Via Rich Leonardi
What we’re trying to do is bring out all that Vatican II was asking," he said, quipping that before the 1960s, "The church kind of discouraged rhythm because people were going to move their body and that was going to lead them into sin. Then the spirit revealed that maybe it really wouldn’t be that bad."
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If this is the highest form of praise, then we should treat it that way, right?" Stephan remarked. "This is the moment we should really try to do our best." He added that on a personal level, singing is his way of expressing his love for God in a more impassioned manner than prayer recitation allows.
Yet many congregants don’t share his exuberance, leaving him to dub such folks "the chosen frozen." One way of breaking the ice, so to speak, is to engage them in "call and response," in which the congregation repeats the musicians’ lines. For example, Stephan cited the song "You Are Worthy of My Praise": "I will worship (I will worship)/with all of my heart (with all of my heart)/I will praise you (I will praise you)/with all of my strength (with all of my strength)."
Creating a spark among church-goers may or may not involve clapping.
"You have to use good judgment," he said, adding that in helping the congregation find its voice, "we can’t force anything." He suggested having musicians sit in the pews, imagining themselves as congregants and the personal situations they may be facing such as divorce, having a baby and drug addiction: "Who are we singing to?"
As Rich quipped Count me among the "frozen chozen"
Who are we singing to? I would suggest the object of the congregation in singing is to God. Normally the object of worship is, dare we say, God. The Angels constantly singing Holy, Holy, Holy understand this. Why though would they have to imagine themselves as congregants? Last I checked members of the choir are in fact part of the congregation.
One of the major mistakes liturgists make is confusing active participation with just external actions. I find myself, more often than not, in prayerful attention at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at my normal parish where liturgy is untouched by liturgists. When I go to Mass at other parishes where exuberance is the norm I rarely find myself at prayer. In fact sometimes I am even tempted to heckle the choir because of the choices they make. I experienced a real strange dichotomy recently where the priest said the Mass very reverently and he used incense only to be backed up by a choir that included a bass player who was bobbing about as he played with even almost head banging gestures. The dissonance was like what would happen if Pantera backed up Peter, Paul, and Mary for the soundtrack of the Passion of the Christ. At the end of Mass they handed various noisemakers to children so that they could shake along as the happy-clappy rhythmic song to the beat of clapping was inflicted. I am also tempted if I go back to this church to bring a supply of for example copies of Musicam Sacram, Sacrosanctum Concilum, and Gregorian Chant CDs to place on the windows of all the cars so that these might come to attention of those involved in music ministry. I am charitably inclined to believe it must just be ignorance on their part on what the liturgical documents say and the rich heritage of sacred music in the Church.
Note to liturgists: Just because we might not be moving around or saying something in response does not mean we are not doing anything. We might actually be praying. Plus good intentions do not automatically equate to good results.
16 comments
can i get an “Amen?!” i couldn’t agree more. i go to the 7am mass at my local parish because it’s the only one with very limited singing. all the other masses have either a folk group or the youth group singing, the latter replete with percussion, lead singers “miked up,” and a bass player. we do have a more “formal” mass with a robed choir, but they’re sitting in a separate section & it’s treated more as a chorale concert after which the congregation applauds. i soooo disagree with this level of “participation.” for the past 2 years, i’ve been discerning a religious vocation – specifically monastic – and almost every single abbey i’ve visited not only mandates respectful clothing, but also SILENCE in the sanctuary!!! i LOVE it!!!
Amen!
(I said to myself during silent contemplation).
Excellent posting Jeff, I agree wholeheartedly. As I have grown in my faith I have come to appreciate the solemness of Mass. The quiet interludes during the liturgy, the great silence while reciting the Rosary. I’ve come to understand and appreciate why monastery’s exist.
There is a truth behind the axiom, ‘Silence is the Golden Rule’.
Wonderfully said!
THe nice part is, I think our pope would agree also. To quote from The Spirit of the Liturgy, “. . . participation in the Liturgy of the Word (reading, singing)is to be distinguished from the sacramental celebration proper. [These actions] are quite secondary. . . If the various external actions . . .become the essential, if the liturgy degenereates into general activity, then we have radically misunderstood the “theo-drama” . . . and have lapsed into parady.” pg174-5
Perhaps some day . . . *sigh*
Can we alll agree on a few principles when it comes to Mass?
First: The Eucharist is an act of thanksgiving (hence the word Eucharist, derived from the Greek for thanksgiving) directed towards God through which we are given the heighth of Hid grace through the reception of the Blessed Sacrament.
Second: That there should be a holy and awe inspiring atmosphere by which we are connoted the understanding that we are coming into the presence of God. That means there should be silence at appropriate times and the singing of appropriate songs (does this not happen in the ehavenly court according to Scripture) that give praise and glory to God. I am personnally sick unto death of hearing songs about us (Anthem, Gather Us In, Song of the Body of Christ, and all those other wretched bits spiritual narcissism set to awful tunes).
3: That the Church, having been given the authority by Christ, to bind and loose, does have the authority to legislate the disciplinary aspects of the Eucharist. If it wants us engaged in the Divine Mystery that is taking place, then it has that authority. The Mass is not white noise as we do our private devotions. I have seen people praying the rosary during the Eucharistic Prayer!!!! The Real Presence of our Lord and Savior is being brought and one is not paying attention to that???? I , as a priest, am not saying the words of consecration as some magic act; I am allowing the Person of Christ to make himself eternally and really present through the elements of bread and wine; if we understood for an iota what was going on at that moment, we would be transfixed by it.
4: I know most liturgical music is crap in its astetheics and some even in their content. But when we come across a song that properly gives thanks to God (‘Holy God , We Praise Thy Name’ for example) it is appropriate that we give voice to that. St. Augustine reminds us he who sings once, prays twice. If people find that disrupts their private prayer, I have only only one thing to say: Hey, You are at Mass, this isn’t about you! This is about Christ! WE’re not protestants…it isn’t about me and Jesus. We’re Catholics…it is about us and Jesus. Study your ecclesiology for heaven’s sake.
5: There is a way of all people participating without it becoming either a performance (clapping in a Church outside of ordinations and Easter Vigil where the liturgy calls for it shoudl never never be done) or a free-for all (theme Masses). The Mass hould be treated with dignity and honor. The Mass isn’t there for me to have an emotional rush or to be entertained; it is there for us to give proper thanks to God and fort Him to give the grace necessary to live our baptismal call. IN other words the Mass is there so that God is glorified and we are sanctified.
Southern (Scots-Presbyterian) worship-song was often “line-repeat” singing, as described by Mr. Rhythm…
We’ve had enough Protestant assistance, thanks. Time for you to go back to your hole.
Fr. BP,
I respectfully disagree with you on number four (4).
This has been abused up and down each diocese and there needs to be a clampdown on music being sung.
You got an amen from me jeron…
I actually like singing at mass, if it’s a hymn that is essentially a prayer. I’m all in agreement with St. Augustine that “he who sings, prays twice” but the music rightly ought to be reverent and holy.
It should also be noted that certain songs can be quite reverent or not depending how they are performed.
I’m particularly fond of a modern hymn called “I will choose Christ” but it used to grate at me music people(we didn’t have a proper choir) at my old parish would jazz it up.
Note: I’ve encountered a sad protestant bastardization of this song, so I ought to post the real lyrics to make my point.
I will choose Christ,
I will choose love,
I choose to serve.
I give my heart, I give my life,
I give my all to you.
1. How many times
must he call my name
and show to me that he is God?
And as a servant he calls to me,
“You must serve too.”
2. Christ, my teacher and healer,
teach my heart and heal my soul.
And as I walk this road with you,
teach me to love.
3. As I look upon your cross,
so too must I die with you.
And with the death of my
own desires,
I’ll rise with you.
I don’s see how you can complaint about loud, folksy music, not letting you prayers. Whenever I have been “forced” to attend one of these churches the Tabernacle is nowhere to be found.
Maybe someone needs to design a Blessed Sacrament finder so you can figure out which way to genuflect and pray in so many of these churches. Kinda like the compass muslims use to find Mecca.
“In fact sometimes I am even tempted to heckle the choir because of the choices they make.”
Is it uncharitable that I find the thought of that absolutely hilarious?
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the quote is actually he who sings WELL prays twice. Hard to sing well if you’ve not good material to begin with.
Fr. John, I just go done telling our boy’s club that it’s not about how WELL you sing but your intention of singing. LOL. Believe me, some of these guys just can’t sing WELL, but at least they can TRY. (Do you agree with me, or did I say that wrong?) Anyway, I have heard preached in a homily before of the “Frozen Chozen”. It really angers me. People aren’t at Mass to go to a concert or to perform. We are at Mass to worship God in all due reverance and respect. I am distacted at Mass when we have such noisy loud music, and I find it difficult to pray. So much for the praying twice stuff, huh?
For those who disagree with point 4, please go back and reread it. I do not say we have to sing the mounds or narcissistic garbage, new age pablum, and poorly written self-parise. I just said that when, on the miraculous occasion you do hear a proper song, it is appropriate to sing, if that is appropriate.
I know there is a overwhelming amount of abuse in this, and the local pastors need to take the bull by the horns here. Not to brag, but in my parishes I have banished songs that refer to God in the 1st person, song during communion that refer to the Body and Blood as bread and wine, and severly cut songs where we focus on ourselves (gone are hellish little tidbits like Anthem, Gather Us In, Song of the Body of Christ,City of God, and such tunes). Any priest who is a pastor that just whines about the music in his parish needs to find his spine and start watching out for what his flock is being exposed to. We do chant and Latin here as well. Soooooooo, if your pastor were to do such things, would there still be objections to singing?
I guess I’m really surprised to hear folks say that they don’t want singing. This in the Church that produced Palestrina and Mozart, that gave the world Gregorian chant (not to mention Sarum plainsong), and that illuminated its Counter-Reformation with hymns that are as good as anything produced by the Protestants of the same period?
Dump the bad music? Of course! In a heartbeat! Dump all singing? Hmm—can we say “baby” and “bathwater”?
Peace,
–Peter
Peter,
It is not about not liking singing, it is the artificial methods to try to invoke people to sing. I love to sing myself. I notice that hardly anyone sings in parishes with good music or the ones with sappy music. So there is really no technique to artificially get people to sing besides a real culture change towards the appreciation of sacred music.
Jeff–
You’re totally right about the culture change. You’re also right about the artificial methods to get folks to sing—with the caveat that, if one is going to do a culture change (and IIRC Cardinal Arinze has gone on record as suggesting that U.S. Catholic culture should change WRT singing), there are going to be parts of it that feel artificial until you grow into them. (The Rosary felt like that to my Protestant-raised mind for quite a while. It doesn’t now, because I’ve grown into it more—and, of course, it was never the Rosary that was artificial. It was my perception that was false.)
It may be that I’m just oversensitive, having heard too many folks pull back from singing as an expression of culture (“Oh, I don’t sing”—especially among guys, as if singing made important parts of one’s anatomy fall off or something) rather than as an expression of worship. But I think maybe it’s not (or at least not only :-)) me being oversensitive.
What bugs me about a fair amount of Catholic music is that it doesn’t feel like it’s an integral part of the Mass, and it should be. In fact, I think that might be the key to that culture change—you start from the Mass and find music to support folks participation in what’s really going on in the Mass (i.e., the Real Presence of Christ), rather than treating the music as something separate (“hey, they’re receiving Communion, let’s sing something so the rest of the congregation has something to do”).
Furthermore, it’s got to be taught. Just as vocations or going to confession or Catholic sexuality have to be taught, music has to be taught. You can’t just expect your congregation to wake up one day and say “Wow! Let’s—let’s sing!” Here, too, it’s got to start from the Mass. Folks who don’t realize the riches of the Mass—folks for whom the Mass is a feel-good thing that’s basically about me (or even about us) rather than about Jesus—will naturally (and quite understandably) want feel-good music. Freeing people from the theology-free ditties that are the trans fats of liturgical music must always follow and serve the project of giving those same people a taste for (and of) the Bread of Life.
But the fact that promoting congregational singing isn’t as easy as pulling out the latest from Haugen and Haas doesn’t mean that it isn’t worthwhile :-).
Peace,
–Peter
PBXVI,
No, I agree with you. Keep it up with the boys! What a treasure. But one could also interpret that singing well as actually praying what you are singing. The new conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra is WONDERFUL at this. He makes it VERY clear to the choir when they are singing a mass exactly what they are singing, what it means, and why. The program notes are astonishing. Listening to that music, you understand moving THOUGH it to worship. I experienced the same thing in Africa, moved by the music there. Our downfall is making the whole thing about being entertaining. If that is where it is, then it really is about us. How sad.