I'm sure GIA could put out their own Marty Haugenish or David Haasy version of Psallite.

I like my old shoes too, Mr. Batastini, but I hope I know when it's time for a new pair if they've been hurting my feet.

At least the car comparison could have been more accurate - the current translation is more like a rusty obsolete gas-guzzler circa 1973 - "unsafe at any speed."

Sam Schmitt

Pop music in church = telling the people that the Church is being led by the world
Sacred music in church = telling the people that the Church leads, the world really should follow

I find it very difficult to accept "something done by the priest" "event" and everything else he has said. He's nice and bought into it. I'm not buying.


"In the parish church, the emphasis was on the full, conscious, and active participation of the assembly. The liturgy, once perceived as something done by the priest for the people, was being turned full circle into an event that was done by the assembly with the leadership of the priest and other ministers. The assembly’s song was recognized as the principle musical element of the rites."

Mine go directly from my mail box to the trash can the instant I get them. However, perhaps I should dig this out and take a look.
They could make money on the propers if they let David Haas loose on em and had him do another series of commercial jingle books like his psalm settings.

Mr. Batasini provides all of us with a very potent reminder, though. His reality is still much more likely than ours. A generation has been raised w/o the beauty of chant and serious religious music and fully expects church music to be popular in style. Any change to this paradigm will be painful to them and difficult for the changers as many of us already know. We like to believe sometimes that it's only the older generation that likes the status quo. That's not my observation. I really think most younger people would prefer to update the pop music rather than eliminate it entirely. The difficult part of the reform will be training very young people in real church music and trying remind them of this while they attend mass with guitars and conga drums. Although this idea is anathema in some churches, I think we need to build a beach head at the high Mass each Sunday. One Mass with proper church music that can serve as an example and refuge for some. Work on the entire parish can start from this "beach head" to use a military term (unfortunately the battle will be enjoined in many places).

And to you my left coast friend. A grand day indeed. We certainly must keep working to give the Church back its music in spite of those who would refuse the gift. It starts with teaching the faith properly. Knowing one's Catholic faith SHOULD give one pause in accepting lesser music.

We will also be singing the "O" antiphons for each week. There must be wailing and gnashing of teeth at NPM over this.

All you need is love....

Priests and faithful in parishes can't possibly want to do what the Church presents for them to do in the liturgy.

During Thanksgiving Day dessert ...

My sister-in-law mentions she and my brother are now attending a different parish.
The last straw was some months ago, an apology (pre-Mass or post-Mass?)
for use of a politically in-correct word like "kingdom" during the Gospel.
"Why cannot I get just the Gospel without the liturgy committee editing it?"
Pause.
"Also, I really like that prayer before the Lord Have Mercy."
"Prayer?"
"Yeah, the one that goes I confess ...; it is weird that nobody wants to say I am sorry, for anything."
"The homilies were poor, always God loves you no matter what, never anything about sacrifice."

A neice, recent college graduate, enters the room and joins the conversation, having had first-hand
experience attending Mass at three or four parishes in different Dioceses in the last year
due to different locations of home, school, work, etc.
"What I do not get is why the Mass is different everywhere I go.
I do not like the idea of looking around at everyone else to figure out what to do next.
Whether I am in San Francisco or Sacramento or New York or somewhere in China,
it should be the same."

Can you guess that I was astounded? (What just happened? Who stole my relatives and replaced them with you?)
These brief comments could have developed into a very interesting conversation,
but these relatives are apparently addicted to the television show, Survivor, and it was time.

I'd say the Tsunami has already hit and is pulling stuff out to sea.

Right Now the world needs True Love.

"Pop music in church = telling the people that the Church is being led by the world
Sacred music in church = telling the people that the Church leads, the world really should follow"

Oh, so true.

Somebody could write an inspirational book about people who used to convert to Catholicism because Gregorian chant first attracted them to the church. Each chapter would have the same outline: an individual who is not Catholic happens to visit a monastery or nunnery or seminary, is flabbergasted by the chant, and within a week asks to be received into the church. (Of course, it was not the musical notes themselves that captivated these converts but the way of life which those notes symbolized.)
Somebody could write another book about individuals who lowered their estimation of Roman Catholicism because of the kind of music they heard recently in a monastery or nunnery or seminary. The atheist, for example, will look at a group of nuns floating from one "contemporary" song to another and instantly reach a verdict: "arrested adolescent development." The Protestants will observe seminarians trying to get everyone roused up with the exhilaration of the new Triumphalism and conclude: "The television evangelists can do this better." Even the devout member of the Roman Catholic laity will watch seminarians or monks or nuns wallowing in the goo of some "contemporary" song and quietly affirm: "Yes, this is where the church dumps its misfits."
"Why is the church running out of priests and nuns?" There are hundreds of reasons and a small but significant one is music. When it comes to music, all too often the seminaries, convents, and monasteries take careful aim and then deliberately shoot themselves in the foot. They deliberately promote music which has lots of sincerity but no crust, no grit, no credibility, no indication that it is wired directly to the deepest secrets of the universe. On a subconscious level, the music says that there is nothing special or distinctive or "heroic" about the religious life.
--Thomas Day

Ryan

That is a great quote. Love it.