Denver, Colo., Apr 2, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Dawne Mechlinski was a parish music minister for 41 years.
When she was 12 years old, when she was asked to be the organist at her parish in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. She agreed, and added organ lessons onto her piano lessons. After attending Westminster Choir College, she’s been a full-time director of music since 1988 in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey.
Mechlinski, now 53, is the kind of parish music minister who sticks around – she’s only ever served at three different parishes, including her childhood parish. She’s been at her current parish, St. Mark’s in Sea Girt, since 2006.
That is, until the coronavirus pandemic struck.
At first, Mechlinski said employees of the parish took their own social distancing and health precautions, but for the most part, “everything was normal. Then on the weekend of the 14th and 15th (of March), I had questions from parents of choir members.”
The parents were wondering if choir practice was continuing, and if so, what it would look like. Mechlinski, who directs four choirs, decided to cancel choir for the weekend. Instead she played the organ while one person sang for all four Masses.
Attendance was low, Mechlinski noted, as social distancing was already catching on throughout the United States, but the collection basket wasn’t hit too hard, as many parishioners have moved to online donations.
Later that week, on Thursday, March 19, Mechlinski played the organ again for a funeral Mass. That evening, she got the call.
“We’ve decided you’re furloughed,” the parish business administrator told Mechlinski.
“I even had to question really what that meant,” she said. “I thought that was a military term, to be honest. I wasn’t prepared. I actually thought she was calling to give me protocol, how we would be handling things, what would be going on down the road.”
“And the business administrator just said, ‘This is what everyone (in the diocese) is doing, this is how we’ll handle it.’ She was reading me this letter. And that was it. She said, ‘You will be paid until tomorrow,’ which was Friday. I’m off on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that was it.”
Bishops across the United States have suspended public liturgies and closed church buildings in the past few weeks in response to state-issued public safety policies, and Catholic leaders have warned of an immediate revenue shortfall. Consequences of that shortfall include staff reductions, furloughs, and decreased hours.
The furlough came as a shock to Mechlinski, who noted that her parish is located in a “very affluent” area. Music ministry has been her life-long passion, it’s also her career: the primary source of income for a widowed mother to four children, two of whom still live at home and have significant medical needs.
Mechlinski said she tried to ask some clarifying questions, but as of now, things are “not real clear.” She’s unsure what will happen to her health insurance or her life insurance. She was told that her parish had not been paying into unemployment insurance, so she’s not sure what she qualifies for as far as any kind of aid right now.
“I am…a little alarmed that they don’t have something in place for their employees as a protection,” she said. “I’ve asked for a letter of furlough explaining (the details) and I have yet to receive it. I’ve asked for it a couple of times just to have something permanent rather than a phone conversation.”
Linda Rosa, the business manager at St. Mark’s, told CNA that the parish had been in a deficit even before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“We weren’t in the best shape to begin with. We were just trying to get out of it and all of a sudden, there’s something that happens,” Rosa said. She said she has been in touch with employees and with the diocese as the parish has had to make difficult financial decisions to furlough or lay off employees.
Rosa added that as of April 1, no full-time employee of the parish had yet gone without pay. Rosa said Mechlinski was still receiving pay for any personal or sick time off that she had not yet used in the year, as were the other employees. She said Mechlinski and all other employees’ benefits will be covered by the parish for the duration of the pandemic.
“We’re just continuing to pray for all those that have been affected,” Rosa said.
Rayanne Bennett, director of communications in the Diocese of Trenton, told CNA that furloughs were an “unfortunate necessity” due to the coronavirus pandemic, as the drop in donations at the parish level also affects the financial stability of the diocese.
Bennett said that the diocese will pay for the health insurance of all furloughed employees for three months “at minimum,” and has advised all furloughed staff to apply for unemployment benefits through new federal coronavirus benefits.
“We are doing all that we can and will continue to give this our best effort. While there is great uncertainty at this time, it is our hope that we can restore our parishes, schools and diocesan operations to full staffing once the current emergency has passed,” Bennett said.
Mechlinski said she’s unsure of what comes next. She’s hoping that the terms of her furlough become more clear, and she plans to look into what federal aid she may qualify for. A friend of hers, who was recovering from coronavirus with his wife, set up a GoFundMe page to support her.
“He really stepped out and said, ‘Listen, I need to do something for you.’ So he put together a GoFundMe, which I thought was really sweet,” she said. “It’s going to be the angels among us that are all going to help us to get through. The community that continues to lift everyone up, and whatever means of support that people find in their hearts is a blessing.”
Ministry is also a passion for Emily Davenport, 23, who served as a full-time missionary with LifeTeen last year in Georgia before moving to Sandusky, Ohio in September for a job as a youth minister.
The position had been vacant for about a year and a half, Davenport said, and she’s spent most of this year building a youth program back up from scratch.
But now, she’s back home in St. Louis, living with her parents and her 19 year-old seminarian brother, after she was laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“What we have been told is that we’re laid off until Sunday Masses resume, so as far as we know, the plan and the hope is that we’re all rehired,” Davenport said.
“But I also know that shortly before we got laid off, we were told nobody was going to get laid off. And so it’s like everything feels very unpredictable,” she added.
Davenport said she doesn’t have hard feelings about being laid off, and that her pastor handled the situation well.
“Our pastor is fantastic, for the record,” she said. “He’s a really wonderful man. He’s really… trying very, very hard to be prudent for the future of the parish. And so almost as soon as public Masses were canceled, most of our parish staff was either laid off or (had) hours cut. He was an accountant before he was a priest, so he has a lot more managerial foresight than I think…a lot of pastors do.”
Davenport said when her pastor called to tell her the news, he explained to her how she could apply for unemployment benefits.
The parish is also covering Davenport’s health insurance for the pandemic at no cost to her, and because Davenport had been living in parish-provided housing, and has now moved back home with her parents, she doesn’t owe rent anywhere.
“I see them trying to do everything they can. It’s just a sucky situation,” she said.
Fr. Monte Hoyles, the pastor of the Catholic Parishes of Sandusky, the tri-parish conglomerate where Davenport had worked, told CNA he hoped that he could bring his staff back as soon as possible.
“I mean, (laying off staff) is not something you want to do. Who would want to do that?” he said.
“But with very little money coming in and salaries to pay…until we can get back (to public Masses) this was the only way to ensure that we’re able to continue what things we can do for right now,” Hoyles said, adding that the parishes are covering health insurance for all laid-off employees who qualified for it.
“I told my employees from the three parishes and also our cemeteries…I want to bring you back as absolutely soon as I possibly can,” Hoyles said.
Davenport said she feels blessed because she has her family as a safety net, and her dad’s job is pretty secure. But she still has bills to pay, and she doesn’t want to rely on her family for long.
“I was on ‘operation trying to be an independent adult’, but at least for now, I’m trying to take care of my cable bill, and the other things like…car insurance and my car payment,” she said.
“Maybe the bank will be able to let me wait a month or two before paying car payments, in the hope that my job would be back and I’d be able to just pick up where I left off,” she added.
She said she hopes to return to ministry, but that all depends on how things go in the near future with the Church and the pandemic.
“I know I’ll be okay for a few months, but after those few months, I’d have to start finding other ways to take care of those bills.”
Cassandra Tkaczow is another Church employee facing a layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tkaczow was in her second year as an assistant campus minister at Alfred State and Alfred University in New York until March 18, when she was laid off.
“The students were on spring break when everything really started to explode here in New York state,” Tkaczow said. One of her students called her to explain that she wouldn’t be coming back for the semester, but the school’s official policy had not yet been decided.
A few days later, Alfred State College and Alfred University announced that the students would be allowed to come back to campus to collect their belongings, but that all classes would be taking place online.
At first, Tkaczow said, it seemed like she would be getting paid through the end of the semester, and she would just be moving her ministry online. Just days after that plan was discussed, she was laid off.
“Both of us (Tkaczow and her boss) had a suspicion, with the bankruptcy of the diocese in Buffalo that we would not be coming back for the next semester, but we didn’t expect it to be this soon,” she said. The Diocese of Buffalo filed for bankruptcy last year due to sexual abuse lawsuits.
According to a statement from the Diocese of Buffalo provided to CNA, the coronavirus pandemic accelerated diocesan plans of financial reorganization.
“While we deeply regret the very personal impact that this process of realignment will have on dedicated employees of the Catholic Center, we must assess how best to deploy the resources of the Diocese in ways that reflect responsible stewardship and which offer the greatest benefit for our parishes,” Fr. Peter Kalaus, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese, said in a statement.
“We anticipate that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will have a severe impact on parishes and exacerbate the financial challenges that the Diocese is already confronting. It is why we are accelerating our plans to better align the functions of the Catholic Center with the needs of our parishes,” he added.
According to the statement, 21 employees have been laid off or furloughed and 3 people moved from full-time to part-time. Health insurance will be covered by the diocese through April, after which time employees will either need to find different insurance or pay premiums directly to the diocese.
Tkaczow has since moved back home with her parents, who also live in New York. Like Davenport, her housing had been provided, and so rent is not a worry right now.
Tkaczow said while she understands from a financial standpoint why her position was eliminated, she feels bad for her students.
“I also couldn’t help but think, how could they do this to the students? Because they just completely got rid of the campus ministry program, because of the bankruptcy. And with it being this early, how could they do that to them? How are they going to go forward in the coming semesters and years?”
For now, she’s been continuing to minister remotely to her students even without pay. She’s leading a rosary and social hour on Thursdays, and on Mondays she’s leading a Bible study.
While Tkaczow has a degree in computer science, she said her passion is for ministry, and while she may have to find another job to pay the bills for a time, “if God calls me to be in campus ministry or youth minister again, I would not hesitate in saying yes.”
The small parishes of St. Mary in Bloomfield, New Mexico and St Rose of Lima in Blanco New Mexico, in the Diocese of Gallup, have fared slightly better in the coronavirus fallout.
Fr. Josh Mayer, pastor of both parishes, told CNA that he expects to be able to pay his employees for the next six months or so, even if extreme social distancing measures for the pandemic continue.
“Our parishes are in a very blessed position to be able to take care of our staff for a while,” Mayer told CNA.
Mayer said due to canceled Masses, regular tithes to the parish are down to about a third of what they normally are. That could pick up slightly as more parishioners adjust to online donations, but for the most part, a lot of his parishioners haven’t taken to that in recent years, he said.
But the parish is still in a position to pay its staff for a while, and Mayer said he has plenty for them to do.
“I’ve got lots of projects I can give our people to do. Our maintenance guy has to come in and work on stuff here…even when buildings aren’t being used, they need upkeep,” he said.
“And we’re figuring out…how our parish kind of shifts some of our activities to different categories I guess. I mean a lot of stuff that we do with parishioners, we can still do. It just has to look really different,” he said.
Mayer said he was touched by the generosity of his financial manager, Sally Bales, who took a look at the books and the decreased donations and offered to donate her salary back to the parish for the time being so that other staff could remain on payroll.
“We’re just hoping that we can keep everybody employed in the meantime, so something like what Sally did is a huge boon for that,” he said.
“It definitely helps take care of the other parishioners or the other staff and helps ensure that we can keep them employed.”
Bales told CNA that because she and her husband are retired, she decided to donate her salary back for a while, to help younger staff members who are raising families and are relying on their jobs as their main source of income.
“The other staff members are younger, of course, than I am, and that’s their sole income, so it’s a lot harder picture for them than it is for me,” she said.
Bales, who manages the finances of both parishes, said that one of the parishes has a significantly higher percentage of online donations than the other.
“The parish that had more involvement online has not been as adversely affected as the one that people typically give cash at Sunday Mass,” she said.
“That’s one thing I shared with Father, so that he can maybe encourage people to do more online giving. Our expenses don’t change much whether we have Mass or not, and yet our donations are definitely volatile whether we have a physical gathering or not,” she added.
Some parishioners have been mailing in donations, Bales added, and staff have been calling people to encourage them to move to online giving, since “we don’t really see an end when this is going to wrap up.”
Bales said she’s grateful that the parishes had some money set aside, so that they are not relying on the current week’s donations to pay staff salaries.
“As it happens, the parishes that I support have been very conservative and have some money set aside. It’s not like we have to have the money this week to pay the next week salary, so that’s wonderful,” she said.
Bales added that while she and her husband will miss her income from the parish for the time, they realize it isn’t something they need as much as other people on staff do.
“It’s money. It would delay things we would want, but not things that we need. I think that’s the difference,” she said.
“I think that actually, people that are retired or are in a better position to support the parish than the young employed people that are losing their jobs or having their time cut back,” she said.
“And so I think it’s a time for people that do have a regular income coming in to step up their donations. Usually, you think of someone on a fixed income is on the short end of the stick, but in this situation, we’re really in a better position than someone who’s currently earning their keep.”
[…]
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.
“Not even a man raised from the dead will be enough to convince them.”
Mr Tabish, sincerely have you ever taken a moment to look at the great number of Jewish people who have been involved in the music industry? Do you think they infiltrated that in order to damage the Catholic liturgy? Seriously.
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?
🙁
My former priest hated that “Rain Down” song. Told me so himself, just a few minutes before Mass started. I, as a young sacristan at the time, fully agreed.
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.
If this post was directed to me-yes, I do remember the times when the Mass was done in Latin and there were no hymns sung during the Mass, although often, a hymn like Faith if Our Fathers was song after the Mass was pronounced “finished” by the priest. I also remember when much of the Mass was chanted in Latin by the priest—and I didn’t understand what he was saying, but I still knew what was happening in the Mass. because my friends had told me in advance. I hope that tradition-loving Catholics can understand that many of us want to understand and that we need to hear our own language to fully understand! Of course, no or perhaps very few earth-bound humans will fully comprehend all that God is and does for the humans that He loves so dearly,l but hearing the Mass and the hymns\choir numbers/Mass parts in my own language is immensely helpful to someone like me who is extremely slow at learning foreign languages .
Some things sound better in a Gomer Pyle accent. Like Sacred Harp hymns.
🙂
And Jim Nabors actually had a beautiful singing voice.
Well, goooooolly!
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.”
We’re coming up to a special feast day. Try these two:
Hail Redeemer King Divine
Praise my soul the King of Heaven