Wedding Music

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Phemie

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I’m fine with the music at my parish, but I have to ask… how did that couple get away with having that music played?
 
Sarabande said:
I’m fine with the music at my parish, but I have to ask… how did that couple get away with having that music played?
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I don’t want to suggest that the rubrics say this kind of nonsense is okay, but I will say that their lack of precision does tend to produce this sort of “Build-a-Mass” ideology.

There is too little that is stable in the liturgy. Everything is open to constant reinterpretation, and yes, ideals have changed from the dark days, but being able to pick and choose and completely build a Mass, save for the most essential elements, is troubling whether this reality was intended or not.

It is better to have a music-less Mass than to completely miss the mark with music. Effort does not overshadow failure.
 
**If any of these artists had a concert and the promoters insisted they only plan Georgian Chant, sacred music and latin Mass parts - would that be OK?

I do not understand this…I know this may sound like a judgement - were they active faithful practicing Catholics? **
 
Phemie said:
For all of you who have been complaining about music in your parish, I’d like to give you something to ponder.

There was a wedding in my parish today with a full Mass. Here’s a list of what they opted to have for music.

Bridal Procession “A Thousand Years” - Christina Perri

Offertory “At Last” - Etta James

Communion “Songbird” – Fleetwood Mac

Signing the Register “Feels Like Home” - Chantal Kreviazuk

Recessional: Lucky - Jason Mraz

There, feel better now??
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Why was this permitted?
 
Phemie said:
For all of you who have been complaining about music in your parish, I’d like to give you something to ponder.

There was a wedding in my parish today with a full Mass. Here’s a list of what they opted to have for music.

Bridal Procession “A Thousand Years” - Christina Perri

Offertory “At Last” - Etta James

Communion “Songbird” – Fleetwood Mac

Signing the Register “Feels Like Home” - Chantal Kreviazuk

Recessional: Lucky - Jason Mraz

There, feel better now??
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Holy smokes!!! I just about threw up my snack reading that list!!! :eek:

Yes, I do feel better now.
 
That list makes me very happy to be in the parish I’m in now. My pastor happens to be the Director of the Office of Worship in our diocese and he’d never let something like this pass.
 
All I imagine was that at the moment the Bridal Procession started, Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI suddenly shuddered in Mater Ecclesiae.
 
To answer some of your questions,
  1. Bride used to sing in the choir but I don’t know if she’s been around church much since her mother moved away a few years ago.
  2. They didn’t ask for and were never given any guidance on their choice of music, but to be fair to them, the priest who was administrator last year would have found nothing wrong with the music.
  3. New pastor assumed that people would know what was OK. He’s wiser now after this weekend. I’m confident that the couples preparing a wedding in the next few months will be surprised at the guidelines he’s going to come up with.
 
This is sooooo “the thing” amongst married couples here.

I’ve been at weddings where this has happened, and even my bishop has known.
 
The music could’ve been worse.

The couple has my best wishes and prayers. May they be a blessing to each other and live together to a happy old age.
 
Phemie said:
  1. New pastor assumed that people would know what was OK. He’s wiser now after this weekend. I’m confident that the couples preparing a wedding in the next few months will be surprised at the guidelines he’s going to come up with.
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This may seem like straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel, but did you mean that they actually played recordings of those songs? I thought recorded music wasn’t permitted during Mass? But maybe I’m wrong about that. But it seems like if you didn’t have recorded music, it would be harder to have surprises, too. 🙂

It took me a while to be scandalized by the songs, because except for “At Last,” I don’t think I’ve ever heard them before. (Not sure how I missed the Fleetwood Mac one, but I guess I did.) After a swift trawl through YouTube, I am appropriately scandalized. They are fine songs for someone else (who is not me*) to play at their wedding reception, but to have none of the music at Mass have anything to do with God is pretty amazing.

–Jen

*Personally, asside from their inappropriateness, I also very much disliked most of the songs as well, but that’s not relevant. 😃
 
revert_jen said:
This may seem like straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel, but did you mean that they actually played recordings of those songs? I thought recorded music wasn’t permitted during Mass? But maybe I’m wrong about that. But it seems like if you didn’t have recorded music, it would be harder to have surprises, too. 🙂
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Canned music isn’t allowed at Mass.

I wasn’t at the wedding, I just heard the comments about it when I went to Mass at 4:30. Then I got a copy of the program that had been left in the pew. From that I deduce that the processional was canned music but the rest of the music was sung by her two friends. I’m not sure how that would make it harder to have surprises.
 
Phemie said:
To answer some of your questions,
  1. Bride used to sing in the choir but I don’t know if she’s been around church much since her mother moved away a few years ago.
  2. They didn’t ask for and were never given any guidance on their choice of music, but to be fair to them, the priest who was administrator last year would have found nothing wrong with the music.
  3. New pastor assumed that people would know what was OK. He’s wiser now after this weekend. I’m confident that the couples preparing a wedding in the next few months will be surprised at the guidelines he’s going to come up with.
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Regarding #2 - That is being fair to them. So many bridal couples I work with today have absolutely no clue what is and is not appropriate with liturgical music. Most really do need guidance. I’ve done weddings where the pastor allowed one secular song to avoid conflict or just didn’t care, but I never saw a wedding where every piece of music was a secular song.
 
ProVobis said:
I feel better knowing what you thought of it. 🙂
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In the interest of full disclosure I made exactly that sort of mistake 38 years ago when I got married.

I hired a soloist who sang at weddings in the Catholic Church all the time so I assumed that everything on her list was fine. Today I shudder at the thought of what I picked, but I didn’t know any better and if someone had said ‘that’s not appropriate’ I would have just said 'OK, I’ll choose something else." Today brides are unlikely to be that agreeable.

We didn’t have a Mass because my husband is not Catholic. My processional was “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. To this day I praise God that our church was small so that we didn’t get to the third verse because my mother would have passed out in the pew. I had never heard the whole song.

The signing of the register was “The Wedding Song”, you know, “He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts…” OK, while I’m sure it’s about Jesus I would never pick that today because of the ambiguous nature of the lyrics but at the time it was the most popular ‘wedding’ piece going.

The recessional was Edith Piaf’s ‘L’hymne à l’amour’ – I suppose it compares to Etta’s “At Last”
 
Phemie said:
We didn’t have a Mass because my husband is not Catholic. My processional was “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. To this day I praise God that our church was small so that we didn’t get to the third verse because my mother would have passed out in the pew. I had never heard the whole song.
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:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
I’m so sorry…what disrespect to the Blessed Sacrament. I hope that eyes of whomever allowed or approved or enabled this will be opened, and nothing like this will happen in the future. Not to excuse it, but I think things like this happen largely because people just don’t know it’s not acceptable. Likely the people involved didn’t know it wasn’t acceptable.
 
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