I was fired once for having the audacity to write to the pastor, citing the documents, asking him not to permit recorded music at funerals.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, given battlefield conditions, something like this should be indulted. On the other, it hasn't been, so far as I know, and it does set a very bad precedent. I guess this is one time when I'm really glad I'm not a member of the Church hierarchy and don't have to make that decision.

Apt and appropriate metaphor, JDE. I'm in agreement with JQ's indult proposal for military application only.
That said, I would not support the transference of such a technical enterprise to a commercial firm, such as the one noted in the first post. The marketing of prepared mp3/IPod/amplifier "combo packages" is more than likely one that is heavily marked up in the cost to retail ratio, not to mention a likelihood that liturgical oversight for content would be nebulous at best.
Having recently viewed the powerful, poignant documentary "Restrepo" that covers the deployment of a particular platoon in Hellman province, Afghanistan, it seems that many units have soldiers with guitars or capable singers to provide leadership for worship in the field. But if that is not the case everywhere units are assigned, it seems the USCCB could underwrite the cost of creating digital reproductions of actual organist's/ensembles' "live" accompaniments for approved repertoires.

I'm with Adam. Recorded devotionals, even music right after Mass is fine in such circumstances.

The gag rule on recorded music during the sacred liturgy should be retained. How I wish we could get to a place where devotions and Mass are distinct and complimentary. So many treat the Mass as their own private jukebox... I mean, two forms of communal prayer is a better thing than lumping our own favorites into the Mass.

While I wouldn't fight my superiors on this, I probably wouldn't choose to work long for them, either.

I went and looked at the website. Holy crud, what a snafu.

According to the history of the program, it never occurred to ANYBODY along the line that using recorded music _at Mass_ could possibly be a problem. Not to the bishop. Not to the laypeople. NO-BO-DY. There is no shadow of a figleaf of approval here, because it never occurred to anyone that you needed an indult. Everyone along the way was COMPLETELY CLUELESS about an edict which is not new.

So now, you've got maybe HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Catholics at military bases and outposts all around the world, wrongly catechized on this topic. And when they come back, they're going to expect their home parishes to DO THE SAME THING.

ARRRRRRRRGH.

All this was going on totally behind the back of groups like CMAA and even NPM. Because it never occurred to anyone that we might have anything to contribute.

ARRRRRRRRGH. ARRRRRRRRGH. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH.

On the bright side, the "Catholic Lay Service" (which they also made up new, despite 5 zillion real liturgical services they could have picked for laymen to lead) doesn't have any bloody liturgical value whatsoever and is just a mundane approved prayer service, so it being accompanied by recorded music is meaningless and not an abuse. Also, if you've got a chaplain who's not Catholic, then obviously it's nice to have Catholic music for Catholic services, and I suppose you want a service that's not a real liturgy (like Liturgy of the Hours would be).

But the website is definite that the music includes "Downloadable Tracks and Song Sheets: The musical tracks are produced especially for Catholic liturgical use. They come in an easy to follow format in a comfortable, low vocal range that encourages participation and prayerful singing." They also suggest: "Enhance Masses, Communion and Prayer services, weddings, funerals, reconciliation services and holy hours. "

I don't blame the people behind this. But I do blame the bishops for not knowing better and teaching better than this, and thus leading people to be inadvertently disobedient and badly catechized.

Knights of Columbus.
For men who don't qualify to be in the Boy Scouts, the Masons, or the Swiss Guard.

Frankly, my reaction was the same Maureen's: How could this have happened, and how will it be used as a precedent to support the practice in other setting? If it's good enough for the Archdiocese of the Military, why not for others doing battle in the trenches?

I wonder too what music is programmed and under what rights/permissions.

You can count on the K of C to obtain all the necessary rights and permissions.

It's possible that copyright might be waived by the publishers. If I understand aright, the US government also has some immunity from copyright obligations, and that might be invoked. (Just the other day, a member of one of the US Air Force bands explained to us at school that they are free to make arrangements of copyrighted music without paying any fees.)

Or the K of C might just make a deal with the publishers for some agreeable payment.

Anyway, the OLTFF program appears to bear the endorsement of the Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services (on the www.oltff.com website), so that's probably the place to address any concerns. I wouldn't bother them: the Archbishop has a tough enough job already with the shortage of priests.

So my statement was accurate?

A bit mean spirited, and I should apologize for that.
I have had nothing but bad experiences with the Knights. At my home parish they were little more than men's social club, except they occasionally dressed up and paraded around for no apparent reason at Mass. They harbored a mentally handicapped child molester (out of stupidity, not malice), and then about year after that member was institutionalized, his name showed up in calligraphy as a founding member on their over-done poster-sized charter. The really great part, though, was the already-inappropriate, and now tragically comical, money collecting cans bearing the motto "Helping the Retarded" that showed up from time to time after that.

I'm sorry, but I am really not a fan of the Knights of Columbus.
This initiative, while certainly not as heinous as the behavior I just described, reinforces my (certainly under-informed) impression of the organization as being full of men who like to go do things that make them feel and look important, without knowing enough about the things they are meddling with.

Point taken.

I apologize for my statement.

Jeffrey:

Got some of those sharp shiny things too!

Well, the KofC business above aside, I am wondering, as I'm sure many of you are, about the quality of the canned music........

Masses under austere conditions, I'm sure we can let this sort of thing slide if even the His Grace the Archbishop of the Military Services supports it, provided the music so canned is actually of high quality.

When these servicemen and women return stateside, however, I just hope they don't expect us to use it.

It doesn't "support the troops" to foist illicit liturgical praxis upon them.

@JDE and Francis: For the record, the case I mentioned involved recorded secular music, a pop song that had overtones about drug use and suicide. Out of idle curiosity, JDE, would this be worth dying on said hill? Francis, would you defer to your pastor on that?

As for the military recordings, I am much more concerned about the state of music in American parishes than some relatively minor abuses in the military. If music in the parishes were improved, then it would bear fruit throughout the life of the Church. I doubt we'd even be having this discussion, as it would probably never enter into the minds of the chaplains of our great armed forces to use canned sacropop.

Michael, if I were weighing my livelihood and my obligation to provide for my family against a liturgical abuse for which I was not responsible, no, I would still not die on that hill. I sat by while a priest played "From a distance" over the loudspeakers at a Christmas Eve Mass after he had just come back from the Gulf after Desert Storm. At the time, that was my only source of income.

However, as if more proof were needed that God is not mocked, while Miss M was crooning away, the wind shifted, and it started blowing the smoke from the censer into the Sanctuary instead of carrying it out the window - in a minute the whole chapel looked like a smoke grenade attack.

Father was not pleased. But I imagine God was pretty amused.

I was asked to play 'For a Season, Turn, Turn, Turn' for a funeral, and in the presence of the pastor I said I could not in good conscience, play it. They brought in an electric guitar and other singers, and I had to sit in the pew and watch. I do draw the line, but only when it jumps outside the realm of the Big three publishers and into the pop realm.

I wish I could be as sanguine about this development. Per the promoter, "20 units are being used at bases from Afghanistan to Greenland and, the Pacific to Parris Island (S.C.), as well as U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower, with 15 more on the way...", and has been "'blessed' throughout the military chaplaincy."

So, it's apparently already found a foothold within the U.S. and I think it's just a matter of time before it makes its way around the corner to St. Peter's in Beaufort or up the road to Charleston. In fact, given the mobility of military chaplains and their congregations, I'd predict it'll become a fixture at most military chapels within the various dioceses of the U.S. The spread of the practice (or, at least, questions about the practice) into adjacent parishes is inevitable.

Has everyone seen that awful video of the Austrian priest and servers "recessing" to some tiktok video music (someone mentioned Jerusalem or Jerusalema, or something like that)?

Besides the obvious abuses going on for such to be considered the end of a liturgy, is pre-recorded music also disallowed for the entry/exit processions, or can this parish at least be cited for that?
What a disgrace.

Mass is over, but is the procession a part of the liturgy?

I would think it is if they go down the full aisle, rather than just out through the sacristy.

I believe that technically the introit (as it is a proper) is indeed part of the liturgy, while Mass technically ends at "ite missa est". This is why there is a certain latitude for how recessionals are handled (we go straight to postlude, for instance).

That said, the video is indeed disgusting. And all the old people (no offense to anyone here... but it is clear that everyone who attends the parish is of a certain generation) smile and clap along like idiots.

Frankly, it was a disgraceful show and not worth of the sanctuary. It's as simple as that. No doubt someone will accuse me of being some rigid trad for this opinion (though likely not anyone on this forum), but the sanctuary deserves respect. If they wanted to make @$$es of themselves after mass in the courtyard, that would be one thing, but replacing a dignified procession with that tripe whilst simultaneously forgetting that they are in the house of God is very disturbing.

Much like architecture (ie- the way a particular generation builds a church), the way one conducts a liturgy tells you all you need to know about their interior life. Same for music. I'm sure we all saw the video out of germany a year or two ago with that wretched woman shouting into a megaphone during mass whilst the organist played his best "hammerklavier" (pun intended) rendition.

I'd love to see the ghost of St. Alphonsus Liguori show up at the west end portal whilst this was taking place. I'd pay good money to see that, and I'd lend him my best notted chord free of charge. Consider it a tithe.