Saturday, January 21, 2012

He Put A New Song In My Mouth

This was the second week of having to sing "Here I Am, Lord" at Mass. This wouldn't trouble me so much aside from the fact that last week, for some reason totally unbeknownst to me, we  got a new Holy, Holy, Holy, a new Lamb of God and a new Great Amen. All with a tune that sounds like something from a Disney movie new arrangement.

I highly, HIGHLY dislike these new arrangements. We also got the new Gloria. No, not that new Gloria, a NEW new Gloria, with a new arrangement as well. I like the Gloria Simplex because it fits the new translation of the Mass. It sounds sort of like a chant and the simplicity of it works better than the cramming of the new words into the tune we were singing to before, so you can focus on what you're saying and not the odd phrasing with the arrangement. (Aside: When I was a kid, even at The Other Catholic Church in town, the Holy, Holy, Holy and Lamb of God were sort of chanted and I find myself longing for these older arrangements. My big beef with the Holy Holy Holy that we were doing before the new translation and are now doing again is phrasing. What is the need to repeat the "your glory" and "who comes"? Why can't we just put it into a normal phrasing? If you are repeating things in order to make them fit the melody, methinks you ought to re-write your melody, especially if your lyrics are coming from Scripture.) These new arrangements of these very important liturgical songs do NOT fit the elevated status of the new mass. They sort of jar me out of where I am. When the pianist started playing the tune for the Lamb of God, I actually got confused. I actually thought to myself  "why are they playing a song, we're not supposed to be playing a song here," and, based on how long it took people to catch on, I wasn't the only one. Here's my question: what's wrong with the Agnus Dei? I'm not saying that to be flippant, I am totally serious. Why can't we just sing the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei? Why all this kumbaya hand holdy stuff now, NOW that we have finally gotten rid of the kumbaya hand holdy translation?!

In any event, when I looked at these songs in our hymnal, I realized that they were all arranged by the same composer. I will not name him, mainly because the thread on his music on the Catholic Answers Forums was closed because people were being uncharitable. Now, I won't say anything about him personally (because I didn't even Wikipedia him to find out anything about him personally), I just don't like his "hymns." One because they are trite and contrived lyrically, two because they all sound like something from a Disney movie the same. But the last two weeks, with the exception of the Gloria Simplex and our recessional hymn this week ("How Can I Keep From Singing" which is a Protestant hymn, by the way), ALL of the songs we sang in mass were written by this good gentleman. It was like a This Dude love fest and not a Catholic mass at all.

Catholicism. You're Doing it Wrong. 
What does one do about something like this? I finally left The Other Catholic Church after putting my foot down over a horrendous rendition of Alleluia in which we clapped. Yes, you read that right. I am not a RadTrad, I'm really only a regular trad and this stuff really, really, REALLY bothers me. Can I ask my Pastor to put a moratorium on all the David Haas, Marty Haugen, Dan Schutte stuff? Can I respectfully request that we have a Catholic mass for the reals, or have the pew-sitting Catholics gotten so into their "let's sing the Our Father, use the orans posture, and clap through the Alleluia" mentality that people would actually be upset at the Catholicization of the mass? I know my personal preference should not dictate things and I know there are people out there who are very emotionally attached to these songs, but some of us are emotionally attached to the MASS as it should be and would like to at LEAST hear the liturgical prayers sung respectfully. I would trade one awful hymn a week for two good ones. Heck, at this point, I would trade two David Haas debacles for one Panis Angelicus. With so many beautiful, relevant, traditional Catholic hymns, do we really need to subject parishioners to this stuff?

Ugh, and now I have "Here I Am, Lord" in my head.

17 comments:

  1. we just started using the Simplex mass parts at my church last week. Mass of Glory is my favorite mass setting but most places don't use it. I have them on my computer and sometimes I will listen to them (hehe) but they are all wrong now bc it's the old mass parts :(

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    1. I loved the old melody to the Gloria, and I often find myself singing it on the way to work, or at my desk, or when I wake up in the morning. I do like the simplex, though. It's the other cheesy arrangements I cannot stand.

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  2. I'm new to reading your blog, so forgive me if this is something you've addressed, but why not go to a Latin Mass instead?

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    1. The closest Latin Mass to me is a 90 minute drive. I go to the most traditional church in town (the other is the one I refer to as The Other Catholic Church and then we have a university church that isn't much better and is the same distance as the church I go to now.)We have an SSPX church that's about a 30 minute drive, but since they are not in communion with Rome (last I heard) I hesitate to attend mass there. Good suggestion, though. They kicked around the option of having one at my parish, but not enough people were interested, sadly.

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  3. We have the same problem at our church. I go to the most traditional Lutheran (LCMS) church in the area and they still insist on updating the music and getting the choir involved and messing with things that don't need to be messed with. My fear is that they're doing it for us (the younger generation) and are going to lose all of us that actually care. I hate it when churches change what they're doing to attract new people and end up alienating the ones who are already there.

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  4. I agree with a lot of what you said, but want to clarify on the orans posture. About a year ago, our priest explained that was the proper posture for the Our Father, which I presumed he said to get people to stop holding hands (it didn't work for the most part). I did just google and I see that it isn't stated that you SHOULD use the orans posture, but is it stated somewhere that you should NOT? Just curious because I will change what I'm doing if so.

    I just found your blog through your guest post and I'm thoroughly enjoying it :).

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    1. Hi Stacy! Thanks for reading, I love having new people venture on here (since I'm sure my family members and co-workers are sick of my opinions at this point.) Here is an article I found about the orans posture during the Our Father http://www.adoremus.org/1103OransPosture.html

      I always avoided it since it sort of brought down the "wall" as it were between the lay people and the clergy. I typically just fold my hands and bow my head in prayer just like I would anything else.

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  5. As a die-hard supporter of traditional services I was so frustrated with our Lutheran church going contemporary I seriously considered converting to Catholicism if only for the hymns. The fact that Catholics, which pretty much define "Old School" for me, is headed this way is.... disconcerting.

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    1. Oh Baylee, you know you want to swim the Tiber! The water's warm, just jump in and embrace it!! And it's not really headed this way, it's actually kind of headed away from it.. this is still a last hanging-on after Vatican II.

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  6. What's wrong with singing (chanting) the Our Father? Pretty much agree with you on the rest... ice cream music (Haugen Hass) definitely needs to go.

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  7. Paige:
    First of all, have hope and patience. The new settings are just that- new, in response to the NRM, and as our music director sighed- they are "bad"... so just be patient and pray the talented musicians get their song on and create good new settings for the new wording Fast!
    Second, I just wanted to respond to your reply to the orens position conversation - There is not meant to be a "wall" between the clergy and the assembly. That is actually theologically incorrect. The presider represents both the people of God and Christ. So rather than a "wall" between him and God's people, he is instead a mediator - the link as it were between God and His people. Remember that our prayers are addressed to God the Father in the Mass, and this affects our common orientation. This is why the ad orientem posture makes so much more sense, actually, than the post conciliar allowance for (versus polpulorum) "priest facing the people" posture. Because the original posture was a place of turning Towards God as our first position in prayer, sharing this common position between priest and people.

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    1. Yeah, I knew as soon as I typed "wall" that was not the word I wanted. It was more like a clericization of the laity and vice versa. I don't mind the orans posture as much as I mind the hand-holding, and I mind the hand-holding more due to my personal discomfort with it as well as people's aggression with it.

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  8. Oh my gosh yes! At mass this Sunday during the Gloria I was thinking "You've known these changes were coming for how long? And you couldn't come up with anything better than just jamming the new words in?"

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  9. "but some of us are emotionally attached to the MASS as it should be..."

    I know we all have our preferences (I know I do), but if this is the case for you, then shouldn't the music matter less? After all, this is not the focus of mass. Also, what is the definition of "MASS as it should be"? If you visit various countries all around the world, the music will be very different. Would mass in other countries be invalid because it is different from what you are used to?

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    1. I just want the Mass to be Catholic, I like things to be traditional, but I make no bones about the validity. I have been to Mass in different countries (heck, different states) where it was MUCH more traditional than the one I go to and ones that were much more "contemporary." I fall on the side of preserving our Catholic identity rather than pandering to some notion of Protestantism to draw people in. I know the Mass is still the Mass, and I know that I can receive Jesus no matter what vapid songs we're forced to sing. That is the beauty of Catholicism and I love it even when it seems like I don't. :)

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  10. I know this is an old post, but the line " I am not a RadTrad, I'm really only a regular trad" might have just made my day and summarized my life. Thanks, Paige! You've got a new reader! :)

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    1. Hi Christina! Thanks for reading! I hope I can keep you entertained! :)

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Go ahead and weigh in. As Chesterton once said "Thinking in isolation and with pride ends in being an idiot."