Patriotic songs at Mass

Anna Nussbaum at the Commonweal blog poses a question to her readers that I have been thinking and writing about for a while now: whether patriotic songs should be sung at Mass. Anyone who has been reading my blog or my contributions to Vox Nova knows my thoughts on the matter, but I did weigh in over in the post’s combox. I would say that there is a good discussion going on there, but surprisingly, most of the readers offering comments are in agreement that they dislike the practice.

I was traveling back home in West Virginia this past week and for Sunday Mass I visited the Chapel of Mary and Joseph at Wheeling Jesuit University, my alma mater. The presider, fortunately, made no reference to the upcoming July 4th holiday and instead gave a really good homily on the Christian meaning of freedom (based on the Pauline reading), making sure to mention how the term is misused by American politicians. But sure enough, the recessional “hymn” was “America the Beautiful,” which was the first time I had ever heard a patriotic song at Mass in that chapel. I nearly walked out, as I did at a Mass a couple years ago (at another parish) when the song was sung to commemorate Memorial Day, but chose not to this time because I was with family.

Which raises two questions. The first is simply a repeat of the question posed at Commonweal, tweaked for Vox Nova’s readership: What do the readers of Vox Nova think about the practice of singing patriotic songs at Mass?

The second question springs from my realization that, as the discussion at Commonweal indicates, opposition to the singing of patriotic songs is hardly a “radical” position to take, and many “mainstream” Catholics feel uneasy about it. Besides complaining to the pastor — which, as Vox Nova contributor Morning’s Minion points out in the comments, usually results in the response that “the parishioners demand that we sing these songs” — what are other ways of registering one’s protest and trying to help our pastors and music ministers see the potentially idolatrous nature of what they are doing?