Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 18, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
Several hymns were temporarily banned last year in the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri after being found “to be insufficient in sound doctrine,” with the action raising questions about what music is allowed at the Holy Mass.
In a special report for the Oct. 17, 2025 edition of “EWTN News In Depth,” correspondent Mark Irons explored the subject. Archbishop Shawn McKnight, who implemented the brief ban, told Irons: “I would hope everybody else learns from my mistake.”
McKnight, who was the bishop of Jefferson City at the time, now serves as the archbishop of Kansas City. The controversial ban in question encompassed 12 songs in total, including the popular hymns “I am the Bread of Life” and “All Are Welcome.”
McKnight said the decree was implemented too quickly and without enough discussion among Catholics in the diocese.
Currently, no particular hymns are excluded in the Diocese of Jefferson City, but parishes are required to evaluate Mass music using guidelines that were provided for archdioceses and dioceses across the nation by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The USCCB’s 2020 “Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church: An Aid for Evaluating Hymn Lyrics” was created to make sure Mass hymns are in conformity with Catholic doctrine. The bishops list a number of specific concerns regarding hymns, including ones with “deficiencies in the presentation of Eucharistic doctrine,” those “with a view of the Church that sees Her as essentially a human construction,” or songs with “an inadequate sense of a distinctively Christian anthropology.”
Kevin Callahan, who serves as the music director at Sacred Heart Parish in Glyndon, Maryland, told Irons: “We believe…the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ is here at the Mass, in the Eucharist. The songs, of course, should reflect that.”
Callhan explained that he understands why the bishops would create the aid. The bishops “want the right thing to be said in Church, they don’t want the wrong idea to get tossed around.” Callahan said he does believe there are certain hymns that could be misleading.
The ‘pride of place” of Gregorian chant
Over time, Callahan said, Gregorian chant has earned pride of place within the liturgy of the Mass.
This was reflected in the Second Vatican Council document Sacrosanctum Concilium, which explains: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy.”
Sara Pecknold, a professor of liturgical music at Christendom College, noted that “Gregorian chant, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was developed with and for the liturgy.”
“The Second Vatican council teaches us that the more closely tied the music is to the liturgical action…the more sacred it is,” she pointed out.
Recommendations
If Gregorian chant is unfamiliar to a parish, Pecknold recommends small steps that could be taken. She said: “I would first start with the very simplest chant melodies, for the ordinaries of the Mass.”
Beyond Gregorian chant, the Second Vatican Council decided that the Church approves “of all forms of true art having the needed qualities, and admits them into divine worship.”
Pecknold explained: “Liturgical music should glorify God and it should sanctify and edify all of us who are present at this great sacrifice.”
Welcoming a diversity of styles
Dave Moore, the music director at the 2024 U.S. National Eucharistic Congress, was in charge of bringing together a wide variety of Catholic musicians from across the country for the event.
Moore said the musical goal of the Congress was to create a unity rooted in Christ, through different styles of music.
“I don’t know how you find unity without diversity,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of people who do things differently than we’re used to, but what we’re looking for is the heart, like are you pursuing the heart of God?”
Archbishop McKnight also noted the need for variety.
“Catholicity means there’s a universality to who we are, that we’re not of just one kind or one culture, but there’s a diversity of charisms and a diversity of styles,” he said. “The fact that there are different ways of entering into the mystery of Christ, actually increases the unity we have, otherwise we’re just a church of some, and not the Church of all.”
Music is “often associated with memories and emotions, too,” he said. “That’s a part of our celebration of the Eucharist. It’s not just a thing of the mind. It’s not just a doctrinal assent. It’s also a movement of the heart and ultimately it’s active prayer.”
“Hymns that are liked by the people are a good choice, but it’s also important that they convey the Catholic faith,” McKnight said. “It’s about discernment of the will of God and what the Holy Spirit wants.”
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I lost IQ points reading this pointless article.
If Catholics want music and to sing, here’s what I’d suggest parishes do. Designate a weekday evening for a Parish Community Worship & Praise gathering. At this weekday gathering, host a ‘bring your favorite dish’ meal, have a short talk by the pastor and invite all your non-Catholic friends and those you meet on the street. It would be an excellent evangelizing tool, especially among protestants who are used to shared suppers and Worship & Praise sessions. Then, any outsiders who wish can be invited to explore the Catholic religion further. But let the central act of our worship of God – The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass – remain wholly sacred.
I was at a “reverent Mass” last week, most of it was chanted. There were both incense and bells (and a younger crowd, hmmm….)
But they also used several somewhat “choice” pieces out of the OCP hymnal, including “We Remember” by Marty Haugen.
Quite the Liturgical whiplash
MrsHess writes:”Liturgical whiplash”
Now I know the cause for the chronic pain in my neck since 1965.
Or back to the future whiplash.
🙂
I don’t know about a ban but I wish they’d put the current hymnals with these songs on a 50 year rest.
Test everything, keep what’s good.
In Christ Alone…. “The wrath of God was satisfied”… This was the cross?
Yet it’s sung all over & included in hymnals…. Try to talk to music minister and you get a “what’s wrong with you”…
Are you familiar with the concept of propitiation?
The author doesn’t mention the fact that our hymns originate with non-Catholic sources. Look it up. It’s true. It’s an “industry”, and does not reflect a desire to forward Catholic theology at all. [what do Jews know about Catholic theology that they would favorably reflect it?] Further, I have been to NO masses that try and incorporate Gregorian Chant; it doesn’t work. It’s incongruous at best and possibly worse. The Mass that lends itself, completely and unequivocally, to the glories of Gregorian Chant in harmony with what is taking place on the altar is the Latin Mass. We have to return to it in the universal church if we are going to hand on our faith to the generations to come. If we don’t return, we seriously run the risk of extinction. The Gates of Hell will not prevail against her; but, if you’re asking me, we’re a much bigger threat to her survival at this point than Satan.
Jews? Please. 😣
Why does this sort of thing always find its way into every conspiracy?
Most of our hymnals need to be put to rest. Period.
It’s an exemplar. Please be assured Israel and the Jews in general don’t need you patrolling this site for inadequate expressions of Judeophilia.
Do you think Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas” or Johnny Marks wrote “A Holly Jolly Christmas” or “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” to advance the reality Incarnation or just to sell pleasant jingles?
Much the commercialized, secularized flotsam and jetsam that has been attached to Christmas is why my local bib-box store had had several dedicated aisles of lights and decorations none of them even even making a passing reference to the birth of Christ.
There is no phobia involved in recognizing that it is rather shallow to cite generalized broad based Christmas decorations and music recordings, mostly manufactured by businesses owned and run by individuals who identify as Christian, as in any way a threat to the Sacred devotions that focus on the incarnation. It is Catholics who have personally decided such things that only a small percentage of us will attend Mass, even on Christmas.
Yet you singled out Jews, who, as far as I know, have written very few of the hymns in use in the Catholic Church. You could have said Lutherans or evangelicals.
Folks of Jewish ancestry have written Christian works: Mahler, Mendelson, Adam, etc. but I think the original comment was about copyrights or publishing. Which doesn’t really signify.
Were you addressing me, Mr. Pitchfork? It’s hard to tell from the way the format shows on my phone.
Non religious Christmas season music has been composed by all sorts of people. Why focus on Jews? Jingle Bells was written by a Unitarian I think. I’m not 100% sure what Unitarians believe, but I’ve been to the church where the Jingle Bells composer played the organ.
You’re not well informed. The jews do a very fine job defending themselves: why do we have to contribute that effort ourselves? https://www.lepantoin.org/wp/the-hymnal-industrial-complex/
I was informed by that same article some time ago Mr. Tabish & I wasn’t convinced back then or now.
My children went part time to a non-denominational private Christian school. One day the elementary children were singing a very common hymn routinely sung in our Diocese. (I think it was On Eagles Wings). And I was absolutely shocked that that song could actually sound really good!
Our old parish used to sing the Alleluia to this Haitian change (I think it was Haitian). And it was awful.
Catholics should best stick to the “old world” hymns
We used to hear that Harry Belafonte Alleluia at Mass also. Thankfully not recently though.
I’ve attended the March for Life for almost 40 years. The best speech I ever heard heard, and most Catholic in principle, was from Ben Shapiro, one of your dreaded jews, just a few years ago.
Tell me it’s not so Mr. Baker. They’ve infiltrated the March for Life as well as our hymnbooks? What will be next? Christmas?
I used to know someone who was convinced there was a plot for Hanukkah to takeover Christmas celebrations. They swore that each year the dates between the 2 holidays were getting closer. They worried that my mother’s choice of blue & white Christmas lights looked too Jewish.
Last year Hanukkah actually began on December 25th. So maybe they were on to something after all.
🙂
what would we do without conspiracies?
I heard you were the one who was secretly behind all the recent changes at Cracker Barrel, that were quickly scuttled after the outcry!
(just kidding!!)
I’d definitely be on the other side of that equation, knowall.
🙂
I’m glad Cracker Barrel saw the light.
About a Novus Ordo not being suitable for Gregorian chants, it is not ideal compared to the Vetus Ordo masses. I have been in choirs for both and understand the concerns. However the congregation can certainly learn the chants for the ordinary parts such as Kyria, Gloria, etc and even Credo. The proper chants can fit easily especially Introit, Offertory and Communion. Alleluia can work also, just without congregational participation. The Gradual is the most awkward but if appropriate words and beauty are more important than time, that can work also. It needs the right priest and a reverent congregation.
A good place to start is to begin implementing the Antiphons. They are usually short and can be sung in English in a “call and response” style similar to the Responsorial psalm. They are located in the Missal at the Entrance and Communion. They allow a congregation to actually pray the Mass, and there are resources available with simple plainchant melodies.
As for hymns, they are meant to beautify the Mass, and must be sacred, i.e. “set apart.” But they should not have questionable theology and they really should be real metrical hymns, not praise and worship style secular sounding melodies. Hymn lyrics usually focus on the greatness of God, are easier for congregations to sing, and don’t emulate music you might hear on the radio. Praise and worship songs often focus on how we feel about God, or what we’re going to do when we leave Mass. So they may be religious, but not sacred. And they don’t encourage one to focus on the altar while at Mass. Music during Mass should always support the liturgical action taking place, not distract or call attention to itself.
Short answer – yes.
Slightly longer answer – if not banned outright, ignored until they die of neglect.
Mark, your excellent comment reminds me of Hilaire Belloc’s famous quip:
“The Church must be divine, since no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.”
Totally true that TLM is the last hope of Catholicism to survive the knavish imbecility of the Post-Conciliar auto-destruct.
Porter Girl above (10:55 a.m.) – Thanks for these comments. I find them helpful in pinpointing what we need and don’t need in our hymns.
Interesting that my church’s choir has just started doing those antiphons.
My parish and the next one nearest do chant, some Latin propers, and generally good English hymns. The most singable older hymns often turn out to be by Issac Watts, the Wesleys, or German Lutherans. Spare me Marty Haugen and treacly Irish Marian hymns.
Cleo, many parishes, including mine, have begun using them. It’s a good sign.
There is a momentum shift and I believe it’s a waiting game until we get more younger younger pastors, who are quite orthodox, and the older liberal generation fades away.
However, many seminaries spend little time instructing future priests on sacred music, with the result being that pastors often rely on a music volunteer to choose music. While well-meaning, these folks are often unqualified to discern what is actually sacred music They haven’t read the Church’s documents concerning music and it’s relationship to the liturgy. In fact, they often turn to publishers OCP and GIA liturgical guides to plan music for Mass. Of course, the music suggested is always their cheezy songs. This is to promote their second-rate composers who earn money through their copyrighted material that parishes pay for Every. Single. Year.
So, the “generational trauma” continues.
Indeed, anything composed after the 12th century or so should be under the interdict.
Some of the better/hymns are around Good Friday service and Easter timeframe masses. Alleluia, sing to Jesus type hymns, or mournful hymns like Were you there? Devotional songs to our Lady like Sing of Mary or Hail Holy Queen. Angels we have heard on high etc.. at Christmas resound the joy of our Saviour’s birth. As Mrs. Cracker Barrel noted, many of the current hymnal selections are questionable. I defer the Gregorian selections to those who have experience from current or prior worship.
Mark my words, I think he’s just saying that since Jews don’t believe in the Trinity, then they shouldn’t be consulted on Catholic doctrine as applied to our hymns? Should our hymns be based going forward from the Gospels and other New Testament books and Golden Rules versus the 10 commandments?
We pray for the Jews during the Good Friday service.
Yes, we pray for the Jews on Good Friday as well as for others, but at a local TLM we were instructed in advance to not genuflect for that one prayer. So I chose a different parish for that service & haven’t been back.
If they did that (but not for them rule) at our parish it would mess us old peoples up!
But the prayers on the only non mass day are quite beautiful.
Yes, the prayers we use today are beautiful.
“I am the Bread of Life” is objectionable? Would someone explain why? I always liked it.
For one thing, I am not the Bread of Life and shouldn’t be singing as if I were.
Such a huge, deep and important topic…
It is good to read many of the above comments.
However, as so much else does, this question leads to the shallow, emasculated, (almost) Faithless-ness of our western episcopate. We are indeed obligated to obey them, as Our Lord said… but it cannot be denied by any authentically educated, catechized and formed Catholic, that, as Ratzinger himself sadly declared, many of our leaders are “practical atheists” The Mass and other parts of the Liturgy of the Church are Her very Source and Summit… and yet they treat It, and allow It to be treated, as a plaything of their own and of their priests and “faithful.”
Music is not “of the Essence” of the Liturgy, but is nonetheless integral to It. This is a pretty deep statement, and truth.
Vatican II said (paraphrasing) that “all are to go more deeply into the Mass and other parts of the Church’s Liturgy… and this will be done through deeper education, cathechesis, etc.”
We all know what happened, however — Vatican II was hijacked after the Council, the bishops (authentic teachers and protectors of The Faith) were ignorant and silent as The Mass and everything else was torn down and tossed aside, and the shephers and guardians of the Church foolishly ushered in every foolish and even evil spirit from the world that was out there.
This bishop did the wrong thing. Rather than continue “on course” of defending his flock and his diocese (AND The Blessed Ears of Our Lord Himself, His Father, and all the holy angels and saints, too) against the watered-down, wimpy, error-filled tyranny of the USCCB and their ilk, like a saint, he cowered and yielded to “the spirit of the age.”
He knew this was the Right Thing To Do. Someone leaned on him, and very, very, very quickly — see the “walking with the spirit” synodality garbage filling his mind in his responses, after being cowed.
He did the wrong thing.
See how fast Truth and Orthodoxy — Reality — are attacked and suppressed.
Paul VI was blasted for Humanae Vitae…he stayed the course. John Paul I was intent on reforming the Vatican, and died quickly. John Paul II was lambasted for just about everything, and never turned back. Ditto for Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. The list goes on, and on… Padre Pio… Mother Teresa… Mother Angelica… Cardinal Sarah… Bishop Anthansius Schneider…
Precious few can enter into a real discussion about this precious topic because not one real step has been taken, in any diocese, to truly, authentically do what Vatican II said. Our people do not know about It. Our priests are not allowed to know about It in seminary… because our bishops do not know about It, and do not want their boat “rocked,” some because of politics, some for (mediocre) collegiality, and some, sadly, because they seem to serve…someone other than Our Lord (“…by their fruits you will know them…”).
Yes…certain hymns — MANY — should be banned. OCP (who prints these non-Catholic hymnals that our parishes buy) should be denounced as a threat to The Sacred Liturgy…and as a danger to the harmony of Heaven!!). EVERYONE in the Church needs to learn A LOT more about The Mass and the Liturgy from real, credible sources (Ratzinger, JPII, Vatican II, etc).
And everything should be related on a personal level to Our Lord Himself and His Father and The Holy Spirit — They are not adherents of “synodality” and/or “what the majority of people think/want,” we can all be certain of that…
The Hymnal Industrial Complex!….Everyone needs to read this: https://www.lepantoin.org/wp/the-hymnal-industrial-complex/
Absolutely every Catholic I have told that WE pay recurring fees all the time to the “owners” of this muzak to sing these ditties is shocked and asks WHY? Of course there is absolutely no reason why we should pay a dime. Does Jesus charge a fee for us to use the Our Father at Mass???
ONLY Public Domain hymns should be even considered for Mass. And any contemporary “composer” should donate any contribution of theirs to the Public Domain if they even want their work to be considered for use in the Mass. The non-Catholic Haugen’s and the abuser Haus’s and the publicly gay Schutte’s have gotten rich setting up their money-making tables in our temples. Jesus gave us His perfect example of what to do with those types.
I’m delighted to see “Ashes” on the list of Bishop Knight’s list of prohibited hymns. There’s a bishop who recognizes balderdash when he sees it.
There must be one or two more.
How about “Rain Down” Miss Cleo?
🙁
Perhaps an equivalent of Nihil obstat should be be required for all music used at masses. None liturgical musical events should also be monitored when conducted in sanctuaries.
It is! but everybody just ignores the rules
eg the entrance chant, GIRM 48. This chant is sung alternately by the choir and the people or similarly by a cantor and the people, or entirely by the people, or by the choir alone. In the Dioceses of the United States of America, there are four options for the Entrance Chant: (1) the antiphon from the Missal or the antiphon with its Psalm from the Graduale Romanum, as set to music there or in another setting; (2) the antiphon and Psalm of the Graduale Simplex for the liturgical time; (3) a chant from another collection of Psalms and antiphons, approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop, including Psalms arranged in responsorial or metrical forms; (4) another liturgical chant that is suited to the sacred action, the day, or the time of year, similarly approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop.
The real enemy is the wicked drivel that is published by the Oregon Free Press. We must all perform true and sincere contrition for every Glory & Praise Edition. Problem is, no one under the age of 70 remembers what genuine, artistically beautiful Catholic music sounds like.
Speaking for myself, after suffering the bombastic cacophony of the noise during today’s Masses, I offer it up with the intention of significantly shortening my visit to Purgatory.
Even the period just after receiving Holy Communion, which was always reserved for silent contemplation between the recipient and the just consumed Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Almighty God, the noisemakers start anew, louder than ever, as if people need to be surrounded by unbearable noise!
My point is, this isn’t the lobby bar at the Hyatt Regency, with pleasant piano music playing in the background.
Periods of profound silence during Holy Mass are designed into it. At least they were. Even clergy don’t know any better now.
Long ago, I adopted the use of earplugs for use during the “musical” portions of Holy Mass. but even this is a stopgap measure.
Perhaps, someday, the Lord God will have mercy on us, and lift this burden of suffering from those few of us who still remember the real, unadulterated beauty that was the Catholic Mass.
Mrs. Cracker above (11:06 a.m.) – I don’t see Rain Down on that list.
BTW, the list I’ve seen is from the USCCB Committee on Doctrine so Bishop McKnight is not flying on his own.
I’m a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism and with respect, I don’t understand why attempting to sing in a foreign language helps anyone grow closer to God although I do respect your preference for chants in a language that is not what you speak everyday- after all, many people are opera fans and listen for two hours to songs in foreign languages! I like to sing in my own dear heart language, which God. can use to help me grow closer to Him. I think what would help many of us. including me , to grow closer to God is to stop looking down on American English and ask the Holy Spirit to use all parts of the Mass, even the parts that we have issues with, to help us grow closer to God and each other and to worthily receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament—and to stop finding fault in all things contemporary—God is still there even if people are singing with a decided “Gomer Pyle accent! I am a trained musician in piano and organ who has worked as a paid accompanist for soloists and choirs of all ages and also in many churches, including Catholic parishes. I seldom come across any style of music that l can’t become competent at-except for Gregorian chant. I find it extremely difficult to read the neumes and chant the words correctly and of course, I have no idea what I am saying and to be honest, I don’t find chant beautiful at all, especially when sung by non-singers using the chest voice. I have a lot of respect for all of you who are comfortable singing correctly any kind of chant, especially Gregorian! Frankly, even though I spent several years in high school learning German and a semester learning Latin—I don’t understand more than a few words of either language. I love the classic hymns in my own heart language. I agree that several of the contemporary hymns in most Missalettes contain some questionable lyrics and should probably be re-worked if the writer is still alive. My biggest problem with the Catholic hymns is that the melodies jump all over the place and there are a lot of
difficult intervals that require a singer to attempt to get their voice up into the stratosphere, but I think this could be a little better if we all learned to use our head voice instead of our chest voice—or better yet—go back to traditional hymnals where four parts for each hymn are included and use the ability to learn Latin to also learn how to read music and sing whichever part God gave us the voice to sing, but just as most people can’t play the piano or organ, many people have a hard time learning how to sing. I hope that some of you will find these comments thought-provoking. And may we all stop finding fault with Masses that are not out preference.
The problem is many of these hymns have problematic theology. Take the one I mentioned above “We remember” by Marty Haugen. The lyrics imply (frankly, make it clear) that at Mass we are having a “meal” and not “participating in the Sacrifice of Christ of Calvary.”
Your last statement- as a convert you can’t remember the more reverent times a few decades ago. The priests were more involved in keeping with the correct form of the mass, and parish councils and ccw ladies kept all kept an eye on things. Different times.
Some things sound better in a Gomer Pyle accent. Like Sacred Harp hymns.
🙂
And Jim Nabors actually had a beautiful singing voice.
Porter Girl above (8:35 p.m.) Thanks for your comment on the Antiphons. Yes, I sense there is a shift in the air.
BTW, of the twelve songs on the list of offending songs, eight were OCP publications.
The problem is many of these hymns have problematic theology. Take the one I mentioned above “We remember” by Marty Haugen. The lyrics imply (frankly, make it clear) that at Mass we are having a “meal” and not “participating in the Sacrifice of Christ of Calvary.”