HYMN RESOURCE FOR MASS?

QUESTION: Do you have a suggestion for a website or text providing specific advice or guidelines about the selection of hymns for Mass?

ANSWER:

I DON'T know of a single easy-to-use comprehensive resource off-hand, but I will keep you in mind as I look around. The subject of liturgical music is so complex--both the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome (Holy See) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops have been very reluctant to wade in and create a national or international compilation of "approved" hymns.

NEVERTHELESS, A few fine hymnals have been published in recent years. Check out THE ADOREMUS HYMNAL as one good example: http://www.adoremus.org/Hymnal1.html. The Adoremus website has a number of good articles covering various topics. You'll find solid information here: http://www.adoremus.org/Musictoc.html.

RETIRE FOLKSY MUSIC

IN THE meantime, I would recommend five things. First, make every effort to retire certain "songs" written in the years immediately following the Vatican II Council, e.g. so-called folksy campfire "praise music"--so many of these songs are empty theologically (they mangle Sacred Scripture and the beliefs of the Church), they are irregular in tempo, unsuitable for organ or piano, and unsuitable for SATB etc. And monotonous. In recent years, many new beautiful hymns have been written for choirs such as in your parish and mine.

AMONG THE worst of the "glory and praise" genre in my opinion are songs written by Carey Landry, a former Catholic priest who bolted from the Church without laicization to get married. His song "God and Man at Table Are Sat Down" is simply awful. I'm astonished we still sing this composer's songs.

WORDS TO BE AVOIDED

SECOND, WE should never sing hymns using "Yahweh" as the name of God. The Holy See has said this practice must cease because of the offense caused to devout Jews for whom the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is unspeakable because of its incomparable holiness. Also avoid hymns that refer to God as Jehovah. This term was invented in Elizabethan England and is a corruption of the Tetragammaton.

DON'T SPEAK FOR GOD

THIRD, I would strongly recommend not singing hymns which cause the congregation to sing God's own words--as if God were talking to himself or worse, as if the congregation were actually God. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we come to Christ that he may lead us to the Father. Therefore, in this most holy relationship, we human beings--the Body of Christ--have our own prayers, hymns, and words to speak in our dialogue with God.

GOD HAS his own words to speak to us through Christ the High Priest through the alter Christus--the priest celebrant raised to Holy Orders in the Church and entrusted to offer the Mass. For the choir and congregation to sing the words of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ is to misunderstand the Mass. Instead of encountering God, aren't we simply encountering ourselves?

CO-OPTING THE Word of God renders our worship of God as a kind of play-acting, as merely a nostalgic recollection of elements of our own culture. To the contrary, the Mass is a living, relational encounter with the living God who "is, was and ever shall be": "But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King." [Jer 10:10] God has never asked his people to speak or sing words for him, nor does he need the Church to do this as if he could not speak for himself.

FUNERALS AND SECULAR MUSIC

FOURTH, with respect to funerals, try to avoid certain Catholic songs that are overused and hackneyed, especially these three: "On Eagles' Wings" by Michael Joncas, "Be Not Afraid" by Bob Dufford, and "Here I Am, Lord" by Dan Schutte. (If families insist on these, they may be played immediately before the funeral liturgy begins.) Protestant songs--especially "Amazing Grace" and "How Great Thou Art"--should not be used in the funeral liturgy.

FIFTH, AND finally, never play secular music live or electronically in any sacramental celebration.

GOOD TEST FOR MUSIC

IN CONCLUSION, the repertoire of fine Catholic liturgical music has grown in recent years. Pastors, liturgists and musicians should make every effort to cultivate it in the parish sacramental environment. It takes a lot of work to search, discover, learn and offer worthy Catholic hymns of past and present. But without a diligent effort, we condemn ourselves to a handful of stereotypical and imminently forgettable songs. A good test for choosing liturgical music is the following, answered affirmatively: Does the music recognize and enhance the solemnity of the Catholic liturgy? Does the music possess suitable quality for use in the liturgy? Will it assist the Body of Christ in their experience of prayer and worship?