Posted on 06/26/2006 11:48:53 AM PDT by FJ290
Vatican City, 26 June (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI has called for traditional sacred music to be played during mass, condemning the ongoing custom of contemporary music at religious celebrations. "Updating sacred music is possible, but this cannot happen unless it follows the tradition of Gregorian chants or sacred polyphony," the pontiff said on Sunday on the sidelines of a concert in the Sistine Chapel. A skilled pianist with a predilection for Bach and Mozart, Benedict XVI spoke against a custom reportedly appreciated by his more informal predecessor John Paul II, who worked very hard throughout his papacy to make the Church more appealing to the younger generations.
In an interview published in Turin-daily La Stampa on Monday, the former Archbishop of Ravenna, veteran Cardinal Ersilio Tonini also condemned the practice saying that "Benedict XVI is right, mass is a meeting with God and to meet God sacred music is better than the turmoil of electric guitars, hand clapping and the husstle and bustle of disorderly sounds."
Tonini said that 40 years ago after the Second Vatican Council "making mass more popular and inviting could be understood." However, the cardinal added, "we exaggerated and now I believe it is legitimate to consider as over this season of breaks with tradition."
I guess he doesn't watch Sister Act in his spare time.
Pop music is entertainment, not worship. I agree with the pope.
Hymns, Harps, Flutes only ping.
He ain't the only one.
The Mass is a sacred liturgy, and not a pop or rock concert.
If you want to have a music concert, do it after Mass.
We have a great parish, but I do miss the traditional hymns, many of which are beautiful. It's sad that most of the songs that are sung are from the mid eighties or more recent.
I LOVE this POPE!! I don't like these new age Masses at all.
What does that mean...polo ponies?
Good call, worship needs to be different than a Madonna concert
This is fairly major, really. Whence the "guitar," "folk," or other Mass?
It's going to be difficult to get rid of the trend, I think, although I'd visit more Catholic churches if they returned to traditional Masses.
I'm one of the ones who likes the contemporary worship songs. They do speak to me and would hate to see them gone. Our parish does a good job, within a single Mass, of mixing various types of music, which I also appreciate
I wish he would feel the same way about a pop-Cardinal in Los Angeles.
I meant this to show up in the Religion section. If the moderators of FR want to move it, that would be fine with me.
I made a goof somewhere. Sorry!
9:00 AM Mass, no music - church full.
10:30 AM hippy guitar Mass - nine people.
12:00 noon Mass, sung according to Missal - church bursting.
Translation: stupid hippy guitar Mass is an utter waste of time and parish resources.
"New York, London, Paris, Munich everybody talk about, mm, pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik. Talk about pop muzik.
Pop, pop, pop muzik! Pop, pop, pop muzik!"
They should remove everything from the hymnal written after 1960. (And at that I'm being generous. My own preference would be to dump everything since 1900).
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