'On Eagle's Wings' tops all songs in online liturgical music survey - For Discussion!

Catholic News ^ | Jan-25-2006 | Mark Pattison

[pgkdan]

I'm always partial to 'Ave Maria' and I think 'Holy God We Praise Thy Name' is appropriate for any Catholic liturgy.

[ArrogantBustard]

Faith of Our Fathers is good, but make sure it's the American version with...the European version stinks.

And drop that inane "Our mothers ..." verse.

[ArrogantBustard]

Schutte and Haugen and Haas, O my!!!!
Schutte and Haugen and Haas, O my!!!!
Schutte and Haugen and Haas, O my!!!!

( think: "Dorothy" ... )

[xsmommy]

I call them "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs

that is hilarious and a perfect description!

[siunevada]

This thing got posted on a thread with an online link when the votes were being taken, so we have only ourselves to blame if we didn't participate.

"Let There Be Peace on Earth," in 12th place

The tune is way too Tin Pan Alley for my taste. I always feel like I'm in a 1960's Coke commercial when we sing it.

The tragedy is most of us can at least hum the tune. (Big finish, everybody!)

"Let there be peace on earth,
And let.. it.. be.. all.. about Me! (Give yourselves a big round of applause!)

[bonfire]

:)

[Knitting A Conundrum]

So many of these songs are "God, pat me on the head and tell me how much you love ME" instead of "God, you are really here in this place and you care and I fall down in amazement that you could do all this, blessed be your name forever."

Makes God small.

If you come into church, and you're a Catholic and you see the Host held high in the priest's hand, do you take it for granted, or do you have the urge to say: My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You.

Emmanuel. God with us. God!

Songs ought to reflect that reality.

Adoro te devote, laten Deitas.
Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum.

And our songs should be lifting Him, not us, up high.

[siunevada]

"Any thoughts on some hymns that would be good for a wedding."

This is an interesting page:

http://www.stclementchurch.org/weddings/music.html

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I would probably add John Foley to that list as well....

[ArrogantBustard]

I'm sure we could add a whole lot more to that list ... their name is Legion, for they are many.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

True, but Foley is an associate of Schutte, and has written things I would love to tear out of the hymnal...

[Dajjal]

nauseated bumpus ad summum

[InterestedQuestioner]

"I like those. I don't care if I have bourgeois taste!"

Not sure why "Eagles Wings" has become the focal point for liturgical angst. It's a pretty good rendering of Psalm 91, and is very singable. I wish we had a similar song for all 150 Psalms, as it would make it easier to remember them.

BTW, hope you and your little one are doing well, best wishes for the two of you and yours.

[Tax-chick]

Thanks, doctor says we're both fine ... I'm just impatient for the delivery!

None of the songs they mentioned is my absolute favorite for Mass, by any means, but I like singing all of them.

[VermiciousKnid]

Have you noticed that they can't leave the original lyrics alone anymore? Not even in their own hippy-dippy songs.
"Let There Be Peace On Earth" has been changed in the OCP hymnals, as has "Blowin' In The Wind" and even "Whatsoever You Do."

They've also changed more than one Christmas hymn ("Hark the Herald Angels Sing" comes to mind), and "The (Battle) Hymn of the Republic."

As for the favorites list...well, I don't understand how they can get an accurate poll, since most of the good hymns haven't been played in church in many years.

It's been at least two decades since I've heard "Holy God We Praise Thy Name" during Mass. "Panis Angelicus" used to be a standard for the children making First Holy Communion, but now we're forced to endure "I Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Down in my Heart" instead. "Come Holy Ghost" has been similarly banished in favor of...well, I don't even know what to call it..."dreck" seems appropriate...

I need a drink. Or a nice shot of Nyquil. Or something.

Regards,

[VermiciousKnid]

PS: I've told every human being I know that I will return from the dead to haunt and torment anyone who dares play "On Eagles' Wings" at my funeral. And I mean it, too.

[siunevada]

We sing Holy God, We Praise Your Name maybe half a dozen times a year. The congregation belts that one out with a bit of fervor. A few years ago we sang Panis Angelicus and I mentioned to the choir director after Mass that I really enjoyed it. Haven't heard it at the old home parish since then. Grrrrr.

I've also noticed the modified lyrics. I guess they mean well, but...yuck.

[PanzerKardinal]

My parish celebrate the Tridentine Rites, so we don't have the "pleasure" of "On Eagle's Wings" or any of the other hymns mentioned in the article.

But here's my Top 10 Gregorian Chants:

1. Salve Regina (Simple tone)

2. Te Deum Laudamus

3. Sub tuum praesidium (The oldest anthem to the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the third century)

4. Veni, Creator Spiritus

5. Tantum ergo

6. O Salutarius Hostia

7. Vexilla Regis Prodeunt (Aboard the regal banners fly - Can't get better than that)

8. In Paradisum (May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. - Truly great words which to accompany the faithful into eternal life)

9. Adoro Te Devote

10. Ave Maria

[PanzerKardinal]

A further contribution to this discussion. Here are some quotes from Trojan Horse in the City of God, written by the great Catholic philosopher, Dietrich von Hildebrand, in 1967

"One of the great aims of the liturgical movement has been to replace unsuitable prayers and hymns with the sacred text of the official liturgical prayers and by the Gregorian chant. Today, however, we are witnessing a crippling of this liturgical movement as many try to replace the sublime Latin text of the Liturgy with translations into vernacular slang. They even arbitrarily change the Liturgy itself in order to "adapt it to our time." Gregorian chant is replaced at best by mediocre music, at worst by jazz or rock and roll. Such grotesque subsitutions veil the spirit of Christ immeasurably more than did former sentimental types of devotion.

"Those were certainly inadequate. However, jazz is not only inadequate, but antithetical to the sacred atmosphere of the Liturgy. It is more than a distortion; it also draws men into a specifically worldly atmosphere. It appeals to something in men that makes them deaf to the message of Christ. " Pg. 236-237

Doctor von Hildebrand also wrote the following, which is the best critique of the "Modern Liturgical Reform Movement"

"Yet certain Catholics today express the desire of changing the external form of the Liturgy by adapting it to the style of life of our desacralized age. Such a desire indicates a blindness to the nature of the Liturgy, as well as a lack of reverence and gratitude for the sublime gifts of two thousand years of Christian life. It betrays a ludicrous self-assurance and conceit to believe that these traditional forms can be scrapped for something better. And this conceit is especially incongruous in those who accuse the Church of "triumphalism." On the one hand, they consider a lack of humility the Church's claim that She alone possesses the full divine revelation (instead of perceiving that this claim is rooted in the very nature of the Church and flows out of Her divine mission). On the other hand, they exhibit a ridiculous pride in assuming that our modern epoch is superior to former ones." Pg 238-239

[johndpringle]

I always liked "Come Holy Ghost".

For sheer joy listen to Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus.

Of course nothing is as soothing as Gregorian Chant.