Is there a real choir
in your parish? If there is a choir, it is more probably a song group
accompanied by guitar, perhaps with drums and bass guitar. The traditional
choir, a mainstay of Catholic liturgy -- with a repertoire of great beauty --
has all but vanished in the parishes.
Where once Catholic
choirs sang the great masterworks of Palestrina,
Where once the
magnificent texts of “O Sacrum Convivium”, “Ave Verum Corpus”,
and “Sicut Cervus” wove through the air drawing the listener heavenward,
now the song groups are mired in secular style, and singing -- well, just what
the heck are they singing?
Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II’s
oft-ignored guideline for liturgical reform, stated that greater importance was
to be given to choirs. The Holy See’s Instruction on music in the liturgy, Musicam
Sacram (1967), clearly spelled out the role of the choir in the
sacred liturgy. (The word “cantor” never appeared until later, when the
responsorial psalm was restored, and then there was need for “cantor of the
psalm”.)
Today, however, choirs
have virtually disappeared in most parishes. Usually soloists perform up front,
with keyboard “backup”. (Why be lost in a group when one can sing solo?)
The purpose of the
liturgy is to lead us into the great mystery of faith, the consecration, where
elements of bread and wine become Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus
Christ. Saint Pope Pius X warned that music surrounding this event must have
the “dignity befitting the temple”.
The style of
much church music today is secular, low-level pop music with little grandeur
about it. The nature of the music is secular. That is, it is associated
with non-sacred activities, feelings, and responses.
The texts, too, are
often essentially secular, despite the occasional appearance of “God”. The
structure and style of the music is a concern in itself, but for the moment,
let us consider only the text of some of these new works.
Here is an interesting
example of ideology masquerading as theology:
The light of God is
shining bright
In ev’ry girl of woman born
And in her fingers and her face
Are heaven’s glory, pow’r and grace
So when she’s walking, running, leaping,
Sitting and thinking, talking, sleeping,
Don’t ever treat a girl with scorn,
But look and see the face of God in ev’ry girl of woman born
“Of Woman Born”,
words by Brian Wren, music by Francis Patrick O’Brien, GIA Publications #G5916
(2002)
This is the first third
of the text. (Boys are included later on, you’ll be happy to know.) This song
was included in a publisher’s workshop held in our area. At the conclusion of
the “sing-through”, most of us sat, stunned into silence. The event-leader
asked, “Now, for what occasions could you use this piece?”
A male voice in the
back boomed: “The Twelfth of Never!” and was greeted with uproarious applause.
The reading session leader was surprised at the negative reaction and hastily
tried to justify the piece. This might be nice for something -- perhaps
a grade school graduation -- but for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
Pope Pius XII wrote:
“... the chants and sacred music are immediately joined with the Church’s
liturgical worship and should be conducive to the lofty end for which they are
intended.... It must be holy. It must not allow within itself anything that
savors of the profane [non-sacred or secular]”. (Pope Pius XII, Musicae
Sacrae, #41, 42)
Is the above-quoted
choral text holy? Is it lofty?
Here’s another new
choral piece:
Walking on
cobble-stones,
tearing my feet to the bones,
tryin’ to make it on my own,
wondering where I’m going and how I’m gonna get there,
sure can’t do it all alone.
“On a Journey
Together” by John Angotti, WLP #007482 (1999)
Now this might serve as
lyrics for any pop, rock, or country song, mightn’t it? (No comment on
the lofty nature of the poetic text!) God does eventually wander into the text
in the refrain:
On a journey together
We can fare any weather
Keeping Christ the center
of our community.
On a journey together
We can make the world better
By forgiving and loving
starting with you and me.
This might work at a
support group of some sort -- but where is the aspect of worship and adoration
of Almighty God?
The misdirected focus
on “folks” instead of the Godhead in many Catholic liturgies today is obvious
in this piece. It’s also a good example of the “stupified torpor” that
then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote about not long ago.
“In its essence”, he
wrote, liturgical music “must be different from a music which is meant to lead
the listener into rhythmic ecstasy or stupefied torpor, sensual arousal or the
dissolution of the Ego”. (“In the Presence of Angels I Will Sing Your Praise”, Adoremus
Bulletin, October 1996.)
Here’s an example of
psychobabble further dumbed-down for kiddies. It is listed for “Choir,
Assembly, Children’s Choir, Keyboard and Guitar, with C Instrument”.
I am special, God loves
me
You are special, God loves you, too
We are all special children of God
And God loves us one and all.
“I Am Special” by James E. Moore, Jr. GIA Publications #G-5734 (2002)
This text repeats
twice. That’s it. Period. This silly ode to self-esteem would be bad enough at
a children’s gathering in school. But at the Altar of Sacrifice?
Another example: A
music publisher sent me a choral piece, “Christ has no body now but yours”.
“Heresy!” cried one
sister at the monastery when I read her just the title. “What about His
glorified body?”
“I think it means we
have to do Christ’s work on earth”, I suggested.
“That’s not what it says.
It’s heresy!” she repeated.
This theologically
confusing text may be becoming trendy, because soon after, I received another
version:
Yours are the eyes
through which to look out Christ’s compassion to the world [sic]
Yours are the feet on which He is to go about doing good,
And yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.
“No Hands But Yours”. Text attributed to Saint Teresa of
#HMC2022 (2005)
The attribution to
Saint Teresa is unfortunate, because this text is unintelligible. (A different
version says “yours are the eyes through which Christ looks with compassion on
the world”.)