What do you think of a guitar Mass?

[Bob_Aliano]

You cannot really assume why people applaud these days. I know some people are overcome and don’t know of a more appropriate way to express themselves so they applaud after the recessional. As one of the cantors at my parish I have a good vantage point to see faces and many times these people don’t seem to be looking at or thinking about the musicians at all. I think of it more like Protestants shouting “amen” during a sermon or people raising their arms toward Heaven during worship. I’ve seen some amazing and unusual things happen during and after a liturgy when the Holy Spirit could be felt moving through the church and there were many different reactions in the same moment when people are touched by that amazing power and pure love. Some people had silent tears running unchecked. Some had hands that spontaneously raised toward the heavens with their eyes fixed above on something. Some gave no outward sign, but spoke about the experience late and it was no less powerful and reverent a moment for them.

Yes, some people are trying to affirm the musicians after the mass and they just need their appreciation channeled into something more appropriate like a nice note or email to the music director or pastor or as some do to come say a quiet word after mass to the choir or musicians after we pray and start to pack up. However, I would not judge them as so shallow or ignorant that they view any part of the liturgy as “entertainment.”

I can’t imagine any time clapping is appropriate at a Mass, even after the dismissal, well perhaps at the conclusion of a wedding. Wouldn’t the choir get the same gratification if most of the congregation stayed until the end of the recessional instead of racing to the exits? This is one of those practices that has crept in over the years and should have been stopped right from the start.

 

[lutherlic]

Does the congregation applaud after Mass? If so, they regard the music as entertainment not some reverential experience. A truly reverential experience would leave them awed, in silence.

Yes, those who stay until the last note is played and the last word sung politely applaud. It says “thank you” not “we were entertained.” Similarly after Mass we say “Thank you Father” to the priest. I see no difference.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Does the congregation applaud after Mass? If so, they regard the music as entertainment not some reverential experience. A truly reverential experience would leave them awed, in silence.

Is clapping only for entertainment? Wifey was watching the Emmy’s last night and there was that part they showed those who passed away and people would applaud. Are they clapping because they were entertained that the person passed away?

Clapping show appreciation for what someone has done, be it entertainment or something else. Once people in our parish applauded the choir, but it was after the Mass after the recessional hymn. So I didn’t mind. And no, we didn’t have guitars.

 

[ConstantineTG]

I can’t imagine any time clapping is appropriate at a Mass, even after the dismissal, well perhaps at the conclusion of a wedding. Wouldn’t the choir get the same gratification if most of the congregation stayed until the end of the recessional instead of racing to the exits? This is one of those practices that has crept in over the years and should have been stopped right from the start.

Thankfully, applauding the choir normally happens AFTER a Mass, not during.

 

[Bob_Aliano]

Thankfully, applauding the choir normally happens AFTER a Mass, not during.

The OF church I used to attend had people clapping after guest speakers who follow the homily; nuns collecting for their order, campus ministries, introduction of a new youth minister, you name it. This goes far beyond clapping for the choir although that is the most frequent.

 

[elgar]

The OF church I used to attend had people clapping after guest speakers who follow the homily; nuns collecting for their order, campus ministries, introduction of a new youth minister, you name it. This goes far beyond clapping for the choir although that is the most frequent.

Why not clap after a good sermon by the priest to be consistent? Applause for every mediocre action has become mainstream in churches. Why? When did this all start? Think how inappropriate it would be to clap at an EF mass? It wouldn’t matter during, before or after. Even if a priest did a stellar job, it would just be wrong!

 

[zab]

When I go on youth retreats, the songs at Mass are always accompanied by a guitar, whereas at any other Mass, it’s an organ or a piano. I’ve met several youth ministers, but only one has had a problem with a guitar Mass. She says that an instrument like a guitar “brings God down to our level,” and that the human voice is the most beautiful instrument because God gave it to us, so we should use the best materials for God. What’s your opinion?

Having survived the 70’s and having appreciated the return of traditional music with the organ , my first reaction to the question of this thread was “YUK!”. There is some truth in what your youth minister has said, particularly when she said that we must use the best materials for God. But we have to consider each place and space, and perhaps the guitar/guitars were the best that the youth had to offer on retreat. That is what I think. But I will abide by whatever the church says on the matter.

 

[Phemie]

I can’t imagine any time clapping is appropriate at a Mass, even after the dismissal, well perhaps at the conclusion of a wedding. Wouldn’t the choir get the same gratification if most of the congregation stayed until the end of the recessional instead of racing to the exits? This is one of those practices that has crept in over the years and should have been stopped right from the start.

What, recessing during the recessional? Fancy that.

As a rule, hymns during Mass accompany a procession (except for the congregational hymn after communion which is usually done by a soloist ): the entrance procession, the offertory procession, the Communion procession. Suddenly we’re not supposed to do anything but listen during the recessional (which isn’t even part of Mass or called for by the rubrics)?

I was impressed when I attended Mass at the Basilica in St. John’s NL. The hymnals are all placed in a rack at the entrance to the nave, you pick one up on your way to your pew. When the recessional starts everyone processes, hymnal in hand, singing as they go and place their hymnal back in the rack as they exit. Then the organist plays an instrumental piece on the pipe organ until everyone has left.

 

[Brannock]

I grew in a family where all my brothers and I were professional trebles singing traditional music. Our choir took part in the 3 choirs festival in Worcester/Gloucester England and the only accompaniment ever was a real pipe organ. I absolutely love the music and how it complements the mass.

That being said, I currently run the music for the small Catholic group on the college campus where I live. I play guitar for it and do the singing (sometimes with other vocalists and musicians). The hymns are accompanied, the rest is sung/led a cappella.

I have heard beautiful organ music and beautiful guitar music, I have also heard distracting and completely butchered organ and guitar (and most of all singing… we are Catholic after all). My focus is trying to ensure that the music enhances the senses during the mass, and is supplementary, never overpowering or the focus. I occasionally bring in a keyboard, or play organ when the retreat center we frequent has one, but it is not always practical for the space or situation. I detest “campfire” sounding guitar during mass, but there is no reason the instrument cannot be used during the mass when played reverently and with respect.

 

[diggerdomer]

I usually associate it with an abusive liturgy. As a child Sister Mariann of the progressive Sinisiwa Dominicans (a progressive order) butchered the Our Father with her own guitar version that she had us sing at all the Masses we did at school. Ever since then the guitar has never been a favorite of mine. Usually seen at youth Masses by grubbily dressed young men and women. They use it to accompany singing that produces banal, weary whines. I think I’ve heard songs like Gather Together with guitar accompaniment.

Let’s hearken back to the late 1800s to one day after Pope Leo had offered the sacrifice of the Mass. He fell over and collapsed, they thought he died. Instead he had a terrible vision. He heard Satan tell Jesus he could destroy the Church. Jesus gave him 100 years to try. The good Pope Leo saw many things happening including devilish music in the Church. So he composed the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel to be said after every Mass. This fell into disuse after the reforms of Vatican II when the Mass was revamped by Pope Paul VI who also a few later declared that the smoke of Satan had entered into the Church. Take your own conclusions from this.

My own conclusion from this is…WHAT?

Can you restate what you are trying to say? Thanks, I was simply confused by this post.

 

[lutherlic]

I grew in a family where all my brothers and I were professional trebles singing traditional music. Our choir took part in the 3 choirs festival in Worcester/Gloucester England and the only accompaniment ever was a real pipe organ. I absolutely love the music and how it complements the mass.

That being said, I currently run the music for the small Catholic group on the college campus where I live. I play guitar for it and do the singing (sometimes with other vocalists and musicians). The hymns are accompanied, the rest is sung/led a cappella.

I have heard beautiful organ music and beautiful guitar music, I have also heard distracting and completely butchered organ and guitar (and most of all singing… we are Catholic after all). My focus is trying to ensure that the music enhances the senses during the mass, and is supplementary, never overpowering or the focus. I occasionally bring in a keyboard, or play organ when the retreat center we frequent has one, but it is not always practical for the space or situation. I detest “campfire” sounding guitar during mass, but there is no reason the instrument cannot be used during the mass when played reverently and with respect.

I agree that it is the choice of music and how it is played, not the instrument used. To all who think the organ is inherently more reverent, I would just like to remind you that the organ is played at baseball and hockey games…

 

[benedictgal]

I agree that it is the choice of music and how it is played, not the instrument used. To all who think the organ is inherently more reverent, I would just like to remind you that the organ is played at baseball and hockey games…

But, the organ has a several-centuries old tradition of usage in the Church. It is also the only instrument mentioned specifically by name in the authoritative documents of the Church. It has been extolled by Popes, including Pope St. Pius X and Pope Benedict XVI.

 

[At_Trent]

When I go on youth retreats, the songs at Mass are always accompanied by a guitar, whereas at any other Mass, it’s an organ or a piano. I’ve met several youth ministers, but only one has had a problem with a guitar Mass. She says that an instrument like a guitar “brings God down to our level,” and that the human voice is the most beautiful instrument because God gave it to us, so we should use the best materials for God. What’s your opinion?

As a guitarist, I’d love to play at Mass. As a Roman Catholic, I know it’s not a traditional thing to do so I don’t.

 

[ConstantineTG]

But, the organ has a several-centuries old tradition of usage in the Church. It is also the only instrument mentioned specifically by name in the authoritative documents of the Church. It has been extolled by Popes, including Pope St. Pius X and Pope Benedict XVI.

At the end of the day, its still just a musical instrument.

Didn’t King David introduce music into the temple? Didn’t he play a stringed instrument?

 

[benedictgal]

At the end of the day, its still just a musical instrument.

Didn’t King David introduce music into the temple? Didn’t he play a stringed instrument?

Actually, the temple was built after King David’s death by his son, Solomon. Thus, David could not have introduced it into the temple. Furthermore, the stringed instrument was also not a part of the sacrificial cultic worship of Ancient Israel.

The question that the OP poses is both an interesting one and, as I can tell from reading this threads and others of a similar vein, a polemical one. That is why I believe that I should step gingerly into the minefield.

I will be frank with you. In my much younger days (pre-teen), I had no qualms about the guitar because I did not know any better. My childhood was spent in a Catholic school (K through 8th) where the guitar was the only instrument we used at Mass. I even learned how to play it so that I could be in the glee club (I did not play it well, but, enough to make a half-way decent noise). Listening to the songs once again (the same OCP drek that the younger generation is subjected to), I think that the school did not do us any favors. It was not until I got to college that I realized that I had actually missed out on something beautiful, something majestic, something extraordinary when I heard the pipe organ. It’s something that, in my opinion, a guitar cannot convey. I have often said, “You can’t give what you don’t have.” I apply this to the guitar.

I have to agree with the comment that the individual made to the OP. Instead of bringing God down to our level, we need to do what we can to elevate our hearts and our worship to His. We need to remember that at the Mass, the veil between time and space and heaven and earth is lifted. We step into God’s time, which is the eternal present. Everthing we do at Mass, and this includes the music.

 

[Sandalwood]

no one in our small church plays piano or organ so all we have is one man on a guitar. I don’t like it at all. Course, our choir isn’t good at all either so …yeah…

(and don’t say “join the choir and help”…I’ve done that!..no help )

 

[pnewton]

The question that the OP poses is both an interesting one and, as I can tell from reading this threads and others of a similar vein, a polemical one. That is why I believe that I should step gingerly into the minefield.

You have a gift of understatement. I am actually impressed so far that in this discussion no one has gone BOOM!

 

[At_Trent]

You have a gift of understatement. I am actually impressed so far that in this discussion no one has gone BOOM!

Ya just jinxed it

 

[delaford321]

I never been a fan of a guitar at Mass. I might just not have had a good experience. It it is a little too contemporary for me. If others will like it then I say why not.

 

[StTommyMore]

Guitars in the Mass are in violation of Sancrosactum Concilim