Wow. Just... wow.

Shocked but not surprised coming from this Diocese.

Isn’t the Diocese of Orange in the center of the Orange County punk rock scene? If they wanted to be effective, they should have gotten some of the local punk bands involved.

I looked at other videos produced by and "starring" the Vietnamese priest in the Vann video. Making such videos seems to be his "thing" and he has a fanbase. Is this kind of amateurish schmaltz characteristic of Vietnamese Catholic piety? There are a lot of Vietnamese concentrated in Orange.

Is this what the Church means by "inculturation?"

I originally thought I should tag this "amusements", but quickly realized that there is nothing funny about this at all. The derision with which the video was met by those who commented on it on YouTube (before the comments were disabled) is hardly surprising. Throughout my career as a church musician I have had to contend with those who propose banality as mission, little understanding its total lack of inspirational power. In a culture where people are exposed to high-quality musical production all the time (thanks to smartphones and Spotify), no longer can half-baked musical attempts cut the mustard. On the whole, in the more successful Bible Churches, the music is done very well by highly skilled musical professionals (whether you like the style or not). While I cannot imagine what possessed His Excellency the Ordinary of the Diocese of Orange to agree to perform in this video, I am sorry he was not better advised by his staff. I'm not sure Pastor Schuller would have ever countenanced something like this.

Kathy,

If I grant you that this is true, surely church music professionals will suffer as a result. I can almost hear it: "Bishop Vann doesn't have those hang ups, so what's your problem?!"

Kathy

This is attrocious. And I am surprised at your lax defense of trashy music, (content, lyrics, composition and production). This is an embarrassment to our faith. Period.

Kathy,

Ps. 90 gave the Devil something to hurl at Christ, but gives us the text for the Tract for the First Sunday of Lent, one of three psalms at Sunday Compline, responses in the Divine Office throughout Lent and.....On Eagle's Wings.

When St. Francis de Sales says something (or Abp Sheen says something) I take it to be soundly Catholic and (sometimes) challenging. When His Holiness Pope Francis says nearly identical things, I find myself having to be reminded of Francis de Sales and Abp Sheen, for else it sounds "sometimes Catholic and profoundly worrying".

Since this track is just one on Fr. Binh's album, I expect the intended audience is his existing base of friends and fans.

I suppose what I'm really feeling is that many excellent musicians have experienced the kind of rejection that many are levelling at this video, and I don't think it's a good way for us to treat each other in the Church. By all means, the liturgical worship of almighty God should have the highest standards. Quantum potes, tantum aude. But otoh I don't think we should beat each other up if we are all preaching the true God, esp outside of a liturgical context.

Honestly, is it worse than this?

Schmaltz has always been, schmaltz will always be, in every age.

This is kind of a non-issue. Cutesy, perhaps, like +Sheen on What's My Line.

I think the point is precisely to have people grow closer to God, by reminding them of God's eternity and creation's contingency.

local people's expectations for quality

Well, Micky Mouse was the first thing that came to my mind.

:-)

Chris, why don't you think the video is attempting that goal?

Kathy,

I'll look again, as time allows, but I didn't see a crucifix, or images of the psalmist, or a tabernacle, or any such thing. When we see images of the bishop and one of his clerics, the exterior, only, of that dreadful building.

I'll admit that the video may be appealing to some segment of the population, but it won't draw that segment closer to God, because it's not attempting to do so.

this video popped up after i watched the one discussed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3H5f7oePQE

This is a modern treatment of Catholic music that inspires sentiment in a good way. Not my cup of tea as this is somewhat sentimentalized chant, but heh... I would rather see this any day.

Look, there are legitimate reasons to respectfully make one's needs known to a bishop, and that would include asking for better liturgical music. But I don't see the point of deriding a bishop who is singing a Psalm, outside of liturgy, in a way that maybe helpful to some of his flock.

On the other hand, I have a story about older Vietnamese Catholics.

In my parish in San Diego several decades ago, we had enough language groups that we received a dispensation to have a second Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper in Vietnamese. I had been adoring the Eucharist for a while in a separate building after the English/ Spanish Mass, and came back to see how the Vietnamese Mass was doing.

After a while, they got stuck. What happened was, the young choir leaders did not know how the Liturgy ended, so they sang a regular hymn, and the priest waited, holding the Blessed Sacrament, and the choir didn't know what to do, and the priest waited.....

I knew the musicians a little, so I took the Pange Lingua music to the keyboardist, and he played it a little before starting to accompany the hymn.

What happened next was amazing. The church erupted in full throated singing by the older members of the congregation, who knew the Pange Lingua by heart, from learning it as children under oppression.

.

Kathy,

But I don't see the point of deriding a bishop who is singing a Psalm, outside of liturgy, in a way that maybe helpful to some of his flock.

If this is addressed to me, I'm not deriding a bishop. I'm simply insisting that what he's doing isn't calculated to bring anyone closer to God. Two humans, a cross without a corpus and the outside a glass cathedral are the visuals here, and nothing in this picture could be out of place in a Disneyland advertisement.

Chonak,

My apologies.