A look at American hymns by a former Anglican.
Great post!
Here’s a suggestion, dump ALL the hymns and go back to a sung Liturgy like The Church, Latin and Eastern did until Vatican II (with the exception of “low masses”) and the East still does.
What’s a hymn for? How should we know. Haven’t heard one in thirty years.
Rejoice, and be glad! What we have are what sound like pop songs and nursery rhymes with trite, silly words ( I won't dignify them by calling them "lyrics").
Another problem are hymns that simply put Scripture verses to music. "I am the bread of life...he who comes to me shall not hunger...etc" Again, the music may be pleasant and the words of Scripture are undeniably wonderful and true...
And made wonderfully politically correct, too (and I'm speaking specifically about "I am the bread of life")! What a bargain!
I've begun a big collection of Gregorian chant and sacred Medieval and Renaissance polyphony CDs. It's so beautiful there's no comparison.
Sometimes ear plugs and a rosary are the best alternative.
Hopefully future generations will have the fine, prayerful chants and other music that we had fifty years ago.
This thread is ridiculous. Flat out ridiculous. You’re bitching about hymns that say ‘Follow Me’ or ‘I will comfort you”? For real?
I don’t think this will turn into a Catholic - Protestant fight. The problem is the same on both sides of the river.
We’ll get it right when the priest and the people face the same direction in a posture of jointly offering this unbloody sacrifice of Christ to the Father: in Christ, through Christ and with Christ. Until that happens...It’s all about US!
He’s preaching to the choir here. :-)
Some of the modern Catholic hymns are sappy social justice
guitar-strumming feelgoodism. They are from (Oregon OCP???).
The hynmals need to keep the old time hymns that are better grounded both musically and spiritually. And it wouldnt hurt to import Anglican hymns as part of that.
That's easy -- a her :)
But it also seems that with the elimination of a lot of the old "hymns" from the churches, the pews are now primarily filled with "hers".
I agree with you whole-heartedly. Most of the songs in churches today are so sappy and then I feel somewhat self-conscious because I’m not singing along with the congregation.
I leave the service feeling like I should have been standing on a mountain with a Coca-Cola in my hand, teaching the world to sing.
I can help this convert out!
The Mass is supposed to be sung. That is the priest, choir and congregations are supposed to sing or chant the prayers and responses of the Mass. Over the centuries, until the 20th century, this is how the liturgy was celebrated and there were no hymns in it. Hymns were added to the Mass during the first half of the twentieth century when many churches started celebrating “dialogue” Masses (which were in Latin), in which the prayers and responses were spoken by the priest and the congregation.
The use of hymns became even more popular after Vatican II and in most places hymns have replaced the singing or chanting of the parts of the Mass, which was not something that the Council Fathers had wanted. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy decreed that Gregorian chant was to have “pride of place” in the liturgy but it gave permission for other forms of music to be used as long as they were truly sacred and liturgical. Well, the rest is history as they say. The liturgists and music experts dumped Gregorian chant faster than you can “St. Louis Jesuits,” and they introduced traditional Protestant hymns and soon after, folk songs and much new, but banal, music into the Mass. And Fr. Longenecker is right. Many of the contemporary songs that are used in Mass are not only too hard for congregations to sing, they are doctrinally unsound.
There is a solution, of course, and that is for parish music directors to re-introduce Gregorian chant into the Mass. It can be done and it should be done in Latin. Chant is not too hard for people to learn and bringing it back into the Mass would do much to restore the beauty and solemnity of the liturgy. After all, the chant is the liturgy sung: it is the words of the liturgy put to music and, therefore, the most appropriate form of music to use during the Mass. Chant promotes a greater participation of the congregation in the Mass and it eliminates the need to sing hymns. And, just as an added bonus, it would mean the end of “guitar” Masses or “folk” Masses.
What ever happened to the wonderful hymn “Oh Lord, I Am Not Worthy” sung at communion time? I loved that hymn because it focused on our relationship to our Lord and on the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. It was a properly humbling song.
The 1940 Episcopal Hymnal, used at Our Lady of Walsingham, is perhaps even superior to the later version. All the golden oldies including one of my special favorities, the old Fannie Havergal classic, “Take My Life and Let it Be, Consecrated, Lord to Thee”. The only thing missing is the greatest Easter Hymn ever (IMHO), “Thine Be the Glory, Risen, Conquering Son” (sung to Judas Maccabeus, by Handel). We have to sing it printed in the service leaflet.
The heart of the problem.
Banality is a very effective means of lessening reverence, morale and, ultimately, faith.
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Amen. I guess it sometimes takes "new eyes" to see.