Posted on 01/27/2006 9:51:19 AM PST by franky
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "On Eagle's Wings," the musical reworking of the 91st Psalm by Father Michael Joncas, topped all other songs in an online poll asking which liturgical song most fostered and nourished the respondent's life.
Two songs made popular by the St. Louis Jesuits -- "Here I Am, Lord" and "Be Not Afraid" -- came in second and third, followed by "You Are Mine," by David Haas.
The online poll was sponsored by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. The poll was featured last year in an issue of its membership magazine, Pastoral Music, and announcements about the poll were distributed to diocesan newspapers in an effort to get the input of "rank-and-file Catholics," said J. Michael McMahon, the association's president.
In the poll, respondents could vote for only one song. No songs were listed on the Web site to give them suggestions. About 3,000 people took part in the poll.
Of the 25 liturgical music songs mentioned most, songs written after the Second Vatican Council took not only the top four positions, but six of the top nine, and 12 of the top 25. The fourth-ranked song, "You Are Mine," received 138 votes, 81 percent more votes than the fifth-ranked song, "How Great Thou Art," which got 76.
McMahon, in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service, cautioned against the notion that post-Vatican II music has dominance over all other liturgical music. "We got 670 different songs mentioned," he said. "Even the top choice is only 8 percent of the total," or 242 votes.
The poll results didn't surprise McMahon. "It panned out pretty much like the way I expected," he said, adding that The Tablet, a British Catholic newspaper, conducted a similar survey, which found "Here I Am, Lord" to be the top choice of its readers.
Rounding out the pastoral musicians association's top 10 was, in sixth place, the traditional Catholic hymn "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name," whose lyrics are ascribed to Ignaz Franz, followed by John Newton's "Amazing Grace," Marty Haugen's "All Are Welcome," Sebastian Temple's "Prayer of St. Francis," and "Ave Maria."
Those who voted for "Ave Maria" and "Panis Angelicus," which finished 15th, probably meant the versions by Franz Schubert and Cesar Franck, respectively, "but we don't know for sure," McMahon said. "Since many of them (voters) were not professionals, they probably didn't realize there was more than one version."
Currently filling in as a parish choir director, McMahon said, "I'm always surprised how many young people ask for 'Ave Maria' or 'Panis Angelicus' at weddings and funerals."
One Spanish-language song, "Pescador de Hombres," made the list, finishing 17th. Many hymnals print English-language companion lyrics, calling the song "Lord, When You Came to the Seashore." In his current interim job, McMahon said, he asked "who had heard this song, and only one did, and she came from Latin America."
McMahon said this points to "the divergence of American Catholic churches," including "the hymnals they use," since songs published by one copyright holder don't always find their way into the hymnals of their competitors.
Other contemporary Catholic songs in the top 25 were "We Are Called," 11th place; "I Am the Bread of Life," 13th; "The Summons," 14th; "Shepherd Me, O God," 19th; "One Bread, One Body," 22nd, and "Hosea," which tied for 24th place with the traditional Catholic hymn "Pange Lingua."
Other traditional Catholic hymns on the list were "Ave Verum Corpus," 20th, and "Tantum Ergo," 23rd.
Songs on the list with roots in Protestant or evangelical hymnody included Richard Gillard's "The Servant Song," 16th place, and Donna Marie McCargill's "Servant Song," 18th.
Also making the list were "Let There Be Peace on Earth," in 12th place, and "Lord of the Dance," in 21st. "Both found their way into liturgical use, but came from outside the (liturgical music) culture," McMahon said.
I'm always partial to 'Ave Maria' and I think 'Holy God We Praise Thy Name' is appropriate for any Catholic liturgy.
And drop that inane "Our mothers ..." verse.
Schutte and Haugen and Haas, O my!!!!
Schutte and Haugen and Haas, O my!!!!
Schutte and Haugen and Haas, O my!!!!
( think: "Dorothy" ... )
that is hilarious and a perfect description!
"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!)
:)
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.
"Any thoughts on some hymns that would be good for a wedding."
This is an interesting page:
http://www.stclementchurch.org/weddings/music.html
I would probably add John Foley to that list as well....
I'm sure we could add a whole lot more to that list ... their name is Legion, for they are many.
True, but Foley is an associate of Schutte, and has written things I would love to tear out of the hymnal...
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.
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,
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.
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.
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
"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
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