Prior to mass I scan the hymns and check the copy write date.  Seeing anything written post-1950 fills me with dread. These songs use the words me/I/us so often and lack a real sense of wonder, awe, and humility that it’s easy to forget who the focus should really be on.

Fr. Barron’s description of the Trinity; that it’s a harmony as in music is the best and most pleasing analogy I’ve heard.
I do hope that musical directors draw more and more from our treasury of music of the past and blend it in with contemporary themes to touch the hearts of those who only know the music of the current culture.  Like religious education, instead of reaching out while the teen ager is twirling on his back in the streets, perhaps in Catholic schools, exposure to our etherial treasures beginning in kindergarten would help form a familiar and accessible foundation for later years.

The music the past 43yrs. has been very upsetting considering the vast number of years the Roman Catholic Church has been composing and introducing it.One has to watch EWTN Specials, to recieve the music we really have.For some reason the “american church” has latched on to the guitar and the results can be seen I believe. When we have our real Music and Propers back with the Pipe Organ and possibily orchestra, then we really will have a “Avalanche” of Faith. I say this as having studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and an Organist.I have accompanied at both the Ordinary Form of Mass and the Extraordinary Form of Mass,so I know of what I speak.

Ousting the guitar and piano and putting the choir out of sight would be a pleasing first few steps.

I have been part of my faith community’s music ministry for 35 yrs. plus. I feel this wonderful experience has brought me closer to an in depth relationship with my Jesus than anything else except the Eucharist.It is truly a gift.

If I see drums next to the altar, I never return to that church.
If I had wanted a Protestant fellowship service, I would have joined an Episcopalian church.  I want a Mass that is reverent and beautiful, a little Latin and some Gregorian Chant couldn’t hurt.

I think the reason that so many dread the modern 1970s guitar/drum music and so many find it lacking reverent may lie in that most of it was written by a non-Catholic. How can we expect Holy Spirit inspired music to accompany the most magnificant thing that happens on Earth (the Catholic Mass), if the songs are written by someone who doesn’t even believe in the faith. For example, one of the most popular is Marty Haugens who belongs to the ‘United Church of Christ’.

After switching from a progressive church to a beautiful traditional church, I’ve discovered that the lyrics in the hymns that are sung in the traditional church are a wonderful form of catechesis.  You can just follow along and learn at the same time…duh, what a GREAT idea!!  They are jam-packed with learning opportunities.  Also, I am so pleased that we don’t “worship the choir” anymore.  Let’s all focus our prayers toward the front, the altar and the tabernacle, not toward a distracting side show.  They may sing well, but they should not be the focus.  Today after visiting the adoration chapel, I heard the organ blasting from the main church.  So of course, I peeked inside…the organist was rehearsing, and I sat in the back and had my own mini-concert while he practiced in the choir loft above me.  How awesome is that.  I can’t wait to sing with him at the next mass.  Singing is praying twice, and when he plays that organ, no one can hear me warble!!  Works for me (and whoever is sitting next to me).

Traditional hymns are loaded with catechesis.  You can just be singing, praying and learning all at the same time.  I didn’t appreciate that until we joined a beautiful traditional Catholic Church.  Add an amazing organ to your hymn singing, and you have some powerful holy music!

Posted by Kiena on Saturday, Feb 2, 2013 10:33 AM (EDT):

Prior to mass I scan the hymns and check the copy write date.  Seeing anything written post-1950 fills me with dread.
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Me, too.
I wish the powers that be could put all those hymnns on a 50 year rest.Then we could go back & reassess what’s worthy, toss the rest.We have centuries of liturgical music treasure to draw on, but the majority of material in our hymnals dates only from 1970 onwards.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to watch Fr. Barron’s video, but the comments here kinda bug me… As a Catholic music minister (and a drummer), who is embraces orthodox theology, I have a hard time swallowing a certain fallicy that seems to pervade music ministry in the Church today.  There is this notion from both sides of the aisle that somehow age affects quality.  “Old” music is *not* better than “new” music… likewise, “new” music is not more spirit filled than “old” music.  The “old” music was once “new”, and one day the “new” will be “old”.  The organ, violin, and even the fundamental concepts of polyphony were at one point new “revolutionary” ideas.  An outright anathematizing (spelling?) of music written after 1950 seems odd to me…  Everyone is entitled to their tastes of course, but its odd to see this personal taste couched in such dogmatic terms (e.g. “If only we could get back to such and such our Church would be on fire” or conversely from the other side “if only we could shake things up with some high-energy modern music our Church would be on fire”).  Both positions seem like total nonsense to me.

Does a lot of what is passed of as sacred music have mixed, weak, or even inappropriate messages?  Certainly.  But there’s a lot of good solid stuff, even in new music.  Are both new and old songs butchered causing violence to the sacred liturgy?  Certainly.  But lets get upset about that… proper execution of music within the context of the liturgy. 

Contemporary music folks need to start appreciating the sacred hymns and stop doing violence to them by trying to modernize them.  Traditional music folks need to be open to the possibility that others have a legitimate right to their tastes and that it is possible that some new music can be really great, theologically sound stuff. 

Can guitars and drums be properly used in a liturgical setting?  Yes, of course.  But only in those communities who have a taste preference for that sort of music and whose pastor feels that such instruments are being properly applied for the betterment of the liturgy and for the good of their spiritual growth… *and*, I would think, by properly trained musicians who fully understand their role in the mass: to do no harm, to not distract, to serve in a “supporting” role as opposed to a leading role.

Really I think the biggest problem with music in the Church is that we have very few truly great artists working in the Church anymore.  Our music is terrible because we have lost faith.  In short, our people don’t have anything to sing about.  Artists don’t feel that Christ is the center of their lives and that working for His glory in the Church is the highest and greatest thing one can do.  Once we reinstill the faith, we will have good music again.  Until then, it will be hit and miss at best.

Mike,
You do have a good point.Perhaps the reason there is such strong negative reaction to liturgical music from the ‘70’s & beyond-at least that which is currently offered in our Catholic hymnals-is because it reflects the culture/tone of that era? The other objection might be the overuse of that material & underuse of earlier church music.
Mediocre music from any era becomes tedious if repeated week after week.
I actually don’t have a problem with “modernizing” sacred music as long as the lyrics aren’t dumbed down or made politically correct/gender neutral.Sometimes when we hear a hymn presented in a new way we hear it as if for the first time.

I’ve given up on caring about beautiful hymns at Mass.  I did like the Advent and Christmas season since I like those hymns. Now I just ignore it because it causes me to sin if I think too much about it.  I wish the Holy Father would work on telling us what hymns are allowed at Mass.

Seriously - the church has not outlawed modern forms of music any more than modern forms of art - as long as they are reverent. Perfectly possible. Victorian hymns and Latin can often make me feel God is a distant tyrant and irritate me.Yet I support the right of anyone who prefers these forms to benefit from them spiritually. The guitar and folk-style music is both reverent and create a sense of intimacy with the Divine - bringing home the Father’s love and the wonder of the Incarnation. (Oddly Victorian lyrics can be just as sentimental, subjective and emotional - they are just slightly differently nuanced - sometimes kitsch).  There are certain non-negotiables to the liturgy yes - but to be an orthodox Catholic you just need to follow what the Church actually teaches - not to subtract anything but also not to add anything. What is optional is optional full stop. I follow what the Church teaches - on faith, morals and liturgy - please don’t tell me folk guitar is evil! You may not like it and I respect that - please stop creating confusion and division. To condemn what is lawful is also heresy.

@Karolina: “The guitar and folk-style music is both reverent and create a sense of intimacy with the Divine - bringing home the Father’s love and the wonder of the Incarnation.”
I agree with you 100%. I was around in the 60’s when the Altar was turned around, the Folk Mass started, Mass was in the vernacular. I LOVED IT. All of a sudden the congregation was answering the Priest at Mass, they all started to sing with the guitars, etc. It was absolutely beautiful. I really felt a part of the Mass, rather than observing. These young people knew how to play their instruments. Today I am in a church with an organ that is horrible just a lot of noise [could be the organist is not that good] but you cannot hear the singing, so why bother, the Priest holds up a huge 12” Host during the Eucharist, then breaks it up and scoops it up with two hands to place in the 4 Chalices. So irreverent. As to the hymns, they sound like what the kids sing today. (very difficult, no melody) Give me a guitar and sing: “The Lords Prayer”, “The 23rd Psalm”, “Be Not Afraid” and hymns that mean something. I am 85, went to Catholic grade school, sung the Mass in Latin and to this day I do not like the Latin….I understand English. Yes, I did have a prayer book with Latin and one side the English on the other, but that did not help, I just looked at the little pictures, telling me just where the Priest was at. If the Church does not have a really good organist, then they should use the piano and guitars or like in one Church I went to, they had a “KEYBOARD” that sounded like whatever one wanted it to. The music was so beautiful…while people were going up to Communion, that it put you in communion with Christ. We do need “good” music in church. Good music comes from God.

Thanks Sue - I am 35 and haven’t known the pre-Vatican II mass.  I did notice irreverence, unauthorised additions, and OVER-familiarity with the divine during liturgies in my time and these I protested
but I can now see how Vatican II was a breath of fresh air that went back to ‘basics’ in the best possible sense. Perhaps being of Polish origin I’ve never had a problem with the whole of modern thought and practice as such - it is knowing in wisdom how to translate eternal truths into the language of the day without losing anything essential that is the key. It can be a hard task - keeping fully informed of what the Church teaches and the underlying reasons is essential. And a spirit of obedience.

@Karolina: This is the sixth State I have lived in and the largest church I have attended [2,000 families] I have never seen the irreverence in Church as I have in this one. Most of the people dress as if they were going to work on the farm, and truthfully, I see no reason to have a Mass in part English and part Latin. As much as I have read about it, it makes no sense to me. Also in the ‘90s in a church in Va., the priest would say one prayer in English then translate it in Mexican, which really got your mind “off the whole Mass”. Today there are so many Hispanics that most churches have one Mass said just for them in their language [I wonder if they use half Mexican and half Latin]. To get down to a plain fact…when people move here to the U.S., where English is spoken…then even the Mass should be said in English. They should be exposed to English in every way. Why have a bi-lingual country, like Canada. It separates people instead of bring them together as one. My parents were Italian immigrants…they spoke English to us..Mom had a good command of the language coming here at age 10, but Dad did not, yet he learned. He had to because he owned his own business and dealt with people all day. We do the foreigners no justice by catering to them in their language. They will always be kept “apart” rather than as one. People will complain about Vatican II, but much good came out of it also. As far as I am concerned, when the turned the Altar around, we became a part of the Mass rather than observers. How reverent a Mass is, has to do with the Pastor.

Sounds like the language issues might be better solved by going back to Latin? Every parish would have a uniform liturgical language & we needn’t be concerned so much what language folk speak outside of church.
I’m no expert in the Spanish Mass but used to attend it frequently.I personally never heard Spanish & Latin used in the same Mass, but Spanish is very close to Latin.I’ve heard it compared to the provincial Latin used in the days following the fall of the Roman Empire.The “new” wording in the Roman Missal replaces the clumsy English text.The wording in the Spanish Mass had always been more accurate.
Having a “national language” probably makes sense, at least economically & it’s true it is uniting, but English is not sacred.It’s just a language.

Could there be one mass on Sunday, especially in the large parishes that have NO music? I would rather have no music, than bad music. I admire the music ministers that give and try their best, but there is so little quiet anywhere. The good music of the 80’s, by the St. Louis Jesuits is scripture based, easy to follow, beautiful,and guitar accompanied. No problem there, but I don’t hear it as much anymore. Worship is what we are about at Mass, and union with Jesus. If music distracts from this, that is not helpful. I attend a Latin-only service sometimes. Revisit pre-1962, approved Catholic service. Priest faces altar, peaceful worship, but a lot of chanting, with mixed results. People in pews do not sing or respond. It seems to be the priest, God, way up there, and us. The only answer, that helps me is when Jesus’s Way of love, forgiveness, mercy is preached, and shown in Joy, by the priest and people in community.