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

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It is great stuff, though I believe that one part is not factual accurate. I am relatively certain that “wine” is used in description of the elements.

Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink.

So the word should not be verboten, just not used after the consecration. FYI, the “pouring” of the wine occurs prior to consecration.

I pretty much did all the thing in here already, which why even a song like “All our Welcome” I did not use the Eucharist verse. The headline of this article overstates the tone of the article, which is a guideline, not a list of forbidden hymns. The word “imply” is used quite a bit, meaning the issue is not that there is a contradiction of doctrine, just a danger of misleading people into a false understanding of doctrine.
 
neophyte said:
That’s one that I thoroughly despise, and I will not sing it.
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Fortunately, our parish does not sing “Lord of the Dance,” but they do sing another one with the same tune – “Simple Gifts”. That song is a target of my own despisement (?), and I refuse to sing it.

D
 
It’s actually an old Shaker hymn tune.
A pretty tune and fine for a hymn sing outside of Mass or another gathering, but not for Mass. The original song of Simple Gifts was composed in 1848.

Aaron Copeland used the melody in his Appalachian Spring in the mid 20th century and then another composer used the melody in the 1960s for “Lord of the Dance’.
 
Fuerza said:
Go Make a Difference should incur excommunication and banishment to Siberia.
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Had to sing it once during my short tenure in the parish choir. Hated every second. It’s such an empty platitude of a song.
 
SpaghettiCowboy said:
The music is vetted and no approved hymns have egregious doctrinal errors
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Actually, no hymns are approved. The USCCB has copped to the fact that they don’t really approve hymns or hymnals; moreover, the Church has made no requirement that hymns sung at Mass have any approval or vetting whatsoever.

The only way to ensure that the musical settings of the Mass are approved is to actually use the propers of the Mass itself. Since these are actually constitutive parts of the Mass, they undergo the same rigorous translation and approval process as anything else in the Roman Missal.
 
You couldn’t even preserve a rhythm or general good sound in your shameless hit-piece against the USCCB. Sad.
 
Maybe we’ll no longer have See Us Lord, About Your Altar as a communion hymn. While I can find a Catholic reading of the lyrics, I’m also extremely uncomfortable having verse 3 be sung at communion time.
 
I am a musician–I play piano/organ for Catholic and Protestant churches.

It seems to me that what we have are two different types of people analyzing hymns.

We have “Mr. Spocks”–these folks analyze everything in the hymns literally, examine every word, every phrase, and sometimes even the melodies and rhythms of hymns. They approach hymnody as a “science” or a mathematical exercise.

And we have “Dr. McCoys”–these folks do not analyze but feel their way with their hearts, basing their conclusions on their personal experiences and emotions. They approach hymnody as a “devotion” or a spiritual exercise.

To me, it makes no sense to be a Mr. Spock when it comes to hymns–they are poetry and music, not theological discourses. They are written based on experiences, emotions, reactions to God’s works. They will have HUMAN influences and experiences because they are NOT sacred Scripture and Catholic doctrine and dogma.

To simply set sacred Scripture to music is…well, it works, but it’s not very pretty–no melody line, no regular rhythm–Americans especially have a difficult time with this kind of music.

Certainly if a hymn is obviously presenting a heretical statement, it should be left out of a Christian hymnal. There are hymns like this–examine the hymns in the Unitarian hymnals sometime!

But to condemn a hymn because it doesn’t make sense to you, or because some of the poetry seems heretical to you—no. This is the realm of poetry–some people love a poet or an artist, and others just “don’t get it.” Both viewpoints are legitimate.
 
Have you guys who are music ministers ever added the sax from take 5 to sing of the lords goodness?
 
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. I posted something like, Does anybody read these lyrics before putting the song in the hymnal? People got pretty rude with me over that.
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If the song you’re talking about is “The Summons” which someone posted, I don’t think that lyric refers to actually going around emptying the jails. In context, it’s like curing the lepers, mentioned in the next line; it’s an allusion to setting people free from the sin, darkness, and bad habits that hold them back.

It’s also worth noting that in certain circumstances it could also mean setting actual captives free if the captives are wrongfully imprisoned. Think concentration camps, the Gulag, persecuted Christians, the enslaved. There are entire religious orders in the Catholic Church that were founded with the charism of ransoming and freeing Christians who were imprisoned by Muslim captors. Some of these orders, like the Mercedarians, are still active today, and focus on helping communities in other ways, such as by running parishes and schools.

I can see where you’d get blowback if you somehow took it to mean let’s let serial killers and pedophiles run loose…that’s not what it means though.
 
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Peeps said:
We have “Mr. Spocks”–these folks analyze everything in the hymns literally, examine every word, every phrase, and sometimes even the melodies and rhythms of hymns. They approach hymnody as a “science” or a mathematical exercise.

And we have “Dr. McCoys”–these folks do not analyze but feel their way with their hearts, basing their conclusions on their personal experiences and emotions. They approach hymnody as a “devotion” or a spiritual exercise.
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This is a good way to put it. I can understand being “Mr. Spock” when a song seems to have a real doctrinal problem, such as “Mary Did You Know”, but there are always people who take it too far.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I can see where you’d get blowback if you somehow took it to mean let’s let serial killers and pedophiles run loose…that’s not what it means though.
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I always interpreted it metaphorically; like, helping people become free of the prison of sin and despair. Not, like, let’s go let out Jeffrey Dahmer.
 
RoseScented said:
Maybe we’ll no longer have See Us Lord, About Your Altar as a communion hymn. While I can find a Catholic reading of the lyrics, I’m also extremely uncomfortable having verse 3 be sung at communion time.
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We have that hymn in Canada’s Catholic Book of Worship II but that verse is omitted.
 
This has been sung at every funeral in my family since I was a child. I don’t know who keeps choosing it, but now I just associate it with death.
 
Fuerza said:
This has been sung at every funeral in my family since I was a child. I don’t know who keeps choosing it, but now I just associate it with death.
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It’s funny, although this is a popular funeral hymn at my parish (not that I go to many funerals there anyway) the first place it made an impact on my life was at my 8th grade graduation. We all learned sign-language gestures and performed the song at our Baccalaureate Mass.

I also associate this strongly with Night Prayer, which has not a few resemblances to funeral rites, including “Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.” But for me it has always been a comforting psalm which evinces God’s holy protection around us when we are in a state of grace. It’s comforting. There is nothing upsetting about death to a Christian. It is a necessary transition to the next life.
 
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From what I understand, “On Eagles’ Wings” was originally composed for someone’s funeral, and then its popularity spread from there, so it’s likely on the lists of “songs recommended for funerals”.

It was also popular at graduation and school “milestone” Masses, such as anniversaries of the school or of the principal’s taking her vows as a sister, etc., when I was in high school.
 
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