While the Episcopalians have taken to singing
songs by U2 in their services, Pope Benedict XVI is telling Catholics they must return to medieval music in their masses.
The former Joseph Ratzinger is irritated by guitars and tambourines, the
London Telegraph reports.
"It is possible to modernize holy music," the Pope said at a concert conducted by Domenico Bartolucci, the director of music at the Sistine Chapel. "But it should not happen outside the traditional path of
Gregorian chants or sacred polyphonic choral music."
The pope believes that medieval music "creates the correct ambiance for perceiving God's mystery."
Catholic leaders are divided on the issue.
Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, the Archbishop of Ravenna, said, "Mass is the presence of Christ and the music adds so much more when the harmony allows the mind to transcend the concrete to the divine."
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." Modern music is a "sign of the vitality of the faith."
A week before the pope's pronouncement, on the website
Catholic Answers, a forum member wrote: "Hi everyone. I bought a CD called
Tai Chi — Music For Relaxation as a relaxation CD. It is quite clearly New Age music. Would it be a sin to listen to this CD?"
Are people so incapable of thinking for themselves, so afraid of doing something "wrong" or "sinful" that they must resort to asking permission of strangers before they listen to a particular piece of music? (And if so, why didn't she ask
before she bought it?)
The responses to her question were even more bizarre than the question itself. Here are a few of the "well-reasoned" comments she received:
- "As long as you don't believe any of the trash they'll probably try to promote, I doubt it's wrong."
- "So long as there are no lyrics praising a false god or ideals, I don't see how."
- "No lyrics? I don't see a problem with the music itself. The money from the CD may be going to things you may not want to support, but I don't think the music itself is sinful/evil."
- "New Age music is on the same level as Rock, Rap, Country, Jazz, Bluegrass, Gospel, and every other form of anticlassical music. Anticlassical music, regardless of lyrical content or lack thereof, is essentially of the flesh, not the mind.
"The only music that is truly of the mind, that is truly human, in other words, is Classical music, on the order of Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, as distinct from the anticlassical, so-called Romantic works of Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Hector Berlioz.
"Compare any of the first paragraph's indicated musical offerings, to Bach's St. Matthew Passion or the Jesu Meine Freude. There is a species-difference between the two. The former is animalistic, the latter is humanistic.
"In other words, New Age music, lyrical or not, is, like all anticlassical music, a vice, like tobacco smoking or drinking alcohol. The only healthy form of music, from a cognitive perspective, is Classical forms."
- "Although I'm not sure if listening to New Age music is sinful or not I would suggest that it would be highly IMPRUDENT!
"I used to listen to a LOT of New-Age music, everything from Enigma to Mike Oldfield, because I liked the way it made me feel! It never gave me peace but it did give me a feeling of peace. But it would never last.
"Try to think of what is happening spiritually when you listen to music; and music does move your spirit. If you listen to Christian music where the musicians, etc. have prayed that whoever listens to their music will be moved closer to God, then anyone who listens to their music will receive grace when listening to it. You receive the 'Spirit' that the musicians intend for you to receive.
"Same thing happens when New-Agers make music, you pick up the New-Age spirits.
"If music helps you relax, I would suggest you find some good Christian/Catholic music. I personally like to listen to some of the Taizé music. Very peaceful."
- "It isn't wrong in itself, but buying these CD's provides financial support for those who promote New Age and other philosophies which are dangerous things to get involved in."
- "All music involves the flesh, but, not all is of it. Only Romantic and similar composers intend to please the ears through arbitrary sound arrangements. Classical composers compose their works around an idea — a mental construct — that the notes are indicators of. Until one understands this, one knows nothing valuable whatever of Classical music and all music is merely sensuality, all acoustical majesty merely frippery, all musical virtuosity merely egotism."
New age spirits? Animalistic? Anti-classical? Imprudent? Frippery and egotism?
Meanwhile, the Pope believes that if Latin Masses are reintroduced, more Catholics will learn the words to the Gregorian chants that he advocates.
Gregorian chants for your iPod. How 12th century!
Rock on.
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
We move through miracle days
Spirit moves in mysterious ways
She moves with it
She moves with it
Lift my days, light up my nights
— From Mysterious Ways by U2
U2 |
Mysterious Ways |
Pope Benedict XVI |
Church Music |
Gregorian Chants |
Burning Taper |
BurningTaper.com
Bro. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was apparently into writing church music in the years leading up to his death at age 35, researchers suggest, after a single sheet of musical notation in his handwriting was re-discovered recently.
