Saturday, January 26, 2013

Protestant Hymns for Catholic Use...

In the past there has been debate within the comments of this blog on the validity of using hymns in the Mass.  For Lutherans it is a no-brainer.  We feel like hymnody is the Lutheran contribution to the liturgy.  But Roman purists insist that hymns are not essential to and have little place within the Mass.  No matter how much I lament or push or prod, I have not changed their minds.  Maybe another fellow with the last name Peters might...  OR you can read it here at First Thoughts...

Should Catholics sing hymns at Mass? Given the state of Catholic liturgical music, it’s a fair question. In the last century, Catholics exchanged their musical solid food for milk—usually skim and on the edge of going sour. Hymns at Mass are a recent addition to the liturgy. Hymns were used in the daily office, rotating by day or by season, but the Tridentine Mass had chants for particular days—the propers of the Mass—not hymns. Protestant congregations who were departing from medieval practice in other ways introduced hymns into the liturgy itself, and, as many Christians of all kinds acknowledge, Catholic attempts to appropriate and improve on this Protestant modification have not turned out well.

It should not surprise us, therefore, that some Catholics who want to fix church music focus on Gregorian chant and move away from hymns altogether. Others lean more favorably toward hymns, but seek to make sure that they are Catholic hymns. But there are good reasons for Catholics to sing hymns—and Protestant hymns, at that. Even as they strive for excellence in Gregorian chant and other areas of musical renewal, Catholics would do well to remember what good hymns can do and why excellence in hymn-singing should be part of the Catholic liturgical renewal.

First, good hymns offer an excellent opportunity for catechesis, which is one of the purposes of liturgy. Like the proper chants, they can help us digest the truths of God we have just received in Scripture and offer an exegesis of particular feasts themselves. Consider the Lutheran Easter hymn, “Awake, My Heart, with Gladness”:

Now I will cling forever
To Christ, my Savior true;
My Lord will leave me never,
Whate’er He passeth through.
He rends Death’s iron chain,
He breaks through sin and pain,
He shatters hell’s dark thrall,
I follow Him through all. . . .

He brings me to the portal
That leads to bliss untold,
Whereon this rhyme immortal
Is found in script of gold:
“Who there My cross hath shared
Finds here a crown prepared;
Who there with Me hath died
Shall here be glorified.”

Notice the unexpected way Paul Gerhardt puts it: It is not that I will never leave Christ, whatever I pass through, but that he will never leave me. In a short turn of phrase, Gerhardt reminds us of the assurances that come through Christ’s resurrection: Whatever we suffer, we suffer with him at our side—and knowing the end of his story, we have hope for the end of our own. We follow Christ as he harrows Hell and routs the many places it has encamped in our own souls. We are promised the cross, yes, but also the crown. In these two verses, Gerhardt had left us a rich primer on the resurrection, a sixteen-line sermon on what the triumph of Christ means for the life of a Christian.

Because these hymns can be vehicles for handing on the Catholic faith, they remind us of the real meaning of Catholic. At its heart, to say that something is Catholic is not to say that it was written by a person in communion with the bishop of Rome but that it is in accord with the universal apostolic heritage. This means, of course, that not all hymns are suitable for Catholic liturgies. But it also means that if a hymn proclaims the Catholic faith, then—regardless of its origin—we should consider it a Catholic hymn.

This is the vision of catholicity put forward in Vatican II. The Council fathers write in Lumen Gentium that while the Church in the world subsists in the Catholic Church, “many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity.” In the decree on ecumenism, they note that such elements “belong by right to the one Church of Christ.” They continue: “Nor should we forget that anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can be a help to our own edification. Whatever is truly Christian . . . can always bring a deeper realization of the mystery of Christ and the Church.”

In other words, if a Protestant hymn contains Catholic truth, it is a Catholic hymn as well. Singing such hymns is, in the deepest sense of the word, truly Catholic. Furthermore, many hymns capture the particular genius of a group of believers, a way of putting things that the Holy Spirit has allowed to develop in particular times and places. In singing hymns that embody that genius, Catholics can claim them as a gift for themselves as well.

For the sake of teaching the faith and living out its catholicity, therefore, Catholics should give serious consideration to good hymnody. Yes, we should resurrect our own treasures that we have discarded. Restore Gregorian chant to its rightful place and ramp up the Latin, by all means. And yes, we must be careful about what hymns we chose. But it is good for Catholics to sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” and “Abide with Me.” For with them all Christians can praise God, hand on of the faith, and help bind up sad divisions. If the Catholic Church is who she claims to be, and if being Catholic means what she claims it means, then singing such hymns truly is a Catholic thing to do.

And let me end with David Mills' own words from the same blog (December 26, 2012):

It would be a wonderful thing if Catholic churches sang more verses of the hymns we sing, especially at a feast like Christmas when the Mass has or should have a degree of festive leisure and the great carols we sing offer complex and detailed meditations on the event we’re celebrating. It’s a bit like mining for gold and only taking the top layer, when you know that with just a little extra effort and time you can scrape off the next layer and get even more, but don’t because you want to get home to watch television reruns a few minutes earlier. There are riches to be had, and to be celebrated in song, with just a little extra effort and a few more minutes.

Before some liturgical pedant jumps in to inform us that hymns aren’t integral to the Mass: Yes, we all know that. But if you’re going to sing hymns, sing ’em right. Take advantage of the lyrical riches they offer and the pleasures to be had from singing more of the verses. Especially at Christmas, when the carols are such an integral part of the modern Western experience of celebrating the birth of the Son of God. Please, sir, I want some more.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Catholics have their own hymn tradition and should absolutely not use Protestant hymns, regardless of whether they are doctrinally pure and/or consistent with Roman Catholic doctrine and dogma. What's the point of being Catholic if you're just going to use the same materials used at the Lutheran church down the street? Why the need to keep blending and assimilating from heretics? WE've seen the results of this from Vatican II, when the Novus Ordo came about thanks to the "input" of 6 Protestant ministers from Tuebingen. The results? The Mass is become more of a spectacle for entertainment rather than a prayer. Besides, the whole idea of congregational singing is a bad one. Congregations cannot sing because the vast majority of people lack a basic musical education; that's why there are chanters.--Chris

Joanne said...

I agree that Lutherans can use Catholic hymns from before the Reformation, but not afterward. We may use any orthodox hymns that are orthdox in doctrine. I dont think they have an new ones since St. Romanus. We should have the Symeron Kremate in our hymnals and the Xrhistos Anesty hymns. And as many Lutheran hymns as will fit.

Now you won't have any room for sectarian and enthusiast hymns, but I'm not opposed to putting a small collection of those at the very rear of the hymnal under Sectarian Hymns, listed by sectarian name Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal. It's extremely important for Lutherans to know when they are not singing Lutheran hymns.

And the rubric is, no non-Lutheran hymns may be used in any one service, until at least 3 Lutheran Chorale hymns have been sung.

You might want to know that at Bach's time, the hymns were sung a capella with help from the choir or special music leaders with trained voices. Your organist can play the most beautiful hymn preludes, but not play the hymn for accompaniment of the congregation. Give that 5 minutes worth of thought. Also, all the churches in Leipzig that had an organ, had their own organists. Bach did not play the organ in Leipzig except for emergencies. I would use something like a glokenspiel to bang out the hymn melodies before each hymn, after the organ hymn prelude.

Claudius said...

For the beginning I'd like to respond to unknown. From 1524, Protestants have shown that ordinary people without a basic musical education, simple peasants, who have learned to read from Luther Bible, were able to sing hymns to God in the liturgy. were either Lutheran or Reformed.
Joanne
Please do not call the Baptists and Methodists sectarian. Baptists are church and congregations from 1600 and in 1689 have already developed beautiful confession of faith. London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689. Baptists participated in the conception and formulation of Westminster Confession of Faith.
And Methodists are a broken wing from the Church of England and ar 100% Protestants. Is it true that they are young, after 1700 but from the beginning was true Protestants hwo identified with the Protestant Reformation from the sixteenth century.

Northcountry1 said...

Northcountry1
It is mind-boggling to me to hear these Catholic fundamentalists talk of a Catholic/Protestant divide on hymns.
I attend St Ignatius of Loyola Chruch on Park Avenue in New York city. It is home to the world renowned "Sacred Music in Space" http://www.smssconcerts.org and also the great H.P. Mander organ.
Our masses on Sunday are filled with singing--ancient. medieval, and contemporary.
Our choir just this morning sang pieces by Kellner (Lutheran) Bach (Lutheran) Thomas Talis (catholic) Mozart)
The congregation sand Catholic and Protestant hymns.

I think I belong in the church of Pope Francis who is trying to overcome these religious divides. Music is is a starting point.
By the way this is a Jesuit Church

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Catholic Songs