I should have said “what some would consider old and stodgy”. The hymn writers I listed are no later than late 19th century. Rock, new age folky (especially that Marty Whathisname who has that newagey stuff in Catholic hymnals), pop, etc, has no place in a worship service. JS Bach, or Gregorian chants (especially during Vespers) is fitting. It was nice to see that Bill Buckley insisted on Bach for his funeral.
MARTY HAUTGEN! The first runner up in the awful music category after Marty is a Bernadette something.
I always turn to the hymns while we are hearing the announcements before mass. My first rule is that if it is dated 1975 or later, I am positive it is going to require singing through clenched teeth.
I think our pastor likes Marty because we seem to have Marty in frequent rotation. I think those hymns came out when Monsignor was in seminary, and he has a fondness for them that they do not deserve.
Our music director can play beautiful classical pieces on the organ. Yet week after week we get Marty Hautgen with piano accompaniment. It’s very distressing.
I love our priest, who is very orthodox and gives intelligent homilies with historical background. We currently have 9 seminarians, and we are going to have an group of Franciscan, habited sisters move into the old convent this summer, and Monsignor took the initiative in getting that started. We have a Chapel of Perpetual Adoration that is manned 24/7. We have a school which is teaching kids the faith along with their studies.
So, I keep my mouth shut about the music. I figure it is one of those suffering things I have to endure, and am grateful for all of the good things we have at our church.
Besides, when I was a Methodist we had a minister who was an excellent musician, and who promoted the use of all of the great hymns. The only problem was that he also believed Jesus had girlfriends.