Ring dem gongs, but don’t ring dem Sanctus bells!

In the Catholic, Liturgical Music Blogosphere there’s been a great deal of attention and amusement over a skit recently shown on the comedy show Saturday Night Live (NBC.) As it happens its satirical edge cut a little too close to the bone for many liturgy geeks on both sides of the worship wars, demonstrating that, no matter where your heart lies regarding ars celebrandi, contemporaneous Christian worship has finally devolved into literally desperate and disparate banality, hucksterism and meaningless gesticulations. And, as it seems, “our” reaction to the mockery that implies a total loss of respect, reverence and affection for centuries’ of noble and enriched rituals is an impotent resignation to the vapid, vacant mentality of “going through the motions.”

Last night I was channel surfing after a grandson’s Winter Concert, and happened upon the remaining moments of a series on PBS-

SACRED JOURNEYS WITH BRUCE FEILER takes viewers on some of the most celebrated, challenging and spectacular religious pilgrimages on earth. In this landmark six-part series, we travel with American pilgrims looking to transform their lives as they visit places deeply meaningful to their faith. And our cameras gain privileged access to places rarely seen by viewers before.

A pilgrimage at its core is a gesture of action. Pilgrims feel a deeper connection to their faith. They feel closer to God. In a world in which more and more things are digital and ephemeral, a sacred journey gives the pilgrim the chance to experience something real.
Pilgrimage today is more alive than ever before. But you can’t experience its wonders unless you go.

The profoundly striking difference between what I observed in those few moments and the SNL skit centers upon the absolutely sincere and total acceptance of virtually all aspects, great and small, of the American pilgrims for the arcane and ineffable protocols and actions of specific non-Christians religious practices, I believe in this case (Dec.15 airing) that were Buddhist. The producers ensure that the excerpts show not only the profound reverence of Buddhist believers and practicioners, but also how powerful these “other” liturgies have upon modern American pilgrims.

Hopefully (if you’ve read this far) you know where I’m going with this. I cannot compute how, on one hand, a large portion of Catholic professionals and faithful, show such disdain and revulsion for our own venerable rites to the point of mockery like SNL of the affects of the red shoes of Papa Ratzi or the Cappa Magna of Cdl. Burke (what our friend Paul Inwood recently caricatured as “prissy,”) and on the other hand, those same intellects and we ever-so-tolerant Americans practically fawn and stumble over ourselves envying and emulating the worship cultures of “others.” Those “others” often include our own: millions dedicated to devotional missions to venerate apparitions of the BVM at Gaudalupe or Lourdes, the popular sacral customs such as Dias de los Muertos which I just personally witnessed as not being confined to early November as I saw families decorating Christmas trees and holding picnics at the gravesites of relatives in a Long Beach RC cemetary.

But, if a soulful seeker delve into traditional catholic traditions to the point of arguing for the evangelical witness to Christ that is most evidently, obviously present in the Solemn High Mass or Requiem, friends who don’t share this zeal are loathe to accept its credibility, its relevance, its anachronisms as having any intrinsic value or merit in guiding the flocks to transcendent, authentic worship experiences. We are, after all, “thinking Catholics,” endowed with all the tools to set up our own alternate magisteriums and regimes that call into question any and all aspects of institutional Catholicism.
I mean to say, didn’t even a Christopher Hitchens once declare that were he a believer, he’d opt for the high church “prissiness” of Anglo/Catholic liturgy?

In this little essay, I once again reiterate calling into question the very necessity of offensively-intended criticism that wishes to literally decimate the existence of what some claim are “former” rituals, AND the offensive and reactionary claims that the TLM is the sole salvation that, like the little engine that could, re-establish authentic Christianity to its muscular prominence again in the First World and thus save civilization. If we all so concerned with the meaning and effect of our corporate worship can acknowledge the intensity of the religious devotion of other traditions, and also languish or abandon “microwave” instant liturgy in St. Suburban’s, can’t we remember that within one of our own great prayers, the Anima Christi, we beg the Lord to inebriate us within the very language and measure of our prayer and praise. There is vitality aplenty in both forms of the Roman Catholic Mass. Arguing over that reality displays not only a deeply flawed mindset, but a hypocrisy that we would never display in the presence of another worship culture. Unless, of course, we behave like Westboro Baptist parishioners, who now number about forty people.

It’s certainly not a job or adventure. Maybe a calling…

These thoughts have weighed heavily on my mind for years, particularly since I’ve hitched my philosophical wagon to CMAA. However, what follows may affirm the suspicions that I’ve remained a stealth outlier since my joining up. Well, to thy own self….

*Future DM’s who wish to be effective will have to commit to being both multi-dimensional in their philosophies regarding sacred and liturgical music AND in their personal musical skill sets. This doesn’t mean some sort of dilineation between the DM as “guitarist….organist….pianist…..solo vocalist……choir master……schola master…..etc.” This means that the functionally successful DM will have a thorough understanding of the modus operandi of “all of the above” and be able to implement, encourage and further the development of their cohorts’ skill sets.

*Future DM’s who wish to further the re-alignment of solid liturgical praxis in both ideal and hostile environs will have to develope the best charismatic aspects of their communication skills in order to represent all the values that the traditions, documents and (Lord help us) spirit of the “times” to clerics, other church functionaries, their own staff and personnel, and the Faithful aggregate and individual. Being a DM who will effect growth and positive reformation will preclude those who prefer to sit on fences, prefer confrontation and combat over long-haul collaboration, collegiality, consensus and sometimes compromise.

*Future DM’s must, despite any mis-connotations of above statements, hold and defend, and when asked, identify, core convictions to which they personally adhere, and have the persuasive skills to defend those without causing defensive reactions and any potential divisiveness. They must seize opportunities and then risk (to a calculated degree) some personal capital in order to influence small to seismic shifts in a parish’s liturgical scenario. This basically means that a DM must understand the Church’s traditions in the macro-sense, know them as intimately as possible, and then advocate for them by whatever means and ways at any and every opportunity.

*Future DM’s must accept that cultural infusion is actually a traditional and normative aspect that complicates, at first, then confuses, then complicates by accretion the “purity” of the liturgical processes in any given parish/cathedral scenario. How that will affect the DM’s effectiveness will depend upon circumstances more often out of the DM’s control and certainly in relationship, fealty and humility to the disciplines that authorities and the Church traditions and magisterial documents articulate, either by law or fiat.

That’s enough for now. Think away or not. But, we must face the reality that though we are all equal in God’s eyes at conception, we are not all equally gifted, and the times? They’re still a-changin’ and we shouldn’t have any expectation that such temporal concerns will be eventually excised from consideration when we discuss how we choose to instrumentally worship the Creator of all.

The sky won’t fall because of our songs

In the first portion of fellow contributor Nathan Knutson’s article “Renewal” commentor Jacob Flaherty addended to Nathan’s litany of anthrocentric hymn/song titles the Paulist Father Ricky Manalo’s “In these days of Lenten journey.” Mr. Flaherty quotes some lyrics and then opines:

Nowhere, in this entire text is a prayer of adoration, petition, contrition, or thanksgiving offered. It is merely a horizontal conversation between ourselves which begs the question, why are we telling each other what we’re going to do when the whole goal of our worship should be greater union with God through Jesus Christ.

Having just this last Saturday night accompanied Fr. Manalo in an impromptu recital of some of his songs (and my second occasion of having met and shared very pleasant conversations with him) I really have to say that Mr. Flaherty’s analysis is a prevaricated and unfortunate misunderstanding of the function and purpose of this and other fourth option songs that can rightfully be employed at Mass beyond as a “closing song.”

I would ask, in this particular case and song, what precisely is the difference between “we” hearing what disciplines we are called towards during Lent coming from a homily orated by an ordained cleric and the global “we” (of which the cleric is also numbered) singing those same mandates provided us by Jesus Himself and Tradition? Mr. Flaherty lists the absence of words of adoration, petition, contrition and thanksgiving as omissions necessary for a hymn’s efficacy, and thereby deficient towards “union with God.” Honestly, if the lyrics of Manalo’s song aren’t a clarion call towards that very union by exhortation to realize the Lenten disciplines and thereby act in persona Christi, and not as he characterizes it a “conversation among ourselves,” then one of us is seriously missing the connection between worship and missio.

By Mr. Flaherty’s deduction, should we then dismiss for use the Anima Christi prayer, despite its adorational nature, because it essentially exhorts the intercession of our Lord to compel the true “me” to abandon egoism? Doesn’t Fr. Manalo’s lyric remind us to abandon ego for the corporate good?

I’ll wrap this up. The obsession some of us display with problematic anthrocentrism, “Vox Dei” or open-ended theology in certain texts wearies this older yet no wiser church musician. It, to me, smacks of the incredibility of the boy who cried wolf, or Chicken Little’s prophesying “the sky is falling.” The problem, Chicken Little, lies not in our stars nor in the words of faithfilled priests writing good songs and good homilies, but in our prelates and ourselves for failing to act towards a neighbor in need next to you in the pew, or in the streets of a Filipino barrio as if s/he were Christ Himself. (Mt.25)

Missio- random thoughts

Spoiler alert: this article amounts to nothing but extemporaneous thoughts…..
Some who frequent here may recoil, others might think “Uh oh, he’s off his meds again!” Others will wander through and exit with a quiet “Ho hum.”

Reverend Father David Friel composed a lovely, tender yet powerful article about how all God’s singers are definitely not created equal, and many of whom gravitate towards church choirs who are clueless to that reality. His advice reflects a wisdom that his boyish visage betrays. Good priest, this Fr. David! He offers some very pastorally sound advice upon how we choirmasters can make the best of our often meager talent pool, and with utmost charity and dignity still work towards preserving the integrity of the choir and its art in a musically impoverished era. His article spurred a great deal of reflection within me about who we choirmasters are and how we go about our business.

Here I offer some of those occuring thoughts-
*Choirs are figuratively (and in Vivaldi/Mozart’s day quite literally) hospitals for minds, souls, hearts, egos and voices who are afflicted with either a talent they earnestly want to share with God and the people who worship Him, or some who have a portion of their being absent, or discomfited by some psychological or emotional desire to fill that hole by becoming part of a whole that is about wellness, progress, healing and success. Others are simply like the young prince in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who simply cries out, “But Father, I just want to SING!” Singers can’t help themselves most of the time in that way. So, what does that make directors? Both doctor and nurse, orderly and chaplain, social worker and CEO, an unknown visitor and a comforting friend.

*Choir directors of church ensembles have immense gravitational pull and power. As celestial objects, we come in all sizes, varying constitutions and often with purposes and behaviors that can both attract and detract, sometimes simultaneously. We can be the Sun in spring and autumn, or a dark star in death throes that pull others into spirals that end in disaster eventually. I think that if we try to remember to “come down to earth” (still a celestial object) we can emulate earth’s relationship to both the star which is the sun and the perfect, all encompassing light of the Son. We are in harmony with our solar system, both inwardly and with those folks who gravitate with us.

*We must be emissaries, ambassadors and advocates of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Himself the primordial Logos. This goal is no small feat. We need to intimately know the breadth of Holy Writ, and the vast body of texts and musical settings, that when truly married, will deliver the import of scripture readings that Holy Mother Church with the guidance of the Holy Spirit over centuries has parced into elegant tapestries that will inspire us to take the Word into our daily lives every waking hour. Even moreso, our well chosen song helps us become those tapestries for others to see and hear. For those who, for whatever reason, do not hear the lessons fully, who cannot enable us via homilies experience the “deep, deep down freshness” of our Sunday and Office readings, we can awaken the slumbering and wandering mind and heart with the well-chosen song, a Proper song, a blossoming lyric born from the Word, replete with melodies, harmonies and forms worthy of that task.
Perhaps this last analogy remains the most challenging for “directors (what a dry term!)” God is love, and love is at all times, even harsh times, beautiful as well as everlasting. Only by being faithful messengers enlivened by Grace are we then able to sing “Lord, Your Love is everlasting, do not forsake the work of Your hands.”

Some comfort here, CMAA’s on it!

I posted a link in an article I’ve since deleted,”CMAA’s been right all along,” in which the html code didn’t actually provide a direct path to the article. I’m going to try again and add another link from “Religious News Service” that posits fairly accurately why “choirs” are fading and failing in Protestant denominations. Hopefully these two URL’s will take you to the two articles. Here’s the one about “choirs”-

Religious News Service, Why choirs are dying

And here is the previous article, reprinted. A lot to consider. But, from my POV, our Church still promotes the official and beneficial rationale for the efficacy of “The Choir,” and in that I rejoice.

Author David Ryan Gutierrez over at RELEVANT BLOG argues forcefully for the “church as patron of fine arts” in the article linked below. What’s interesting is that his perspective addresses issues from the perspective of the megachurch, praise team, Hillsongs model of church.

RELEVANT Church can make fine art

Whistling Into the Wind? OCP responds.

As I’ve spent time offering two articles about whether the “grass roots” of RotR folk/CMAA/Progressive Conservationists (should I copyright that? ) could actually influence via direct dialogue with the “Liturgical Industrial Complex” of publishing companies, I feel obliged to share also the reply I received yesterday from an officer at OCP with the readership. I realize my second article, an attempt to provide a sort of template for others who might wish to also personally get involved in helping the Big Three (and others) towards paradigm shift, was a source of misunderstanding and mockery to some. It was not intended as such. But for the record, we should know the effect and result of such efforts. This is the letter I received from OCP:

Thank you for your email. Please allow me to reply at the request of John Limb. I am the Manager of Worship Publications; I oversee the publication process for our pew resources.

We appreciate your feedback on specific songs in our Breaking Bread and Music Issue publications. This comes at a propitious time as we are in the midst, as I think you know, of receiving input from our missal subscribers via the annual Music Issue Survey. We take this input very seriously. We read every survey and carefully note all specific song suggestions (whether additions or deletions). These titles are gathered and shared with our music selection committee, which reviews them before making recommendations for the contents of the following year’s missals. Even if a song is suggested only once by one subscriber, it is included on the list. Please know that the songs you suggested for removal here will be included on that list as well.

As you can imagine, it is challenging to produce a single-volume sacred music resource that meets the needs and satisfies the expectations of every subscribing parish in the country. The needs and expectations vary widely. Our goal is produce an annual resource that addresses the needs of most of the parishes we serve, knowing that not everyone will be entirely happy with the result. The music selection committee works hard every year to add and remove songs, with much debate and careful consideration of many factors.

We understand the importance of chant and have striven for many years now to include it in our publications. We also, as you know, offer specific publications that offer chant options together in single volumes. There is, of course, Laus Tibi, Christe, with more than 70 chant settings. The most recent example is the St. Meinrad antiphonary. These books are designed to be used in conjunction with our various missal and hymnal programs. In fact, our hymnals include a plastic pocket in the back cover to accommodate these supplemental publications. This provides a means for parishes to access additional music that better addresses their specific needs. It’s not an ideal solution, but it’s the best compromise under the circumstances.

I note that the 2014 edition of Breaking Bread includes more than 45 chant pieces and Latin hymns. We continue to consider chant pieces for inclusion in our missals and have added several in recent years. That said, I will also forward to our committee your suggestion that we increase the number of Latin chant pieces. (emphasis mine)

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us and for using our publications these many years. God bless you in your ministry!

Sincerely,

Wade Wisler

Worship Publications Manager

Well, my friends, what think ye?