Hymns on January 22 Ideas/Thoughts???
  • JacobFlahertyJacobFlaherty
    Posts: 331
    Hello, all! I was curious what you all do on Sunday, January 22nd with regards to hymns (for those large percentage of churches in which hymns are the norm - we do a Processional Hymn followed by the Introit). In the O.F. it's the Third Sunday, so of course you can use the Propers and/or the readings as a guide. But with it being the anniversary of Roe v. Wade day it seems hard to ignore, too. Thoughts?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    FWIW, the day in the US ordo for the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children is transferred to Monday this year.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Jacob,

    Applying the principle that the secular calendar isn't what the Church follows in her liturgy, but rather the liturgical calendars, I can't find a good reason to program hymns around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. President's Day is around the corner, as is Martin King's birthday, but in neither case should we program hymns around these unless the liturgy itself allows or requires it. The times that happens don't constitute an empty set, but they're not plentiful.
    Thanked by 2LauraKaz WGS
  • JacobFlahertyJacobFlaherty
    Posts: 331
    Normally I would agree with you. But I think there is a difference between commemorating a day of moral depravity and celebrating the fact that we have Presidents. If September 11 happened on a Friday and the liturgical propers the following Sunday we’re all about being joyful in the Lord, I think one would have a reasonable right to question if ‘Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee’ was a good hymn choice given the state of things. The obvious end around that, in my opinion, is that since hymns are not actually envisioned to replace the propers, in those churches in which both are done, the hymn could reflect something of the world, getting as close to the sense of the proper as possible, with the proper chant following afterward. It is in this context in this paradigm that I posed the question.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • Nathan_the_Organist
    Posts: 440
    January 22 is the anniversary of Roe, but it is also on the church calendar as the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Therefore it could be appropriate to program music that fits this theme.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Nathan,

    When there is a liturgical office for the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, you'll have a better leg to stand on.

    Jacob,

    About presidents and moral depravity...... no, never mind.

    Our liturgical calendar isn't set by the world's agenda. Propers exist for a reason.

    As I said in my earlier post, the co-incidents don't make the null set, but there aren't many.
    Thanked by 1LauraKaz
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    "January 22 . . . is also on the church calendar as the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children."

    Not this year. This year it's on January 23.
    Thanked by 1Nathan_the_Organist
  • JacobFlahertyJacobFlaherty
    Posts: 331
    Chris,
    Thank you for the dialogue. However, you haven't addressed my main point, which is what to do when a parish uses BOTH hymnody and Propers. I agree full-heartedly: we shouldn't (and can't) adjust the Propers to somehow mark something with great moral implications happening in the world, but can't our hymnody, particularly if we turn to the Propers afterwards? I guess here's what I mean: I try very hard to tie our hymnody to the Propers and readings of the day. I read through them carefully and then connect them, even as we do the Proper chants. I believe I can drift off of this path a little when it comes to something of great concern - the commemoration of Roe, the death of the Pope, a terrorist attack (think 9/11). The Propers will still get done, and I can still make some connection in my hymnody to those Propers, but the connection might be less than usual.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Jacob,

    I, too, am glad for the dialogue.

    I understand your perspective which, given the assumptions you have operative, makes sense.

    The assumptions are problematic, though.

    If the Propers are proper to the Mass, what are the hymns? They are supplementary, right? If they are also proper to the Mass, then they're governed by the same rules, surely, and don't acknowledge the secular calendar. If they're supplementary, they can't be allowed to overshadow or diminish the importance of (or the rightful place of) Propers.

    If the Church needs to acknowledge the secular calendar, this can be done in some ways, but not in others.

    Acknowledging that everyone will be out of town on the Sunday after Thanksgiving doesn't make the First Sunday of Advent less the first Sunday of Advent, nor does it mean that we should sing Christmas carols (or secular Christmas tunes) at Mass during the time when the rest of the country is busy with such things. It might mean, on the other hand, that a choirmaster adapt the expectations and not plan a polyphonic Mass when a quorum of the singers are out of town.

    Thanked by 1LauraKaz
  • Chrism
    Posts: 872
    When there is a liturgical office for the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, you'll have a better leg to stand on.... If the Church needs to acknowledge the secular calendar, this can be done in some ways, but not in others.


    But that's for the Church to decide:

    In all the Dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion. The liturgical celebrations for this day may be the "Mass For Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life” (no. 48/1 of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions), celebrated with white vestments, or the Mass “For the Preservation of Peace and Justice” (no. 30 of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions), celebrated with violet vestments.” -- GIRM 373 (U.S.)
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    Hi, Jacob, just wanted to point you to this.
    Thanked by 1JacobFlaherty
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Chrism,

    See: I said it wasn't a null set. This may be celebrated with those particular Mass Propers, but I don't think it's mandatory. If it were, the language would be different.

    At such a Mass, if hymns were used, which they needn't be, relevant texts could be sung to take account of the secular anniversary, always remembering that the texts must be in conformity with Catholic teaching. On the other hand, if the Church has made this an option, are we really stretching to accommodate the secular calendar?
  • Caleferink
    Posts: 434
    If you want to commemorate the anniversary of the (now-overthrown, Deo gratias) Roe v. Wade next Sunday with a hymn, I would suggest doing it at the dismissal so as to not totally usurp the Sunday liturgy. Two suggestions I can think of off the top of my head: "O Lord, the Giver of All Life" by the late Calvert Shenk, set to ST. ANNE in the Adoremus Hymnal, or "O God, You Search Me," based on Psalm 139 and for my money one of the better contemporary hymns out there. See also Kathy Pluth's text that she provided above.
  • Chrism
    Posts: 872
    At such a Mass...


    I don't think the delineations regarding prescribed Propers are so strict as to prevent a little seepage in the devotional music from one liturgical moment into another. It's not an infidelity to the liturgical calendar to look at it.

    Of course this is best done in some kind of novena or paraliturgical devotion, but when there is a great devotion to some liturgical memorial that a significant number of people won't be able to celebrate on the proper day and time, it does become "apt" to remember it as proximately as possible and in a way that also honors the current day.
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