Songs That Make a Difference (in the faith life of American Catholics)

National Association of Pastoral Musicians ^

[k omalley]

I could sing "Panis Angelicus" every Sunday and never get tired of it. "Adoremus te, Christe" is another great one, in fact the choir sang it yesterday for Communion.

[klossg]

Thanks for pulling out "All the Ends of the Earth" and "To you ,O Lord."

I work to forget them and read what is printed in the missal so I can feel what the actual Church might of had in mind for the readings. But, the singers do their best to white wash the Church's message into a bland message of not too powerful gooyeness. Thanks for meeting me in the pew and sharing a powerful bland moment of goo-ga-ga.

May Christ come to meet you even in the midst of blandness.

[ELS]

And, many, many others!

Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All
Mary, Queen Enthroned Above
O Esca Viatorum
O Sacrum Convivium
Panis Angelicus
(Several) Ave Maria('s)
...

[AlaninSA]

Songs that should be banned in the church:

Anything by Dan Schutte (hippies in the sanctuary)

"All Are Welcome"

"Anthem" (Mormon-like lyrics)

Anything by David Haas

Now, every Catholic should know Ave Vernum Corpus, Salve Regina, Ave Maria and Faith of Our Fathers...

[mrs. a]

The one I HATE HATE HATE is "We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe." I call it the Hymn of the Missing Nouns.

Sing along with me,

"We remember,
The Alamo..."

[firerosemom]

Someone recently pointed out to me the musical similarity between "Here I Am Lord" and the theme song of "The Brady Bunch" --- I haven't been able to get that out of my head since!

[socialismisinsidious]

Have not and have no urge to.

A few weeks ago I went to mass at a neighboring parish (b/c of mass times) and the choir director played a little number during the Alleluia that he ended by running his fingers up the keys...it sounded like something from a New Orleans burlesque show.

I love my parish.

[Salvation]

Why do you say that?

[Salvation]

OK, I agree with you on that wording. Exact words of Samuel the fourth time God called him.

[Salvation]

Excellent article. I emailed them about two weeks ago complaining about the ugly art on the missallettes as well as the humnals. With all the wonderful traditional Catholic art and icons, there is no reason whatsoever for all this modernistic stuff.

[Salvation]

**The OCP psalm stuff really grates on me.**

To me, I wish our choir would just sing the regular psalm instead of the sing-song versions in the back of the book. (I don't sing those, but rather just sit quietly and read the Psalms as they were written.

[Salvation]

**Doing the same Responsorial Psalm ... regardless of the readings or the season ... **

This ticks me off too. See my previous note about the sing-song versions of the Psalms in the back of the book. Arghhh!

[Salvation]

**Whenever a song has us celebrating ourselves I want to shout "STOP THE INSANITY!" at the top of my lungs. **

That is exactly what is wrong with a lot of Hurd, Haas, Schutte, etc. songs. They don't focus on God!

[Salvation]

LOL!

[rogator]

"Dude of Cool"?

Is this real?

[conservonator]

Why do you say that?

RE; Lord of the Dance- I find the song to be wholly inappropriate for the mass.

Re: Here I am Lord.- I can't help but think that the lyrics have a particular meaning for an unrepentant homosexual that was not intended when Samuel or Ananias recited them when the Lord called them.

Maybe it's just me, but I doubt it.

[AnAmericanMother]

I E-mailed that one to our choirmaster. He doesn't care for that stuff either, but a fairly vocal segment of the parishioners do.

We knocked ourselves out over Christmas with beautiful, liturgically appropriate service music, all the propers, beautiful choral preludes, postludes (Tallis, Byrd, Palestrina, St. Saens, Arcadelt, plus he sneaked in Matthias' "A Babe Is Born" which is modern but simply splendid) . . . the works.

A parishioner came up to the choirmaster after the service and was raving about how wonderful the music was. As he tells the story, he was preening himself just a little bit, then realized that she was raving about the nasty "Here I Am" offertory hymn that he threw in to placate the "On Eagles Wings" crowd . . . Apparently ALL the rest of that beautiful, beautiful music went in one ear and out the other.

It's a good thing I can't excommunicate people . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

"Lord of the Dance" was never intended as a hymn. It's a poem set to music by Sydney Carter. He writes good stuff, but it's not church stuff. It's sort of folk.

His "Friday Morning" is splendid, makes you think, and it's a pleasure to sing -- but it's not for church.

It was on a Friday morning that they took me from the cell
and I saw they had a carpenter to crucify as well
You can blame it on to Pilate
You can blame it on the Jews
You can blame it on the Devil
Its God I accuse
Its God they ought to crucify instead of you and me
I said to the carpenter, a-hanging on the tree

You can blame it on to Adam
You can blame it on to Eve
You can blame it on the apple,
but that I can't believe
It was God that made the Devil
And the woman and the man
And there wouldn't be an apple
If it wasn't in the plan

Now Barabbas was a killer
And they let Barabbas go
But you are being crucified
For nothing that I know
And your God is up in Heaven
and He doesn't do a thing
With a million angels watching
and they never move a wing

To hell with Jehovah
To the carpenter I said
I wish that a carpenter
had made the world instead
Goodbye and good luck to you
our ways will soon divide
Remember me tomorrow
The man you hung beside

[TradicalRC]

You bet me to it.

[Salvation]

I have never cared for the Lord of the Dance either.

Had never considered your reasoning on the Here I Am, either. I choose not to think that way, I guess..........or just I'm naive.