Posted on 03/02/2015 8:03:50 AM PST by Alex Murphy
First Things has a great little post by a dejected Lutheran convert about how Catholic liturgical singing is like “plaintive squeaks from depressed marmosets.”
This is a permanent pet peeve of mine.
And yes, this is something parish priests should do more about. You know the phenomenon of how a church will be crowded–except the two front pews. I knew a priest who often wouldn’t start Mass until those pews were filled. He would go out in front before Mass and ask people to move to the first pews. One of the few 70s-style liturgical tics I wouldn’t mind at all would be for the priest to go “Sing it! Can’t hear you!” etc. during the entrance & exit hymns for a few weeks until everyone is trained to actually sing.
One additional failure I would like to point to is the failure of Catholic schools. Catholic school all my life–I was never taught how to sing. If the liturgy is “the source and summit of the Christian life” and if we are beckoned to “active participation” then shouldn’t singing be something that is as important to teach as the Catechism? (Yeah, yeah, we don’t teach the Catechism either, you’re right.)
But it actually goes even deeper than that. The great failure of Catholic schools, going back to the 19th century, is that they have swallowed wholesale the erroneous Cartesian-Lockean metaphysical view of human nature, which is the master framework of modern schooling. The mind and the body are separate, so classrooms have chairs and desks so that the body can be turned off while the mind works. Children are blank slates on which knowledge is imparted by the teacher. And finally, education is about the imparting of abstract knowledge, not a mystagogic participation of the whole person in the true, the good and the beautiful. (This excellent chapter (PDF) by Prof Angeline S. Lillard does a great job of laying out the disaster of the Modern vision of education.)
When we talk about how Catholic schools should be different from secular schools, we talk about all the great treasures of classical learning that we should impart–Augustine, Dante, Aquinas–, and amen to that. But we should also talk about how the ideal Catholic school should also stand out by its commitment to art and beauty, which is also as Catholic as anything else.
....One additional failure I would like to point to is the failure of Catholic schools. Catholic school all my life–I was never taught how to sing. If the liturgy is “the source and summit of the Christian life” and if we are beckoned to “active participation” then shouldn’t singing be something that is as important to teach as the Catechism? (Yeah, yeah, we don’t teach the Catechism either, you’re right.)
But it actually goes even deeper than that. The great failure of Catholic schools, going back to the 19th century, is that they have swallowed wholesale the erroneous Cartesian-Lockean metaphysical view of human nature, which is the master framework of modern schooling. The mind and the body are separate, so classrooms have chairs and desks so that the body can be turned off while the mind works. Children are blank slates on which knowledge is imparted by the teacher.
Also I'm pretty sure my singing voice was cast out of heaven pretty early on. If I were part of the heavenly host I would be given a triangle to hit about once every third song.
Our priest sings literally like a booming Broadway star. The first time I heard him I was blown away. Of course, the rest of us are barely audible, like usual. LOL
When I was a young fellow I had a parish priest that could sing like a booming Broadway star. It always impressed me. And when he belted out the Nicene creed there was no doubt that he believed every word of it.
A few years back I was googling some things and found that he had met his wife when they were both opera singers in New York. That explained a lot!
I was raised in the Catholic church, and I get constant compliments on my voice at any Protestant church I attend, and am a worship leader at our Protestant church. We attend a service at the Assisted Living Center where my FIL lives, also, and the elderly folks there make sure to save a space so they can hear me. Catholics sing just fine, thank you.
What a crock of hooey. Our Catholic choir is awesome. We sing all through mass.
Bonus points awarded for the use of "hooey" in a sentence.
I grew up with that album.
Catholic school was the worst two years of my young life. Catechism classes up through Jr. High ranked pretty low along with the priest who bad mouthed us at every turn. The nuns who outright lied to the testing class for application to Catholic HS was the last straw.
Sounds to me that you are making a case for ex-Catholics singing just fine.
Looks like Jon Lovitz' character from The Critic:
“Catholic liturgical singing is like “plaintive squeaks from depressed marmosets””
You might like to hear a mass for Knights of Columbus members.
You will hear strong, booming masculine voices singing with courage and conviction.
A Priest I know goes out and tells the congregation “Belt it out like you’re Baptists!”
I have no problem singing during our services, and I’ve often been “complimented” for singing at all. I don’t pretend to sing well, but I have no problem doing so, esp. if it gets others to sing along to drown out my bellowing.
Perhaps - but I learned how at a Catholic elementary school, and a Catholic college.
I agree. Keep switching-up with new songs for which nobody knows the lyrics, and participation will plummet.
Likewise, my priest. But we all sing and LOUD!
One of the bad things about the Internet is that every self-absorbed yutz who thinks he’s better than others also seems to believe he’s a writer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.