Posted on 12/15/2020 5:26:08 PM PST by marshmallow
CNA Staff, Dec 10, 2020 / 07:01 pm MT (CNA).- The doctrine committee of the US bishops’ conference (USCCB) earlier this year produced a guide to evaluating the lyrics of hymns on the basis of their doctrinal content, noting that Vatican II declared sacred music’s purpose to be “the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.”
“Christian tradition, both Eastern and Western, has from antiquity been acutely aware that hymns and other songs are among the most significant forces in shaping – or misshaping – the religious and theological sensibility of the faithful,” the committee wrote in “Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church,” which is dated September 2020.
“It is all the more important, then, that hymnody selected for the liturgical life of the Church successfully draw out the beauty of the Christian mysteries themselves. This cannot be done if language is used that is out of keeping with the sensibility created by scriptural texts and universal liturgical usage.”
The document was distributed to bishops this month; they were encouraged by the USCCB to share it with diocesan worship offices, pastors, and parish musicians.
The U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee provided two general guidelines for determining whether a hymn is doctrinally suitable for liturgical use: whether it conforms to Catholic doctrine, and whether its images and vocabulary appropriately reflect the usage of Scripture and the liturgical prayer of the Church.
While hymns needn’t “be composed of doctrinal formulae … It is important to avoid language that could be easily misconstrued in a way that is contrary to Catholic doctrine,” the bishops explained.
Hymnody’s beauty “is constitutively related to the truth of the mystery of faith it proposes for our wonder and praise,” the document’s preface notes.
It adds that since beauty and truth are convertible, “there can.......
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
The offending verse.
I always cringed when this "hymn" was sung because it is a nerf hymn
I don’t get it.
What is "nerf"?
I can’t tell if they’re trying to be more progressive here or trying to reinforce Catholic doctrine.
I think it is the latter but probably by mistake.
Nerf like in football
Ie squishy
Yarp
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