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I don\u2019t mind the odd mystery in church, but there\u2019s one I can\u2019t seem to solve. Why is it that Catholics won\u2019t sing hymns at Mass? I have to admit it, the Protestants have this fantastic tradition of singing hymns. They\u2019ve got their great gospel choirs, gospel quartets and little singing groups.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve got this whole tradition of singing their hearts out for Jesus, so why, despite my best efforts do Catholics refuse to sing? Why do they remain with arms crossed, mouths closed and hymnbooks resolutely remaining in the pew?<\/p>\n
Here are some of the proposed answers, but I don\u2019t buy any of them.<\/p>\n
1. Catholics don\u2019t sing at Mass because the hymns are all goopy, modernist, sentimental trash about walking on the beach with Jesus and eagles and \u2018gathering together\u2019. These hymns are usually unsuitable to be sung by a congregation, and nobody knows them, so people just don\u2019t sing. Partially true, but not all the contemporary hymns are awful, and for goodness sake, why don\u2019t they know them when they\u2019ve been sung over and over again since the 1970s? After all, at least they are easy to listen to and not difficult theologically or linguistically. So why won\u2019t they sing?<\/i><\/p>\n
2. Catholics don\u2019t sing at Mass because the hymns are all archaic, incomprehensible, overly theological Victorian lyrics put to thumping old hymn tunes that nobody likes and nobody knows. Just the opposite to number one. They don\u2019t sing modern hymns, but they also don\u2019t sing the old hymns. They don\u2019t know them? Come on. Not even old standbys like \u2018Now Thank We All Our God\u2019 or \u2018Alleluia Sing to Jesus\u2019?<\/i><\/p>\n
3. Catholics don\u2019t sing because they\u2019re all Irish and the Irish considered hymn singing to be a Protestant, Anglican Methodist sort of thing so they reacted against it and never learned to sing hymns at Mass. Nonsense. Not all American Catholics are of Irish descent and why would a cultural argument which was perhaps appropriate 50 or 100 years ago still remain in America today? Besides its not just the Irish American Catholics who don\u2019t sing hymns. Nobody does. Are we to believe that the Irish revulsion at hymns somehow infected the Mexicans, the Poles, the Italians and the Nigerians?<\/i>
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\n4. Catholics don\u2019t sing because singing is a girly, arty farty kind of thing for sissies and Catholicism is more manly. Errr. Then why don\u2019t the Catholic women sing either?<\/i><\/p>\n
5. Catholics don\u2019t sing hymns because they still don\u2019t know how to participate at Mass. They think\u00a0 Mass is something you go and watch like you do a play at a theater. Maybe, but then they do tend to respond to the people\u2019s parts of the Mass pretty well and they often sing the Mass setting well.<\/i>
\n <\/i>
\n6. Catholics don\u2019t sing hymns because they\u2019re a hard hearted bunch who don\u2019t really love Jesus. Hmm. No doubt that applies to some Catholics, but not all. In fact most of the people I know who go to Mass regularly love Jesus pretty much. Sorry, that won\u2019t stick either.<\/i><\/p>\n
7. Catholics don\u2019t like to use books and hymn sheets to read words. They like to respond with the stuff they have memorized. That\u2019s why they\u2019ll sing one verse of \u2018Faith of Our Fathers\u2019 or \u2018Holy God We Praise Thy Name\u201d but nothing else. That\u2019s interesting. Maybe we should just sing the same four hymns over and over until they memorize them. But is that really the case? They are happy to pick up the bulletin and read it (often during the homily\u2026)<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/i>
\n8. <\/i>Hymn singing is essentially Protestant. Catholics have an instinct against it. That instinct has to do with the nature of liturgical worship. They sense that the hymn somehow doesn\u2019t fit with the action of the liturgy so they just instinctively opt out. They don\u2019t mean to be negative or not to participate, they are just participating more by listening and watching and paying attention to God\u2019s presence in a nice contemplative, laid back way. So what\u2019s wrong with that? Hmm. Maybe you\u2019ve got something there. Then again, maybe you don\u2019t. Maybe what you think is them being \u2018contemplative\u2019 is not contemplative but complacent.<\/i><\/p>\n
9. Nobody ever taught these people how to sing. They\u2019re shy. They\u2019re insecure about singing. Protestants are brought up with singing hymns all the time. They\u2019re used to it. Nonsense. Everybody can sing. I mean there are a few people who sound either like a cat scratching a chalkboard or a drunk bullfrog, but most people can sing. Look around at the ball game. People sing the national anthem and pep songs well enough.<\/i><\/p>\n
10. Hymns are emotional. Catholics don\u2019t like public displays of affection. They\u2019re more reserved and they don\u2019t go in for all that \u2018me and Jesus\u2019 emotional stuff. C\u2019mon. The hymns they do sing are very emotional\u2013sentimental even. Take the Lourdes hymn or Hail Holy Queen. These are emotional and Catholics sing them well enough, and the modern hymns they do like (Amazing Grace and Eagles Wings) are very emotional.<\/i>
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\n <\/i>
\n11. Catholics know deep down that the Mass is not the place to sing hymns. Their refusal to sing is their unconscious way of telling the priest to stop foisting hymns on them all the time and to simply have the choir sing the Introit, Gradual and Offertory and have a decent organ with a fine organist play grand music to walk in and out by. Now that would be radical! Scrap the hymn singing schtick altogether and do what the rubrics say? Actually have a choir or schola to sing the Introit, the Psalm, the Gradual and the Offertory? If we did that you know\u00a0 what would happen?<\/i><\/p>\n
Everyone would say, \u201cFather I really miss not singing hymns at Mass. When are you going to bring hymn singing back\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t mind the odd mystery in church, but there\u2019s one I can\u2019t seem to solve. Why is it that Catholics won\u2019t sing hymns at Mass? I have to admit it, the Protestants have this fantastic tradition of singing hymns. They\u2019ve got their great gospel choirs, gospel quartets and little singing groups. They\u2019ve got this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":22591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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