewhat suggestive in parts.
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When someone goes in as a contestant on one of these shows, they are not suddenly the director/producer, etc. They are allowed to select songs to a point, however, if the producer does not like that song choice OR if they cannot get proper legal releases, the contestant must choose another song.

The performer has the same limited selection of their clothing/hair/etc. The producers allowed Sister to wear her habit and did not require full glamour makeup. That was a concession they made to the young nun and her superiors.

She does not get to direct nor select her background dancers. I’d imagine if they were doing a strip tease or grinding in the background the Religious Sisters could have spoken up, if a the producers would not give in, she could have left the show and faced contractual penalties.

While we like to think that these shows are not produced and directed, that is simply not the case.

And, as said above, dancing is not a sin. People may sin when they dance, but, that is a different thing.
AlNg said:
I did not like the Mass and I did not like the band playing these loud rock songs all during the Mass.
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Has Sister Christina encouraged loud rock songs at Mass? I have not read that.
 

It would probably help if we had a philosophical understanding in what influence music has over the mind and body and whether it is in keeping with the virtue of modesty and sub-virtue, decorum, to subject the sacred (religious vows) to the profane (Rock music).

Deuteronomy 12-

12 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.

Inculturation tends to idolatry. Just ask the Israelites who constantly fell into idolatry by mingling with foreign women, same with Solomon.
 
StAugustine said:
It would probably help if we had a philosophical understanding in what influence music has over the mind and body and whether it is in keeping with the virtue of modesty and sub-virtue, decorum, to subject the sacred (religious vows) to the profane (Rock music).
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God made the sounds and “rules” that govern music, and he gave us the creative and intellectual capacity to discover and apply them. Genres are simply the ways in which we apply that. Sure a culture that surrounds a genre (e.g. black metal) might have problems, but that’s on the people, not the music itself. Ultimately, though, there is nothing inherently more “sacred” about the music that makes up the Gregorian chant, and there is nothing inherently more “profane” about the music that makes up rock music.
StAugustine said:
Deuteronomy 12-
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No one is worshipping a false god by playing rock, so I fail to see how the chapter applies at all.
 
It would probably help more if we just ignore people who actually believe music, as in just the sounds as opposed to lyrics expressing a message, can be “sacred” or “profane”.
 
I can see that, but it’s not something to get that worked up about.
 
That hand sign has a variety of meanings, and used in a rock context it simply means rock.
Nothing satanic about it.
The rock musician who popularized it learned it from his Italian grandma, who I’m pretty sure was Catholic.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
It would probably help more if we just ignore people who actually believe music, as in just the sounds as opposed to lyrics expressing a message, can be “sacred” or “profane”.
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In my humble opinion, I think it would be better for Roman Catholics to pay attention to papal teachings on what constitutes Sacred Music and why sacred music “must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself, but in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it.” I personally would not recommend that Roman Catholics ignore His Holiness Pope Pius X and His Encyclical Tra le Sollecitudini Instruction on Sacred Music.
 
Do think she might sing the Stabat Mater?
 
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I think that Sr. Christina’s voice is nothing special. A lot of people on that show sound like her, or better. I think her appeal is that she is a nun in a habit. It is the novelty of her being a nun that is the draw and not her talent. Her choice of songs is questionable. I don’t think anything she is singing on that show will bring people to church or to Catholicism.
 
DignumEtJustum said:
At the very least, this hand gesture is satanic
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It is a Satanic hand gesture, but perhaps she did not do this deliberately. Sister Christina seems like a well meaning person and a good person, but I would not agree with her method of evangelization. I would tend to agree with the commentary of the priest in the original video.
 
It’s likely she just saw someone do it once and therefore thought to do it herself without thinking about it much. Still, it says something about where us secularized bunch are at.
 
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Apparently the person who taught her to sing made a version.
 
Do you really think she is trying to evangelize though?
I ask because I just don’t see how her choice of songs is going to do that…
 
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