Musical Memories of Mass, and "Mystical Body, Mystical Voice"

I have some memories about coming into the Church that have to do with music.

First, I remember thinking that Catholic music was particularly bad. Of course, I was comparing it to the “contemporary Christian” music which was played at the Pentecostal church I attended. The music at my church was better, I thought, precisely because it was contemporary; it was “relevant”. It also had a beat, and you could dance to it, which we did. Oh my!

Back in those RCIA days, I said I was going to maintain dual citizenship because I wanted to go to the Pentecostal church - for the music. I only went back once, though; learning about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist made me acutely aware that, despite what I felt about the music, something was certainly missing at the Pentecostal church.

Second, I remember when Lent started and the “adult choir” (as opposed to the “folk group”) sang the Agnus Dei. In Latin. Gregorian chant. I had not a clue what was going on; it was so far removed from what we’d been singing that I turned to my husband and asked him what it was. It was different, I thought. In a good way.

The third memory is from the second Easter vigil I attended – the one year anniversary of my having been received into the Church. We had moved from California to Baker City, Oregon in that year, and I was experiencing the Easter vigil at the Cathedral. It happened that a certain monk – a hermit – also attended.  I have written of it elsewhere:

As Mass began, I spotted a tall, hooded figure in the procession. Turning to my cradle-Catholic husband, I asked, “What is that?” This was also my first introduction to Gregorian chant: The Monk sang the Exultet. I didn’t know what I was hearing, but I knew it that it was ancient and sacred, and it evoked in me a new depth of longing for God. (From “My Favorite Priest”, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, May 2007)

He didn’t even sing it in Latin. But it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.

On The Chant Café, I found posted the full text of Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth's speech at the 2010 Southeastern Liturgical Music Symposium, August 21, 2010. It’s well worth reading in its entirety. Here are some of his comments (my emphases):

…I am sure that many of you here today were among the first to recognize that a change of translation, a change which implies a difference of style, register and content, would have considerable implications for our liturgical music. I am sure it will have occurred to you that it would not just be a matter of adapting our current settings and songs to the new texts, rather in the way that one might alter an old and well-loved garment to meet the demands of an increasing or decreasing waist-line! But rather, the new texts would quite naturally inspire new music which responds more directly to the character of the texts themselves, reflecting in an original way their patterns of accentuation, their cadence and their phrasing. Is it too much to hope that this might be a wonderful opportunity for reassessing the current repertoire of liturgical music in the light of our rich musical patrimony and like the good housekeeper being able to bring out of the store treasures both new and old?

Unfortunately, I am seeing in our diocese a tendency to want to do just exactly what Msgr. Wadsworth suggests is a mistake: adapting current musical settings to the new texts. The new translation – the 3^rd edition of the Roman Missal – contains more music than any previous edition. And folks, it is NOT music by Marty Haugen and Bob Hurd! And we do have a “rich musical patrimony” to draw from, but it is NOT meant to be accompanied by guitars, tambourines, and/or trumpets. It is Gregorian chant. In the new Missal, it is Gregorian chant in both Latin and English; it is simplified and certainly singable (and will make you thirst for the authentic Latin stuff!). It makes sense in the context of the Mass itself. What a concept!

Having attended a workshop which utilized some materials from the Mystical Body, Mystical Voice program, I understand exactly what Msgr. Wadsworth is saying in this next paragraph:

Maybe the greatest challenge that lies before us is the invitation once again to sing the Mass rather than merely to sing at Mass. This echoes the injunctions of the Council Fathers in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and reflects our deeply held instinct that the majority of the texts contained in the Missal can and in many cases should be sung. This means not only the congregational acclamations of the Order of Mass, but also the orations, the chants in response to the readings, the Eucharistic prayer and the antiphons which accompany the Entrance, the Offertory and the Communion processions. These proper texts are usually replaced by hymns or songs that have little relationship to the texts proposed by the Missal or the Graduale Romanum and as such a whole element of the liturgy of the day is lost or consigned to oblivion. For the most part, they exist only as spoken texts. We are much the poorer for this, as these texts (which are often either Scriptural or a gloss on the Biblical text) represent the Church’s own reading and meditation on the Scriptures. As chants, they are a sort of musical lectio divina pointing us towards the riches expressed in that day’s liturgy. For this reason, I believe that it is seriously deficient to consider that planning music for the liturgy ever begins with a blank sheet: there are texts given for every Mass in the Missal and these texts are intended for singing.

In the workshop I attended, which was sponsored by the Society of St. Gregory the Great, participants were reminded of the rich Catholic heritage that lies beneath the surface of the Liturgy, building on 2000 years of Christianity as well as several thousand years more of our roots in Judaism. The Mass is more than it appears on the surface, and participants were led into a renewal of their understanding of the liturgy's spiritual depths and its true meaning. Instruction in singing the Mass was also included, making use of all that music in the new edition. This highlighted the fact that the USCCB is encouraging priests and the faithful to reclaim some of the lost traditions of the Church by singing the Mass from start to finish.

So…from my scattered memories of my initial Catholic music experience, coupled with my experience with chant over the last few years, and joining that to the potential of the new translation, I must simply urge you:

Go! Run – do not walk! – to the nearest “Mystical Body, Mystical Voice” workshop (or use the on-line resources)! But SING THE MASS!!!

If you live within a half-day’s drive of Bend, Oregon, plan on attending the “Mystical Body, Mystical Voice” workshop there on Nov. 11-12. See the SSGG blog for details.

Why I Dread Sunday Mass

To be fair, for almost a whole year, I did NOT dread Sunday Mass! That was because for almost a year, a priest in the parish 45 miles from our house celebrated Mass in the extraordinary form almost every Sunday. Now it's been 6 weeks since that priest has been able to celebrate that Mass, and that has left me and my husband with very few options, none of them good.

So, currently, I dread Sunday Mass.

We live in Eastern Oregon. The towns are far apart, and the Catholic churches even more widely spaced. But I'm not complaining about the distances; it's what's available (or not available) in each place that bothers me. And I'm not complaining about the lack of an extraordinary form Mass (okay, yes, I am complaining about that) but I am not opposed to attending a liturgically-correct, reverent Novus Ordo Mass as long as the rubrics are followed and the music is the official music of the Church.

As soon as we knew it would be some weeks before we could attend "our" Mass, we debated the alternatives. We could go to the Cathedral on Sunday morning. On the plus side, this is the location closest to our home - 12 miles. In addition...uh...well...let's see...there must be something else positive about it...oh! It's a very beautiful, hundred-year-old church with lovely stained glass windows.

But...the music. Guitars. Tambourines. Ditties from "JourneySongs". Additions like "Come Now, Children, Come" for the children's dismissal, and another tune for the sign of peace. Puh-lease. I have spent the past year becoming intimately familiar with the Gregorian chant propers and ordinaries, in Latin, for the extraordinary form of the Mass. Nothing can compare to the beauty of those chants, in my humble opinion. But surely there is something closer to that quality than the kindergarten songs that OCP has to offer in their various song books.

There is much more I object to at the Cathedral, but music is a big issue for me. So let's move on to the other options. We could attend the Sunday morning Mass at the same church in La Grande, 45 miles from home, where we've been attending the extraordinary form for the past year. But the same issue exists there: the music. OCP, this time "Breaking Bread". Piano. Guitars. Tambourines. And occasionally, a trumpet. It's not worth the 90 minute round trip for that.

Okay...how about the little mission church only 15 miles from home? We attended there for a year or so, too, before Father started offering the extraordinary form. We were forewarned providentially, however, when a friend emailed me to say that she was in charge of the music there, and her strategy was to play CD's. Since there is a substantial Hispanic population, she would play two songs in English and two in Spanish. She told me that the Nigerian priest said most of the Mass in English and Spanish - that is, saying it in one language and then giving the translation in the other. He also gave the homily in both languages. This did not sound like something I wanted to sit through. We have not even tried that option.

We could go to the Saturday evening Mass at the Cathedral. That, actually, is the option we chose. There are only musicians for that Mass every other week (and that's another story). On the off weeks, there are no musicians; the priest leads the singing, and it's all a cappella. I like hearing the people sing, though the choice of songs is not always (or even often) appropriate. And then there's the fact that the priest, unable to sing while administering Holy Communion, places a little CD player ON THE ALTAR, turns up the volume, and plays a song for us. It is the least offensive of our choices. (Although the CD player ON THE ALTAR is a little over the top, and I have to close my eyes in order to ignore it.)

One week, when we just could not face another Mass with the priest at the Cathedral, we opted for the Saturday evening Mass in La Grande. It wasn't too bad, but...the music. Two women singing, with guitars. Standard OCP fare. Ugh.

One other alternative is the Spanish Mass at the Cathedral on alternate Sundays. Not too bad, especially when the singing is a capella, even though it still sounds like kids' Bible songs. When they have the mariachi band, though, I cringe. Still, since my Spanish is not very good, it's easier to block out the priest's homily, which generally consists of platitutes from email "forwards".

I dread Sunday Mass. It's not just the music. It's what the music says about the state of our Church. Yes, I know Jesus is there at these Masses. I try to focus on that fact, and on Him. But the music says that we don't truly understand the Mass. We don't get that it is a whole, that it is meant to be sung, that it should all fit together, that it honors the King of the Universe. The music, as I have experienced it around here, detracts from my experience of the Mass. It is something I have to struggle to overcome in order to see Jesus in the Eucharist. It's not supposed to be that way.

I became even more aware of all this after attending a workshop on the new translation and the changes in the words of the Mass this past weekend. The workshop was based on a program called "Mystical Body, Mystical Voice" from Liturgy Training Publications. More on that in another post...

Compare and Contrast

Our diocese is about to hold its annual clergy assembly, and one of the topics of discussion will be "The Changes in the Music for the New Mass". Both clergy and laity will be able to experience this presentation.

I admit I know nothing about the presentation. However, what I read in the "Diocesan Chronicle" does not leave me hopeful that the changes will be in line with the mind of the Church. The presenter, we are told, has a "firm belief in the primacy of congregational song" and this has shaped the music program he has directed at his parish for 16 years. The "Chronicle" article continues: "Strong insturmental leadership, combined with...student and adult cantors and a dedicated adult choir has contributed to liturgy that is, in the word's original sense, the 'work of the people'."

These words hold nothing but red flags for me. "Congregational song"?!? I imagine the congregation singing "On Eagles' Wings" and the like. I do not imagine we're talking about Gregorian chant.  "Instrumental leadership" always suggests to me lots of guitars, but I could be wrong in this case, of course. And despite the attempt to tie "work of the people" to the word "liturgy", I strongly suspect that what this really means is that the people are doing exactly what they want with the music, and are not paying attention to the Church's statements concerning the primacy of chant, the primacy of the organ, or any other guidelines concerning what is to be considered sacred music.

BUT...as I said...I could be wrong.  It's happened before.

Still, if descriptions matter, I think I would prefer a different program: "Mystical Body, Mystical Voice". I have not experienced this program, either. But look at the description: it "is grounded in sacramental theology and the liturgical rites of the Church"; it seeks to help the faithful "to understand the beauty of what [the new translation] offers for the enrichment of their knowledge and fruitful liturgical participation"; and it includes "an introduction to the new English chants of the Order of Mass." Much more is said in the brochure I received.

I think there's a battle going on. The purveyors of "church music" - those who get money for their compositions and their publishing efforts - will want to continue in the same vein they have been pursuing for the last 40 years. The people who seek to raise the standard of our liturgical music - to make it truly liturgical, to keep it focused on worshiping God rather than ourselves, and to make it an integral part of the Mass - will be pushing for a heightened awareness and understanding of the role of music in the liturgy, a greater understanding of liturgical and sacramental theology, and greater ACTUAL (not "active") participation in the Mass.

Let's not settle for a re-hash of what we already have in terms of dumbed-down music that sounds like the Protestant church down the street.  Let's up the ante. Let's raise our minds and hearts to God. Let's challenge ourselves.

Oh...I'm not suggesting that we picket the Diocesan Center during the presentation. I am suggesting that we ask our pastors for something that is less milk and more meat.