There's no need to feel any guilt, henry. The funeral rites and its attending music serve the same function as other sacramental liturgies: thanksgiving and praise to the Trinity for the sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross; edification and evangelization for all, believer and unbeliever alike to enter into that realm of prayer and "die to self" themselves; and to witness to the truth that our faith and our prayers on behalf of the deceased soul are a corporate act, as much for ourselves as for the directly bereaved. Familiarity isn't necessarily required nor eschewed. Truth and beauty, always welcomed. Well done.

What many often forget, or do not realize, is that the Catholic Church knows how to do funerals. Trust that tradition and you are doing the best that can be done.

Those pieces which henry sang sound unmistakably like prayers, so they remind the grieving that the Church is praying for the departed loved one. Surely that is a kind and welcome message!

We sing the processional chants and the Pie Jesu at all funerals at the parish where I am DM: Many people have remarked at how comforting they are - they are simply the texts given by the Church. I have never had that comment about 'the old standards'.

..and just blindly following the rules

One can follow the rules, I know many great organists who do just that. I do not know anyone who "blindly" follows the rules. That requires a more clear explanation and a very specific example.

Somehow Cardinal Newman's text comes to mind, Francis, but I can't quote it from memory just at the moment.

Adam,


Beautiful, but not what I had in mind.

I read this:

Rules.

Most people ignore them.
Very few follow them.
Many laugh and scorn at those who do.

Those who discover them
Find a sure guide
And a well worn path
And a way of peace and security.

And thought of this:

nor prayed that Thou
shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose
and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day
and spite of fears
Pride ruled my will:
remember not past years.i>

I’m going to “buck the trend” here and answer your question with a question:

What did your pastor think of the music?

Seriously, if your pastor doesn’t support it, then I would say to avoid advocating for chant propers at funerals. Ultimately, you are there at the pastor’s behest, and it’s your job to implement the liturgy as he sees fit.

That may sound a bit relativistic, but it’s really just pragmatism: if someone doesn’t like what you’re doing he/she will complain to the pastor. If the pastor doesn’t like what you’re doing, even if his words support you, his tacit disquiet will encourage the “plaintiffs”. (And if his words don’t support you, start sending out résumés!)

Or -
'Breaking all the rules' == 'breaking the rules I like.'
(Note: this is only predicated of other people.)

Felipe Gaspar: the funeral I described was one I played as a substitute in a neighboring parish. The pastor (who said the Mass) didn't say anything, nor did anyone else. This parish has called me several times, so I don't know if that's an indication that they are satisfied with my work (or if they're desperate!)

The song I really can't bring myself to use is "O Domine Jesu Christe". Even though it's the Offertory Song of the Funeral Mass, I can't bring myself to sing about saving the deceased from being delivered into the lion's jaws and cast into hell - poor mourners!

The verse of that Offertory is

Sacrifice and prayer do we offer to thee, O Lord:
Do thou accept them for the souls departed
in whose memory we make this oblation:
and grant them, Lord, to pass from death unto life:

At the cemetery mass I have gotten in the habit of starting with that in English and then continuing with the antiphon (or just the respond part depending on time) in Latin.

The beginning of this topic also struck a chord. It can take a lot of nerve to start singing unaccompanied chant in a place that has never had it before and there can be a lot of inner questioning. I well remember my trepidation 15 years ago when I started singing a chant at communion time. But now the people who fill on for my summer holidays just regard it as part of the regular routine that they have to keep going. I've even have wedding couples specifically request it.

If a mass setting is not requested, I do the current seasonal parish setting, unless it becomes painfully obvious early on that the mourners are neither Catholic nor participating in the rites, in which case I sing the ICEL chants (our Advent and Lenten setting) in English with speed and dignity.

Francis and I will read what you wrote -- that you use the ICEL chant when the mourners are not Catholic and are not singing -- as evidence that Catholics don't know Catholic chant, or that the good stuff is what you use for the non-Catholics, or that ICEL's chant isn't Catholic. Which did you mean to convey?

NihilNominis,

I've got to learn how to use purple. No harm was intended. I found the way that you had written the paragraph amusingly unclear -- i.e., unclear because what I proposed was understandable to the purposely obtuse -- and thought I might raise the question.

As I explain in the paragraph you cite, if the congregation are participatory, I use the seasonal setting. I further explain in the same paragraph that the ICEL Chants are the parish's Advent and Lenten setting.

I have a problem with the impression that tI am getting that you evaluate the congregation and make your music choices instead of presenting music that suits the liturgy. Especially because of your statement, which I agree with, "I'm amazed at how such a few consistent injections of the liturgical spirit of a funeral Mass increase the depth of the ceremony. "

So why not make the ceremony truly deep and dump all the emotional stuff? Seriously? Who IS the Mass for?

You've posted some interesting comments and thoughts, thanks!

I have a problem with the impression that tI am getting that you evaluate the congregation and make your music choices instead of presenting music that suits the liturgy.

I get the impression that NihilNominis is choosing from the wide range of valid options those that will best answer the needs of the congregation. Surely that is why the church offers a range of options.

I find it interesting what presumptions are being made about the Mass settings I use that aren't the ICEL Chants... [Mischievous Grin]

Noel,

As for why I don't "dump the emotional stuff":

1) The bereaved plan a part of the funeral liturgy themselves, a process in which I am not involved. They are restricted in their choices to the hymnal. I do not program that music, but I do execute it. To do anything else would be, I think, incredibly inappropriate. My choices are confined to the part they do not plan.

I think the resulting balance between what they have chosen and the prayerful texts and music appointed by the Church for the occasion, is pastorally, if not intrinsically, ideal. It lends liturgical objectivity to a service that remains "meaningful" and personally significant, as those words are commonly used, to those attending, with absolutely no disruption of flow, or even of that sense of at-homeness that Fr. Gamber insists is essential to good liturgy, and which I think we must strive to retain at every step along the road to improvement.

2) Since my approach to Sunday liturgy is similar, I will say that it is often more effective to strike people with something beautiful and timeless that they've never heard before in an environment that still feels familiar and sets them at ease, than to, in a moment of extreme stress, set them in an environment in which there is nothing familiar and comfortable, leaving them feeling alienated, confused, and, ultimately, closed to precisely what you would like to teach them to appreciate.

Now, you are perhaps saying, "But eventually you want to show them a truly integrated liturgy, right?!" For me, the most formative piece of advice on that front has been, if that's your goal, get creative and invent a new liturgical or para-liturgical opportunity in your parish that you can build from the ground up.

For me, it has been weekly choral Stations of the Cross during Lent. Since these are every week, we do not sing a motet at each station, so it is not an undue commitment of time for the weekly devotees or burden for the choir. The presider and servers enter to the Dubois "Adoramus Te," we sing a motet at the 4th Station, usually a Rheinberger Ave Maria or Stabat Mater movement, O Sacred Head at the 12th, a Sepulto Domino at the 14th, or "Do Not Lament Me, O Mother," segue to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament with a beautiful Tantum Ergo setting written by a friend of mine, a Eucharistic Motet, perhaps Byrd's Ave Verum, and then, after Benediction, the Divine Praises, set to chant by a priest I know. We close to "Lift High the Cross." I prepare a program with texts and translations for all of these.

The parish uses one of these services as an opportunity to present the Creed to the RCIA elect, and so all of the catechumens are, in the course of their formation in the parish, exposed to this form of sung prayer, and some of the rich tradition of Catholic choral music, as well as to Stations of the Cross and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. They nearly always express their appreciation for this experience.

In addition, the program I am, Deo volente, in the process of building, has received enthusiastic support and encouragement at once from parishioners who were, because of the music, regular attendees at the contemporary-style Mass whose music group spontaneously disbanded about 5 years before I came, and who apparently did not like a great deal of what came after, as well as conservatory-trained professional musicians within the parish, some of whom have a background in chant.

So, I would say that this approach of wide retention and gradualism has worked for me. I view my goal more in terms of fostering excellent choral singing, instilling a love of good music in the parish, and crafting a musical liturgy in which repertoire from the entire Catholic tradition may find a happy home, than that of turning the tables of the money-changers, as what is not ideal, or even what is deplorable, is not always evil. And what is not evil, we may wisely tolerate to the advantage of the better.

I am also a firm believer in a somewhat uniform and consistent parish liturgy, as opposed to the effective subdivision of the parish into fan clubs on the basis of Mass time, as I still hold out hope for worship that expresses real unity within a parish, across the Rite, and throughout the entire Church, both inwardly and outwardly. Your results may vary.

Predictably, I find the article in HPR dead-on.

Seriously? Who IS the Mass for?

The God who has no need of our praise? If God doesn't need it, then why are we doing it? Because we need to pray, to mourn, to rejoice, to lament etc. Emotions are the basic building block which God gave human beings to live the spiritual life with. Dumping them does not seem be respectful of God's creation.

Isn't faith a matter of intellect, not emotions?

These are not the only two options.

The Mass, in its full realization, evangelically calls all people, each a sinner, to look and behold. It is not about "satisfying God or thems that show up."

Who said anything about options? And why are you looking at it as an either/or? Emotions are a natural thing, they aren't bad. Music generates an emotional response, but it isn't the point of liturgical music to do that. That is one of the reasons Chant is so fitting to the liturgy, because while an emotional response may be present (and even desired sometimes), it is moderated.

But PaxMelodius said that:

"Emotions are the basic building block which God gave human beings to live the spiritual life with."

That is the statement I disagree with. Emotions are not building blocks, they are the spackle.

1) The bereaved plan a part of the funeral liturgy themselves, a process in which I am not involved. They are restricted in their choices to the hymnal. I do not program that music, but I do execute it. To do anything else would be, I think, incredibly inappropriate. My choices are confined to the part they do not plan.

"They are restricted in their choices to the hymnal."

There is nothing "wrong" with your approach. This sentence removes the thought that "anything" could be chosen by people. If I had understood that there were controls in your system, which there are, I would have been less...interested in commenting.

Jumping off to the emotions discussion. Any decision made based upon emotions can be very dangerous. This applies to business and music.

For some of the prominent in our culture, mathematics is their religion.

The God who has no need of our praise?

The mass is the work of the Lord, not ours. His praise, which is His holy death and sacrifice, is what we offer, not our praise. This is what the Catholic mass does that no other "mass" or "service" can do.