Miss Kelly

Mish-Mash Music at the DC Mass - Why?!

Oh, I really don't want to be critical and crabby while the Pope is visiting us, but what the heck was going on with the music at the Mass celebrated at the Nationals Stadium in DC today??   It started out  beautifully, there was terrific singing of classic hymns prior to the Mass.  But as the Mass proceeded, the music turned into a multi-culti mish-mash.  There was a little bit of everything: blues, gospel, merengue, congos, pan flute.  What, no bagpipes? No cow bell? The overall effect was dreadful.  As Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement wrote:

"It is the grace of all Americans to have Pope Benedict XVI visit this country. And it was to the grave embarrassment of all American Catholics that the music employed at the papal Mass at the Nationals stadium in Washington, D.C., not only represented a repudiation of everything that this pope has written on music appropriate to Mass. We can go further to say that there is no robust tradition of liturgical scholarship that is capable of defending what happened, and that is because it is indefensible."

Fr. Neuhaus of EWTN didn't mince words either, calling it an "overweening and preening exercise in multicultural exhibitionism."  Roger that. 

There wasn't an overall flow to the music, the songs were all over the place, the differences between styles was jarring and distracting.  It didn't feel sacred.  It felt like identity politics put to pop music.  Father Z wrote:

"It is almost as if the organizers of this Mass had never read a single thing of what Joseph Ratzinger has written about sacred music and liturgy. "

As an American Catholic, I'm embarrassed.  I sincerely hope and pray that the music at Sunday's Mass at Yankee Stadium isn't a repeat of this. 

Thank  goodness it ended on a good note, with Placido Domingo singing Panis Angelicus.  Lovely. The Pope came out of his seat to shake Domingo's hand and show his appreciation. 

UPDATE: I'm not going to get my hopes up for the NY Mass.  According to the fact sheet for this Mass, from noon-time until 2 PM, we'll be hearing the "Concert of Hope, featuring Harry Connick, Jr., Marcello Giordano, Stephanie Mills, Jose Feliciano, and Dana."    Ay gevalt.....

UPDATE 2: On the plus side, my dismay at the multi-culti mish-mash motivated me to sign up for the week-long Sacred Music Colloquim at Loyola College June 15-6-22.  Chicago, here I come!

There's Hope for Catholic Music Yet!

Be still, my heart!  From the Catholic Bishops conference last week comes a new direction in church music! Yeayyy!  Even the bishops are understanding that a lot of contemporary Catholic music is dreck.  And a change is gonna come:

"Acting under Vatican orders, they approved a plan to check the theological orthodoxy of all songs sung at Mass. They also agreed to compile a core repertoire of 60 to 100 songs to include in all Catholic hymnals, along with a variety of other songs approved by individual bishops....There are quarrels in the church between those who prefer contemporary music and those who advocate time-honored hymns and chant. Some traditionalists complain that modern songs are theologically and musically insipid."

To say the least. This is clearly the influence of Papa Ratzi, bless him!  When he was in charge of defending the doctrinal teachings of the church, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote about the need for Church music to be connected to the liturgy and to honor the rich tradition of Catholic music. It's our heritage.  Don't dumb down the music! As Sandro Magister wrote last December about bringing back Gregorian chant:

"But now there is a pope, Benedict XVI, who is highly competent in the area of sacred music, is severely critical of the degradation of music following the council, and has written on a number of occasions what he thinks and what he wants: to restore to the Catholic liturgy the great music that “from Gregorian chant passes through the music of the cathedrals and polyphony, the music of the Renaissance and the Baroque, to Bruckner and beyond.”

What a wonderful pope!   Two songs were recommended for the core repertoire by one bishop, Holy God We Praise Thy Name and Silent Night.  Miss Kelly further recommends:

• Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest
• Ave Regina
• Ave Maria
• Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Adeste Fidelis
• Now Thank We All Our God
• How Great Thou Art
• Angels We Have Heard on High
• Jesus Christ is Risen Today
• Immaculate Mary

Readers, any suggestions to add to the core reportoire of Catholic hymns? What are your favorite ones?

Rant About Church Music

Warning: crabby rant!

  I almost ran out of Mass screaming yesterday, the music was so abysmal, boring, droney, insipid, sappy and syrupy.  ALL five songs from yesterday's Mass were written in the 1980's! Not exactly an era of great songs. It's pap. It makes me cringe.

Our church is over 2,000 years old.  We have an unmatched heritage of superb music and art. Many of the musical masterpieces of Western civilization were inspired by the Glory of God and were commissioned by the popes.  Today, all we get to sing is dreck from 20 years ago, all self-absorbed ("Here I am Lord") and portraying the Lord Jesus as Barney ("Lord you are my friend").  Make the madness stop!   Give us back our beautiful, powerful music!