Question on Music and Mass.

[thewanderer]

Originally Posted by pilots13

Ah, the "only do chant or your a heathen" discussion. I love this one. Two things, one question, and one find as a result of trying to get the answer myself.

Question: There is a list of instruments inappropriate to the mass and the reason given is that they are secular? Really? What makes something a secular instrument? Last I checked the Beatles used organs in their music and the Rolling Stones used choirs.

Find: From an article on getreligion.org: "Pope Benedict XVI is calling for an end to guitars and a return to traditional choirs in the Catholic Church… . The Pope’s supporters say that the music played during mass is a vital part of the communion between worshippers and God, and that medieval church music creates the correct ambience for perceiving God’s mystery, the newspaper said. But Cardinal Carlo Furno, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, said it was “better to have guitars on the altar and rock and roll masses than empty churches.”"

And that last sentence is my view. If something heightens your worship experience, regardless of if it's chant, choir, Haas, or rock and/or roll, why is it a bad thing? If even the Pope is using Haugen music at a Mass, then Rome must not find this anywhere near as big an issue as some people here do.

Oh and on a side note, "the medieval church" being the correct church drives me crazy. Another topic, another day....

I'm just gonna throw this out there... but often it is precisely praise and worship / guitar music at mass that drives people away from the church and other more solemn (note I am not just saying gregorian chant, even just more traditional hymns etc) that tend to draw people in, especially young people. That has been my own experience both for myself and others I have known. I have also seen a couple threads on CAF that pretty much said the exact same thing. I think this fact goes hand in hand with the reason people discourage praise and worship and guitar etc from being used during mass, it turns the mass into something common, and does not set it apart as a beautiful liturgy where one puts ones best forward for God.