USCCB Committee: ‘All Are Welcome’ Not a Welcome Hymn at Mass

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You know what music doesn’t require “a guide to evaluating the lyrics of hymns on the basis of their doctrinal content”? Singing the actual texts of the Mass.
 
I like Amazing Grace and also All Are Welcome.

One song I had trouble with had in the third or so verse, Would you set the prisoners free? I believe this was in a list of things that would be good to do. My thought on that was, No, the prisoners are where they need to be–locked up and far away from me. I posted something like, Does anybody read these lyrics before putting the song in the hymnal? People got pretty rude with me over that. I don’t remember the name of the song, but that is one that I disagreed with.
 
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I do not know which song you mean, but it may be from Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners
 
Shasta-Rose said:
One song I had trouble with had in the third or so verse, Would you set the prisoners free? I believe this was in a list of things that would be good to do. My thought on that was, No, the prisoners are where they need to be–locked up and far away from me.
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Ransoming captives is actually a corporal work of mercy. It was politically corrected to “visiting the imprisoned” but the traditional view still applies.

 
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It was this one:

The Summons

John L. Bell & Graham Maule

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the “you” you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and y
 
I mean really, entire hymnals should be condemned here. Not just one or two fluff piece songs.
 
I got worried that “Canticle of the Sun” was on the list! How could Saint Francis write a theologically flawed song, especially one that survived 800 years?

However it is referencing a 1980 adaptation.
 
Lol @ getting mad about prisoners being released. You know that people sometimes get wrongly imprisoned right? And that even those who are guilty normally get out eventually, sometimes early for good behavior. Lol!

It is a pretty weak tune though, and the self helpy verse about the you you hide is not the high point!
 
The person who attacked me in my home on a Sunday in October nearly 20 years ago is in prison and will stay there until they carry him out in a coffin. He committed murder in the second degree while in prison. His sentence is indeed very long and no possibility of parole.
 
Thank you. I look forward to reading it tonight. Committee or the whole USCCB, this is still put out by knowledgeable bishops trying to help Catholics.
 
The writer or the lyrics seemed to force to much. “You you” always made me laugh, along with the idea that a life would “scare”.

Maybe he thought of this at one of these mythical clown Masses and suffers from coulrophobia.
 
Very sorry to hear that happened to you, and it’s a good point about why the lyrics could be upsetting depending on your experiences
 
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Not so much “politically corrected,” I would think, as adjusted for the fact that ransoming captives isn’t as common any more (except in the rare case of kidnapping, where paying the ransom is not always a good idea), while anyone can visit those in prison.
 
pnewton said:
The writer or the lyrics seemed to force to much. “You you” always made me laugh, along with the idea that a life would “scare”.
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I imagine that Jesus’ life. and the expectations it implied, both attracted and scared people (think of the rich young man).
 
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