Do you really mean "solemn" Masses? Since there's a shortage, there are not enough priests (deacons, sub-deacons) for those, either.

And of course, most (if not all) Sunday Masses are now 'sung' Masses; the 4-hymn sandwich plus responsorial psalm and sung Ordinaries.

*Shudder*

The High Mass was considered punishment for late sleepers attending the last Mass (which didn't have the pressure of needing to end at a given time to permit turnover for the next Mass).

So - honestly, and I know this is a tangent, but:
What's the deal with the so-called clergy shortage?

Seems like something of a distribution problem. I have been in lots of places that seemed like they had a glut of priests. I grew up in a parish that had four at one time. That parish currently has one full-time pastor and two associates. Actually - most of the parishes in that diocese have at least two priests.

Is there really not enough for every parish that needs one to have one, assuming that the Bishops were, you know, better organized?

I think one should address the Mass attendance shortage first.

A great deal of those talks hinged upon the Snowbird Statement, of which he was a contributing author. It dealt primarily with the conventions of repertoires from which we select portions for worship. The Snowbird was almost a refutation of the Milwaukee Symposium document of contemporary composers such as H and H.

So I read both of those. The Milwaukee item is a study in self-contradiction, yammering about the desirability of unity while passionately promoting "multi-culti" music. The only mention of Chant is en passant, derogating it by a desultory acknowledgement of its existence (but not its primacy). It was heavy on 'functionalism' and light on transcendence. And of course, the "liturgy committee" should reign supreme. *Gack*.

Interesting: while Theophane Hytrek OSF signed the Milwaukee statement, her star pupil, Mary Jane Wagner OSF, signed the Snowbird. Of course, the real clear signal about the Milwaukee statement was not H&H; it was Rembert Weakland and Schutte.

Umnnnhhh...I've run across exactly ONE Haas piece that's not Broadway. There might be another someplace.

"Mother Machree" is actually Chant

Well, that explains it....

My hand to God, I heard it sung at Mass once, it was on Pentecost, IIRC.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

James II's cheeky daughter?

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

How many here have priests who sing the English In Paradisum to O Danny Boy?

Tht sounds skin crawly. Do they really do that, Noel, or is that an internet myth on a par with, you know, well other weird things.

Two things prompted some reflection about Derry Aire.
One, having been inundated with all stripes of priest/bishop/celebrants over four decades, not a one has ever sung any version of "In paradisum" at the end of the commendation in an OF. some of them routinely omit it altogether. I remedy both of those circumstances in any case.
Two, in all sincerity having never even employed this term, any celebrant who sings the IP to the faux Irish ballade doth commits a true liturgical abuse, in some ways worse than the infamous clown celebrants or purple dinosaur celebrant. At the moment such a priest croons he becomes in persona John McCormack not "Christi." Very bad.

Any priest who sings the "In paradisum" to Londonderry Air should have his undone derriere sent out to be pastorized in a pasture reeking with dung 'n' dairy air.

I'm puzzled by the original question. Culture and tradition are nearly the same thing.

Taken together, traditions create culture. I'm assuming here that culture, if not exactly homogenized, is something that is integrated and developed to a significant and conscious degree. Otherwise, what you have is an assortment of random phenomena winking unpredictably in and out of existence, not a "culture."

The Church's interest in inculturation comes from Christ's command to "go and make disciples of all nations." That's the goal. The Jesuits were savvy and presented the Gospel in terms that the other nation would see as making sense to that other nation. If the other nation had a religious musical tradition that antedated the arrival of the Gospel, then perhaps the Gospel could be presented in a way that would seem religiously natural to that culture, i.e. be articulated with a sensitivity to their vocabulary. I suspect this is what the Church had in mind when it made suggestions about music and inculturation. It respected the dignity of other cultures and their symbolic systems but didn't want to jeopardize the Gospel in the process.

It seems clear that the Church didn't want "inculturation" to obliterate the distinction between sacred and secular. In the case of music, it wanted to maintain this distinction in terms of different musical vocabularies. Pretending there is no distinction between sacred and secular music is a problem. It be assuming that, say, hip-hop or Irish folk music have no specific independent meaning or function of their own. If they can be brought into sacred use just like any other style of music, then they have no special cultural identity per se, and neither does the Mass. The sheer fact of "sacred use" would, by some mysterious omnipotent force, suddenly turn Irish folk music into sacred music with a different cultural meaning. I think we all here think that idea is wrong-headed. Playing Death Metal at Holy Mass wouldn't suddenly make Death Metal any less "Death Metal." In fact, the stronger the stylistic identity, the more likely it is that that the stylistic identity will stamp its own identity on the Mass itself -- not the other way around.

People can feel that difference. It's a feeling that something is being given wrong priority. Personally, I believe there is something that can be described as "sacramental culture." It has different values and differs radically from other cultures. The music of the Mass should, in my view, be a perceptible instance of that difference. If it isn't, we're secularizing the sacred, not sanctifying the secular.

Lassie BB, me musing were not at the expense of the famed tenor, nor of any cleric possessed of such talent. That said, even if said priest were to use his God given talent to close a funeral LITURGY with said ballade, aye tha'twould constitute a most grievous offense agin all that is holy. Your kilometers may prevaricate,.

Our kilometres prevaricate indeed. As we have recently switched from speed limits in miles to speed limits in kilometres, with many peoples cars still measuring miles, some prevaricate greatly.
I hear that at the request of the Eu, who must be obeyed, from next year we will also change to driving on the right as they do on the continent. from January 1st 2015, the change comes into effect for heavy goods vehicles, with all vehicles required to be compliant by March. Your mileage may vary on that too.

Hi Adam, thanks. What I mean by a tradition is any practice that gets passed -- by habit, by desire, by rote, whatever -- across generational lines. A social group that aspires to be more than an arbitrary and temporary campsite needs a strong set of these practices. When you've got them binding people together across generations, though each practice may vary in length and size, you've got yourself some kind of cohesive culture. That's what I mean when I say, "taken together, traditions create culture." Otherwise, you've got random disconnected ephemera.

I posted a thread here recently about Catholic high school choirs that may give context to what I'm rattling on about. Right now where I live, there is very little "Catholic choral culture." There are isolated traditions, ephemeral musical events and materials, and, as far as I can tell, almost zero inter-generational glue. In the space of two generations, whatever Catholic choral traditions existed around here have been almost completely extinguished. When you look at the junior high level, the field of tradition is bare. I find myself thinking a lot about how to nourish the seedlings that do exist. How can those students go on to a healthy musical life in Catholic high school and beyond? What opportunities exist? what is rewarded? What institutional links exist to support transitions from one level to another? They may have to be invented. Where could the money come from? It may have to be raised.

I feel very much like I live in a geographic area without the traditions that give rise to a Catholic musical culture. Even the word "diocese" has a strictly procedural, administrative meaning. Traditionally, we are scattered. Habitually, we are consumerist and administrative. Culturally, we are nowhere. We could despair about this, but my feeling is that every generation has to face the practical question of what it needs and wants to pass on as a living tradition. Otherwise, it's the YouTube Museum of Musical History.

Gregorian chant (for example) is part of our tradition, but in most places is not part of our culture.

But it is part of our culture. We would not have church music otherwise. Today we find Gregorian Chant in movies, on tv commercials, as themes for symphonies. Where we do not find it is at Mass. It is part of the Western Culture, it's not part of the Roman Catholic Culture, otherwise it would require reviving every century or so.

It must be my age, but I was able to restrain myself and NOT start out this message with "What a load of crap." But couldn't resist ending with it.

Adam's a good guy and can sling it with the best of them. Sometimes you have to go out on a limb to get away from the bear who is coming up the tree after you.

But it is part of our culture. We would not have church music otherwise. Today we find Gregorian Chant in movies, on tv commercials, as themes for symphonies.

Gregorian chant is also used as a backing for what we called video games, and also as a backing for what was called Rap music, I am sure they left out a letter.

I once taught some children whose parents belonged to one of those anti-Catholic christian sects, these children would happily play chant melodies learnt from the video games, good thing the parents never found out where the music came from originally.