Posted on 07/08/2005 4:46:48 PM PDT by ninenot
MILWAUKEE — It can cause noses to wrinkle in disgust or it can create an environment more conducive to worship. Some pieces remind happy couples of their wedding day, others bring tears to one’s eye at the recollection of a funeral Mass. It is a vital, necessary, and integral part of the Mass. It is the music.
While music can enhance or detract from a prayerful experience for one person, musicians are finding it impossible to make everyone happy, for a full-fledged style war is occurring in the Catholic Church.
“I believe any style of music may potentially bear the weight of mystery unless proven wrong in practice,” said Fr. J. Michael Joncas in a plenum address on style differences to those attending the National Pastoral Musicians Conference June 29.
Fr. Joncas stressed to the crowd that despite people’s different opinions on style — whether they prefer the more traditional hymns or contemporary songs — there is no right or wrong answer to which style is better. Rather, it is more about the words than how a musician is to sing it.
“We spend most of our time worrying about the tones we produce, not grappling with the texts we sing,” said Fr. Joncas, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. “People will ask questions about the texts we sing, not about the notes we sing. You have got to look at the words. Was I captivated by the music or by what the music was singing about?”
Fr. Joncas, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, noted that these differences in opinion are not a new thing, but rather have been around for hundreds of years, back to the time of Thomas Aquinas. Nor was it about whether or not to chant a song or to use a contemporary setting, but whether music in itself should be used or not.
“The praise of the voice is necessary to arouse devotion towards God,” said Fr. Joncas, quoting Aquinas.
While the church has appeared to have come to an agreement that music is a necessary and integral part of the Mass, the style disagreement has continued and will continue. But Fr. Joncas pointed out some main ideas that all styles should follow.
“The basis for liking or disliking a particular style of music depends on so much,” he said.
This liking or disliking can vary from person to person, through their own musical tastes and past experiences with music in the Mass. A parish must find out through experience what its parishioners prefer.
“Through experience, we will find out which form actually leads our parish into common prayer,” said Fr. Joncas.
Music can either detract or lead people into a deeper form of prayer in the Mass, therefore the choice of musical style for any particular parish is very important, he noted.
These differences in musical style, he said, are very apparent in churches across the United States. While some parishes prefer to sit and quietly sing along with the hymns, others find themselves moving their entire body and clapping along to the beat, praising with their whole body and mind. In a parish that is used to clapping and loudly singing, it would not be appropriate to sing a more reserved selection of music.
Fr. Joncas said that there will always be a disagreement about style.
Rather than fight about whether traditional or contemporary pieces are more appropriate, music directors and parishes across the country should be more concerned about the text, and about the prayer.
Here we go--
Fr. Joncas endorses "Do Your Own Thing" music for worship.
Ah, well. Another target for the B-16!!
Oh, ne zot. Father Joncas. He should have been an actuary, bless his heart; he's a composer like I'm a nuclear physicist.
I remember reading somewhere that B16 was going to make liturgical (sacred) music one of his higher priorities. Time will tell.
The B-16 Battle Plan Drawn Up by the Holy Spirit.... See paragraph 4 of this redacted and lengthy article
Analysis: Main themes for October Synod
Vatican, Jul. 07 (CWNews.com) - The working document for the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops shows that discussions, which will focus on the Eucharist, will also include topics such as secularization in the Western world, the loss of a notion of the sacred, the importance of Sunday Mass, ecumenism and intercommunion, and the problem of liturgical abuse.
SNIP>>>>>>
The instrumentum laboris calls attention to the advance of secularization and the "weakening of the sense of mystery" in developed countries, adding that these trends have encouraged "interpretations and acts that do not conform to the sense of the liturgical reform" begun by Vatican II. The document also notes the severe decline in practice among Catholics in Europe and North America. In a reference to a topic that has become a focal point for debate in the US, the Vatican notes with concern that many Catholics continue to receive Communion despite being in flagrant conflict with the Church on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia; the document also notes that few Catholics use the sacrament of Penance prior to receiving the Eucharist.
SNIP>>>>>>
The instrumentum laboris insists that the faithful should appreciate the full meaning of the Eucharist, and that the celebration of the Mass must ensure proper reverence. The document decries the use of unauthorized liturgical texts and vestments, inappropriate music, and uninspired church architecture. While saying that these problems arise "more often in the Latin liturgy than the liturgies of the Eastern churches," the document adds that they "should not lead to great alarm, since they seem to be limited."
SNIP>>>>>
On several occasions the instrumentum laboris notes with alarm the decline in regular attendance at Sunday Mass. The Catholic faithful have a grave obligation to attend Mass each Sunday, and should participate actively, the document repeats. Better catechesis and greater pastoral energy are needed to encourage regular attendance, the document says. It also calls for consideration of different means of promoting reverence for the Eucharist, including the installation of kneelers where they are lacking, the promotion of Gregorian chant, and the encouragment of popular forms of Eucharistic piety.
Yes to Gregorian Chant and an emphatic NO to anything accompanied by guitar or tamborine!
Even a charitable read of Joncas' remarks tells you that the guy does not specialize in intellectual endeavors...
Ratzinger nailed these guys when he pointed out that there is NO "pre/post-VatII" split in Church history, nor should there be one in worship. (He also points out that the Council's document was, ah, mis-interpreted by the Commission, headed by a well-known dissident, Bugger Bugnini.
Yea, verily,Father....so why did you allow the publishers of the Lutheran hymnal supplement With One Voice to butcher the text of Eagles Wings by removing all the masculine pronouns for God?
Thanks, Ari.
Recommended reading for FReepers who need intelligent analysis...
We can only hope.
Interesting. Now a few thoughts of my own.
We need to get away from the attitude of "being grateful for just about anything we have" in the way of music - meaning that time and energy (and money) will need to be put into employing good musicians first (people who can actually play a toccata and fugue and singers who have a range of more than an octave and four) not that we're really not grateful. It's just that the hierarchy needs to be a lot more active in musical education. There is not much investment in this right now, at least not across the board. People who have been trained in music can make it appealing, no matter what it is. Gregorian Chant doesn't take much to sing, and that has to be demonstrated.
Unfortunately, having been around enough guitar choirs, it's going to be difficult to convert a guitar choir to an organ choir (if the organ hasn't been ripped out of the church). The sad thing is that there are some great voices that will probably leave, because they are not interested in "that type of music" because they think it's boring. Well, with very few exceptions, singing in the alto/baritone range (or in chest voice, for some of us) is boring and does nothing to develop voices, either.
At this point, BXVI is going to have to break the stanglehold that the bishop's councils have on recommendation on liturgy. What Cardinal Mahony has done in the US is downright criminal. But, there is not a music director out there that I know of who is willing to go against the USCCB documents. In fact, they are cited most often when you talk to music directors and deacons. The arguments over whether or not Mass is a performance crack me up.
Joncas is correct on one point - it is the words. If the words are verbatim scripture of a decent translation, fine, but with most of the guitar stuff it isn't and theology is incorrect. It would also be helpful if the notes on the page didn't look like somebody was trying to be Verdi without really knowing "Caro Nome" or the "Salce, Salce". The intervals are almost the same.
I'm sure there was something else, but I don't remember what it was. I haven't finished my tea yet.
ping
Your thoughts?
While we are reforming...
Let's do the sensible thing and simply eliminate that class of bureaucrats known as "liturgists."
There are exactly TWO people responsible for the proper execution of the Mass: the priest is primary--and if there is music (there should be) the musician is secondary.
No others.
Not only have the Bishops abandoned any pretense at educating Church musicians--they have damn near abandoned the liturgical-music education of priests.
This is another result of what B-16 identifies as a major problem: the artificial and erroneous "pre/post" VatII divide, created largely by Bugger Bugnini (and aided/abetted in the USA by various ordained termites.)
The revolt of the middle-level bureaucrats and Bishops, with one group feeding the other (with OUR money, by the way) effected a startling vacuum in Seminary music education--and like most vacuums, it was soon filled with whatever was handy--hack "teachers," malcontents, and rabble, largely uneducated themselves and (judging by the results) totally unaware of, or flatly opposed to, the Tradition.
To my knowledge, only one Diocesan Sem hired a real musician with real education and a real appreciation for history--and that was Sacred Heart in Detroit.
That lasted about 4 years--after the Rector became the Bishop of Oakland, CA., that musician left the payroll.
---At this point, BXVI is going to have to break the stanglehold that the bishop's councils have on recommendation on liturgy. What Cardinal Mahony has done in the US is downright criminal. But, there is not a music director out there that I know of who is willing to go against the USCCB documents. In fact, they are cited most often when you talk to music directors and deacons. The arguments over whether or not Mass is a performance crack me up.---
I believe the Holy Father will opt for a "frontal assault". There is no denying that the Papal Masses during the funeral and Installation were breathtaking. There were rumors of people who saw the Masses and literally called EWTN and said "I want to convert." His Holiness will get the highly televised Papal Masses (viewed by billions) to be gorgeous, in Latin (if only at key points), reverent, and filled with the transcendent quality due alone to God with appropriate and artful accompaniment (Chant or the great composers of the Mass). He might then send a telegram to every Bishop in the world and state simply, "Starting August 1st, the Masses in your Diocese MUST look like this."
This is the tactic of the Bishop of Charlotte, NC, Bishop Jugis, I believe, who published a "how to do it" post on his Diocesan webpage. It is marvelous.
Frank
Modern Catholic hymns are banal, profane, and written by people with tin ears. Period.
They don't know music themselves, at least in this country. How are they supposed to educate on a topic as subjective as music when they don't know it themselves.
Yes, but at this point, the notion has become engrained. There is a group who will never believe that VatII was not what Bugnini said it was.
The revolt of the middle-level bureaucrats and Bishops, with one group feeding the other (with OUR money, by the way) effected a startling vacuum in Seminary music education
When was this and are you really sure it was your money. The more you dig in the whole state of affairs with the bishops from scandal to music you keep running into foundations and other money sources that don't look too wholesome.
Adoremus' hymnal is good, as is St. Michael's (out of Indiana.) St Mike's ALSO has 'original language'--you know, acknowledging that God is He.
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