Yes, yes, and yes. I continually find that such people a) believe a fantasy that “everyone loves singing Tom Booth at Mass”, and b) don’t care two whits about liturgical propriety.how utterly and complete cut off from current trends are the "contemporary music" people.
I had an opportunity to attend an FSSP chapel (with no music) and was so refreshed by the reverence and solid preaching of the priest, I plunked down a 5-spot.
If you try to change the currently universal practice in one church you have to fight not only TPTB but also deal with the fact that you are making your parish different from all the others in your area. THAT is the biggest obstacle IMO.
I wonder why some people want to go so fast.
I just wish I had a pastor who will look at the determinedly non-singing congregation members and tell them they are supposed to sing, and if they don’t, they enter a state of objective sin. That’s my big pet peeve of late.
I can't afford a Triplex
I'll get back to you after my second Manhattan!
By that same token, you would agree, would you not, that not everyone is capable of singing, even an "amen," if their soul is in a state of dryness. One of the beautiful aspects of our Faith is that when we are in those dry times, we have the broader church to carry us. I was simply cautioning, even within the context of a Mass celebrated with the best, purest forms of music and only asking the people to sing those parts belonging to them, to use their visibly active participation as a "gold standard" for evaluating their disposition or obstinacy is perhaps a bit harsh.
I think that they should be left alone, and we need to work to find things that they will want to sing. I think that we should reduce, rather then increase, how much of the Mass they should sing.
The variety of the Protestant service is not Catholic. Catholic is repetition, repetition, repetition. I feel that the heart of the music to be sung by the people is the Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen and Agnus Dei. Tell a Baptist Preacher that he's going to do the exact same service every week with no changes, no chance to insert his personality and charm the people, inflame them and scare them....and he would immediately envision empty offering plates and having to drive a school bus to have money to eat.
I'd prefer that they not sing the Alleluia or Psalm. Let the singers whom God has given voices the opportunity to sing them...and beautifully. But from a loft where they cannot be seen. And please, please cut all the microphone wires in the church that do not lead to the pulpit or the celebrant's wireless microphone.
STOP CALLING A PULPIT AN AMBO. Ambones [don't you love the plural?] are not what most churches have. I have served at a church with an historic Ambo. There IS a difference....recognize it, educate people and we won't stumble when we fail to call a pulpit an ambo.
Ambo [Latin from Greek ambon]. "Pulpit." A raised platform in a church, clearly in evidence by the 4th century. It is used for chanting scriptural parts of the mass, preaching, announcements, lessons of the divine office and chanting the Exultet.
the highly-respected, dare I say legendary Edward Foley,
The Hambones in the Ambones!
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