Heretical Hymns? (Sacred songs that contradict church teachings)

Catholic Education ^ | August 29, 2006 | George Weigel

[the invisib1e hand]

love that graphic! it looks like the angel is saying "Shush!"

[NYer]

Jeff Miller, at The Splendor of Truth blog, intones his own contributions.

---

Heretical Hymns

Victor Lams posts about infiltrating the liturgical complex by writing outlandishly heretical hymns that will be snapped up by music publishers and then slowly trying to introduce real music. He has some very funny possible hymn titles of which I have put the words to one of them:

I Am The Resurrection Muffin

For the poor, the sad the downtrodden
Look to me the Resurrection Muffin
No half-baked theology for you or me
I am fully cooked plainly you can see

Chorus:
Repent deeply of all your sins
Look deeply upon the Resurrection Muffin
Your salvation now has truly began
available in Banana Nut or Healthy Oat Bran

Diversity in liturgy is no problem for me
Yummy Chocolate Chip and also Blueberry
I am the true paschal pastry
Eat of me and you will be set free

Chorus:

All the best liturgists fully approve of me
Chocked full of nuts like their liturgies
Pop me right out of that muffin tin
Enjoy the life of the muffin within

Chorus:

And here is another offering sung to Here I am Lord, and if you don't know the music that goes along with it - then count your blessings.

Here I am, Bored

Masses with guitar licks.
Heretical insipid fare.
Let me listen to you.
Fill me with despair.

Here I am, bored.
Here I am.
Music that is a disservice, here I am.
Here I am, bored.
Here I am.
Music that is a disservice, here I am.

This song is everlasting.
Pop music of I tire.
A total tonal bleakness.
Couldn't you all just retire?

Here I am, bored.
Here I am.
Music that is a disservice, here I am.
Here I am, bored.
Here I am.
Music that is a disservice, here I am.

Lyrics that are just plain dumb.
Hear my cry for help.
Hear me using these three words,
Gregorian Chant Now!
Here I am, bored.
Here I am.
Music that is a disservice, here I am.
Here I am, bored.
Here I am.
Music that is a disservice, here I am.

[wagglebee]

Get rid of "Kumbaya" forever!

[Charles Henrickson]

For classic Lutheran theology, hymns are a theological "source:" not up there with Scripture, of course, but ranking not-so-far below Luther's "Small Catechism." Hymns, in this tradition, are not liturgical filler. Hymns are distinct forms of confessing the Church's faith. Old school Lutherans take their hymns very seriously.

This is most certainly true.

[ArrogantBustard]

Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas ping.

[redgolum]

My wife, who is not Lutheran, can not understand why I don't feel at home unless there is a loud organ and hymns in the "old fashioned" style.

I've tried to explain to her the significance hymns have to the Lutheran liturgy, but it falls on deaf ears (probably from the last organ solo).

[samiam1972]

I just keep my mouth shut during those "We are Jesus" songs. I know my husband is tired of me elbowing him every time our choir sings a song I don't like. :o)

[Carolina]

Annunciation by Fra Angelico, 1433
Tempera on wood
Cortona, Italy

The angel is saying: the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee

[Charles Henrickson]

Then there is the even worse "contemporary worship," which inspired me to pen these parodies:

AWFUL SONG
Tune: "Awesome God"

Our song is an awful song,
It's filled with empty fluff--
Of Christ, not near enough--
Our song is an awful song.

SHAME, CHURCHES, SHAME
Tune: "Shine, Jesus, Shine"

Shame, churches, shame,
For this brand of "creative worship."
Lame, music, lame--
That's what you admire.
Spine, churches, spine--
Blending in isn't so "courageous."
Check out your roots,
Church, and sing some real hymns.

[redhead]

I love it every time I have a chance to post this! "The Hidden Hand Behind Bad Catholic Music" has been posted here before, but it never hurts to refresh people's minds...

[Teófilo]

Next to go should be those "We are Jesus" hymns in which the congregation (for the first time in two millennia of Christian hymnology) pretends that it's Christ. "Love one another as I have loved you/Care for each other, I have cared for you/Bear each other's burdens, bind each other's wounds/and so you will know my return." Who's praying to whom here? And is the Lord's "return" to be confined to our doing of his will? St. John didn't think so. "Be Not Afraid" and "You Are Mine" fit this category, as does the ubiquitous "I Am the Bread of Life...

I once held the opinion that for a congregation to sing in the divine "I" wasn't kosher, until I stumbled upon hymns in the Byzantine tradition that used that device. Then I began not to care that much about that "defect."

I love "I am the Bread of Life." To sing it is to sing Scripture. Just as a reader doesn't become Christ when s/he proclaims Scripture in the divine "first person," a cantor or a congregation is not at fault when they do the same. If the hymn proclaims Scripture in a sense that agrees with Tradition, I no longer care if it is in "the first person."

The rest of the article is right on the mark.

[redhead]

Don't forget the shaggy-bear Tom Conry, who loves to write Communist anthems for church settings, among others. He and his contemporaries at Oregon Catholic Press are responsible for a lot of the dumbing-down of Catholic praxis.

[the invisib1e hand]

thanks. I figured with the thread being about bad hymns and all, it was "shush."

[ArrogantBustard]

Mash here hard core, "old school" Catholic hymnody ... this material is ancient and timeless, and truly expresses the eternal Truth which Our Lord entrusted to the Church. That modernists have tried to throw it all away never ceases to annoy me.

[ArrogantBustard]

Their name is legion, for they are many.

[FJ290]

Here's some Gregorian Chant to listen to online for free.

Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

[NYer]

Great link .... just curious, but have any RC hymns infiltrated the Byzantine Church? (Father has a few reserved for certain seasons).

[Nihil Obstat]

And Marty Haugen is Lutheran -- why do we have to put up with his mass of cremation? The fifty year ban isn't long enough.

[ecomcon]

LOL