I am opposed to ... the intrusion of busywork into the time-honored custom of space reserved for private prayer.
I was reminded of your posting when I read Father Zuhlsdorf comment about
the puzzling idea that if people aren’t constantly singing or carrying stuff during Mass they are not “actively” participating as if listening and watching must be only “passive”
Back to you:
In fact, I'd like to sing more, and even with the candied ditties I'll take a run, even if I have to edit out some of the words
Yes, the text is primary. If we used the words out of the Roman Missal and Gradual (and Hymnal), or accurate translations thereof, we would not have this problem.
Then again, if we used the music out of the Roman Missal, &c., we would be taking care of a lot of other problems.
My respect for Bishop Mengeling of Lansing went way up some years back when I saw reported that at a diocesan clergy conference, he instructed, publicly and emphatically, that he wanted to never hear that Sing a New Church had ever been used in his diocese again.
[paraphrase] We don't need to 'sing a new church into being' -- this is already the one that Christ founded. Deal with it.[/paraphrase]
As Mark Shea would say, "episcopal spine alert!"
peace,
Speaking of practices from our older brothers in the faith, one of the things our parish does that makes me understand how an animal can become desperate enough to chew its own leg off to escape a trap is the "Offeratory." It's neither the music, nor the singing. It's the fact that it stomps all over the prayer of thanksgiving for the elements--one of the most beautiful prayers in our liturgy--that makes me want to get up and leave.
Slightly different topic: Bp. Trautman's reasoning brings up a question this new Catholic had never thought of before: Does the liturgy belong to us, or we to it?
I sure hope that Bishop Mengeling showed a better grasp of metaphor in other things. Mindless literalism is not terribly becoming of an educated person.
Todd,
Puh-lease.
Neither is mindless acquiescense to heretical subversion.
As an "educated person", please help me out: what, precisely, do you see as metaphor in "Sing a New Church", and what is it a metaphor of? (You may need to use small words; I am one of those "unthinking literalists," after all.)
And remember, most of the people in the pews thought they came to worship at the old "one holy Catholic and apostolic Church" founded by Christ (assuming they think about it at all, many of them unbecomingly uneducated, you know). What meaning, precisely, should they be expected to take away from being asked to sing about bringing a into being a new church, founded upon "diversity" and upon the people's action?
Metaphorically or literally, this is terrible ecclesiology.
What is the reasonable implication of saying that this "new church" will be "rich in its diversity", "one in faith and love and praise"? Is it not that the old church is deficient in these things? So much for the "marks of the Church," it would seem.
And finally, if the non-heretical "metaphor" requires so much "education" to tease out from the plain (and heretical) sense of the words, what does that say about the artistic merit of "Sing a New Church"?
peace,
I'm SO much in agreement about singing/saying the Divine Name. It doesn't help that I'm Jewish by birth and upbringing! I writhe in agony when it comes in readings - in songs, I substitute 'the Lord'. Why did it happen? Who started the fashion? Was it the Jerusalem Bible? (I still use that occasionally for study, but it's not so bad just written down, because my mind automatically substitutes 'Adonai'.)
'Does the liturgy belong to us, or we to it?'
Both, in the same sort of sense as the Sabbath.
Zach, the metaphor is the adjective "new." The Church isn't really new, but the phrase expresses many potential things, especially the renewal of faith found in celebrating the Eucharist. I concede the language isn't exactly neocon PC, but the charge of heresy is up to the accuser to prove. I haven't seen anything stronger than "I don't like the language," a charge by the way, I can respect more than "heresy."
" ... founded upon "diversity" and upon the people's action?"
Hardly. God is the agent, as each of the first three verses mention.
"Is it not that the old church is deficient in these things?"
Not at all. But sinful people might well be.
"And finally, if the non-heretical "metaphor" requires so much "education" to tease out from the plain (and heretical) sense of the words, what does that say about the artistic merit of "Sing a New Church"?"
I've never been in a parish where it was a problem. Not any more than following Crucified Bears is bothersome in "Lift High The Cross."
Pardon the ignorance, but is the Divine Name only the one that starts with "Y"? I thought I've seen Jews who wouldn't spell out G-- either.
... The points already discussed all follow from the preferential ranking of the group above the Church. How so? Because the Church is classified under the general term "institution" and in the type of sociology being borrowed here, "institution" bears the quality of a negative value. "Institution" embodies power, and power is viewed as the antithesis of freedom. Since faith ("imitation of Jesus") is conceived of as a positive value, it must stand on the side of freedom and hence by its very nature be anti institutional as well. Accordingly, worship may not be a prop for or a part of an institution either, but it must instead be a counterforce which helps bring down the mighty from their thrones.
If that be the point of departure, then of course the Paschal hope (to which the liturgy is supposed to testify) can become quite terrestrial. It can become the hope of overcoming the institutions, and in fact it becomes a weapon in the struggle against the powers that be. For example, he who merely reads the texts of the Missa Nicaraguensis can get a good idea of this shifting of hope and of the new realism which liturgy acquires here, as instrument of a militant promise. And something else becomes evident: the importance which actually accrues to music in the new conception. The revolutionary songs have the power to arouse, and this communicates an enthusiasm and a conviction which a merely spoken liturgy, could not evoke. Here, there is no longer any opposition to liturgical music, since music has received a new and indispensable function of arousing irrational powers and a communitarian impulse which is the purpose of the entire process. And music simultaneously contributes to the formation of consciousness, because something which is sung gradually communicates itself to the spirit much more effectively than something merely spoken or thought. Moreover, by way of the group liturgy the boundaries of the locally assembled community are here quite deliberately overstepped: by means of the liturgical form and its music there arises a new solidarity which is supposed to bring forth a new people that calls itself the people of God, although "God" really means the people themselves and the historical energies realized in them.
"Liturgy and Sacred Music"
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
HH Benedict XVI, now gloriously reigning
Terry:
In a nutshell, that's basically it. Devout Jews generally spell "G-d" (or some similar variation) on the net, and I was told by an Orthodox Jew that that was for fear that the discussion could be printed, then tossed in the trash, and they wouldn't want His name trashed, even inadvertently and without intent to desecrate. That's a little more protective than I care to be, but I can appreciate the intent.
However, Orthodox Jews will say "God" in conversation, discuss "God" in writings and so forth (with the above limitation). They will never, ever, ever say or print anything to do with the Tetragrammaton (the four letters which spell out the Lord's Name). I'm sure there may be exceptions, but essentially, it's a huge no-no.
Thanks Dale.
And hope you're feeling better.
I try not to sing "The Summons" either, with its suggestion that the singer answers God's prayers. Or something. The lyrics to these things are incomprehensible.
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