And I won't attend a parish that uses this terrible book:
Posted on 12/02/2006 2:49:30 PM PST by NYer
BALTIMORE — Some Catholics have long complained that traditional hymns have been “modernized,” “vandalized” and “feminized” for “political correctness” at the expense of art and theology.
Last month, the bishops came to the rescue.
At its annual fall general assembly, held in Baltimore Nov. 13-16, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved new norms for hymns sung at Mass. The norms would ensure that liturgical songs be doctrinally correct and based in scriptural and liturgical texts.
“I am grateful to the bishops for a measure that’s long overdue,” said Providence College English Professor Anthony Esolen, a Catholic who has been sharply critical of modern translations of hymns.
Conversely, the proposed norms have raised red flags among Catholics who like the music just as it is.
“Our music has changed gradually since Vatican II, and it’s not like there has been some recent radical leftwing feminist shift that needs to be corrected,” said Lisa Sowle Cahill, professor of theology at Boston College, who describes herself as a progressive, feminist Catholic. “And not all feminists see the word ‘man’ as hate speech.”
Leon Podles, author of The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity, said subtle and not-so-subtle changes to traditional hymns since Vatican II have “dumbed down” songs and turned them into entertainment rather than expressions of sacred mysteries.
“The state of Catholic music is very bad,” Podles told the Register. “The silly feminist language police hate the word ‘man’ and they don’t want to hear it in the liturgy or the music.”
The new norms are part of a new Directory for Music and the Liturgy for Use in the Dioceses in the United States of America. The directory responds to a recommendation of Liturgiam Authenticam (The Use of Vernacular Languages in the Publication of the Books of the Roman Liturgy), the fifth Vatican instruction on correct implementation of the liturgical renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council.
Amazing Words
Bishops said the directory serves primarily to outline a process by which bishops should regulate the quality of the text of songs composed for use in the liturgy. The directory warns against untrue statements about the faith.
“The doctrine of the Trinity should never be compromised through the consistent replacement of masculine pronominal references to the three Divine persons,” the directory states.
It also warns against elimination of archaic language, should it be done in such a manner as to alter the meaning and theological structure of a venerable liturgical song.
Podles, a senior editor at Touchstone magazine, said the modernization of hymns in recent years reflects a violation of the spirit and intent of Vatican II, which didn’t call for gender-neutral songs with poor grammar and embarrassing attempts at rhyming new words with the old. He said some hymnals carry a version of Amazing Grace that changes the words “saved a wretch like me” to “saved and set me free.”
“This song was written by a repentant slave owner,” Podles said. “But the modernists don’t like the penitential language of some of the more poetic songs, and they’ve ruined the poetry.”
He said some modern song revisions changed singular male-gender pronouns like “he” to plural gender-neutral pronouns like “they,” a situation that would put an old-school grammarian on edge. In addition, “gorgeous poetry” was sacrificed, as in the hymn Songs of Thankfulness and Praise. “Anthems be to thee addressed, God in man made manifest” became “Anthems are to thee addressed, God in us made manifest.”
Said Podles, “The original was beautifully-worded poetry. The revision is feminist politics.”
He also cited a hymn in which the phrase “Christ our God to earth descendeth” was changed to “Christ our God to earth descended.”
“It seems a subtle change, but it’s a change in tense that changes the meaning of the theology,” he said. “I hope some of the original wording gets restored if bishops are applying new norms.”
Inclusive Language
Esolen said translators have been allowed to make changes designed to “placate implacable feminists” who don’t like doctrinally-correct words like “father,” “son” and “man.” He has collected countless examples from all mainstream Catholic hymnals in which doctrinal changes have resulted from efforts to create gender-neutral lyrics.
“It has been like giving someone a broad paintbrush and a can of white paint and telling him to edit out the parts he doesn’t like on a Michelangelo painting,” Esolen said. “The changes have reflected not only vandalism, but heretical revisionism.”
Cahill rejected the notion that feminists have ruined Catholic songs, saying they have merely insisted on words like “humanity” rather than “man,” where such wording is theologically accurate.
“Hymns can be inclusive in a way that’s respectful to Scripture and liturgy,” Cahill said. “Up through the 1950s, there was simply no effort to use inclusive terms at all. Since the 1950s there has been some effort, but nothing radical.”
Bishops approved the norms by a 195-21 vote, with five abstentions and no substantive debate. The norms state that “approval of liturgical songs is reserved to the diocesan bishop in whose diocese an individual song is published.” A committee consisting of theologians, liturgists and musicians will assist diocesan bishops in their review of songs.
Bishops said it might be a year or two before the norms receive the necessary Vatican approval, and the process of revising hymnals would begin after that.
Here's a radical thought, y'all...well, not really. Get rid of the 4-hymn sandwich and go back to chanting Mass parts like the we were meant to do...back and forth with our celebrant. Ya want 'active participation'? That's it right there. I don't know why we're stuck on the notion that we gotta have the 4 hymns. You'd solve a whole HOST of problems with heretical liturgical songs and restore the Catholicity of the Mass. Now all we have to do is get rid of Mass of Creation (I'm being charitable here and not call it by its proper name)...and the Jebbie Mass....and the Celtic Mass....and the, well, you get the idea. A simple unaccompanied monotone is infinitely more pleasing than the schizophrenic Marty Haugen signature style with loud drums and lounge-style piano playing that we're accustomed to (and, heaven forbid, overamplified electric guitars).
"I will not sing "Amazing Grace"."
I absolutely agree! I will not sing it; it is not Catholic theology! It is heretical espousing "once saved, always saved"!
I'd buy that in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen at my church right now. I'm working on them, but being a small, close knit community and me being fairly new, it's going to take awhile! :o)
Don't get me wrong, I'm not enamored of feminized lyrics either, but isn't that Psalm 100:3?
The first Sunday of Advent is soon upon us. For most of Church history, people at morning Mass would hear a glorious Gregorian melody sung to the text of the Introit from the choir's book, the Graduale. The words of the first chant of the new liturgical year convey the meaning and capture the purpose of all sacred music:
Ad te levavi animam meam.
To thee have I lifted up my soul.If you are like most Catholics in this country, you will not hear this melody on Advent. Nor will a bright of "Puer natus est" greet you on Christmas morning. Nor will a plaintive "Invocabit me" mark the first Sunday of Lent. For many people, not even the most basic chants, such as seasonal Marian antiphons, are heard in their local parishes...
To all hymn-lovers: get ye your hands on the Gregorian Missal for Sundays and find out that the four hymns in that Low Mass sandwich, however orthodox they may be, constitute nothing more than personal piety and preference imposed on the people by the liturgical powers-that-be.
With this book, I will sing, however internally I may need to (and how I hate to chant merely mentally), the Church's words and song over any well-meaning choir director's selection. After all, the Church's preference ought to trump our own.
All that they need to do is specify that no hymnal newer than 1950 be used. I've been looking at the publication dates in the "disposable once a quarter" missal-hymnal sets at our Church, and it seems to me that any hymn with a post-1950 copyright is either trite trash or unsingable.
Please point out which lyric (or lyrics) are antithetical to Catholic doctrine:
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.
When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see. (end)
Talk about "happy-clappy". At a recent mass, they had all the elementary grade kiddies from the Catholic School at this specific Mass, and when it came time to do the "Gloria", it went:
Gloria (clap clap)
Gloria (clap clap)
In Excelsis Deo (clap clap)
Which just goes to prove that having the lyrics IN LATIN doesn't automatically make for a "reverent" experience.
And I won't attend a parish that uses this terrible book:
***Gloria (clap clap)
Gloria (clap clap)
In Excelsis Deo (clap clap)***
Didn't St John Chrysostom (the golden mouth) speakout against clapping in the church because it was not a theater?
Adoremus Hymnal is great. Lots of Ralph Vaughn Williams in there. And Good Christians Men Rejoice and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
Glad they didn't ask you. ;o)
How is "How Great Thou Art" heretical?
May I suggest that these "implacable feminists" take it up with Jesus, who refered to "The Father," and to himself as "The Son of Man."
If they can't handle that, then they can take their new age wicca garbage elsewhere.
My parish used to have the blue cover Glory & Praise but DEO GRATIAS threw them out a decade ago!
Please point them out.
Didn't St John Chrysostom (the golden mouth) speakout against clapping in the church because it was not a theater?
I'd REALLY, REALLY like an answer to the question. I keep hearing folks talk about how "Amazing Grace" is somehow against Catholic doctrine---but I'll be hanged if I see any such statements in the actual lyrics.
Please point them out.
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