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Views from the Choir Loft

Reflections on the Liturgy by Andrew Nash

Jeff Ostrowski · February 9, 2013

ANY ARTICLES printed over the years in the Sacred Music Journal have more to do with Liturgy and Theology than they do with the subject of music. However, this is not meant to be a criticism. Many of them are quite interesting and worthy of careful reflection. Furthermore, they serve as a “testimony” to the times, providing a window, as it were, for future generations into “what was happening” with the Liturgy in 1930, 1940, 1970, etc.

I was recently reading the following article by Andrew Nash. (You can download the entire thing as a PDF below.) Sacred Music usually does a really nice job providing a Bio of each contributor, usually at the end of the issue. However, for some reason, no Bio was provided for Andrew Nash. Perhaps this was an oversight.

      *  “The Liturgy Vacuum: A Personal Viewpoint” [pdf]

In my opinion, his piece is worth reading in its entirety. Here are two excerpts:

But even brief comments are comments. They assume a need to comment. The liturgy has become an activity which is no longer self-explanatory. It is not something which it is natural just to do. It has become an artificial activity—something which doesn’t come naturally. Contrast it, for instance, with the natural rituals of daily life. When we shake hands, we do not feel the need to explain, “By this gesture I am establishing contact with you.” Even more, when we express affection by an embrace or tousling a child’s hair, this needs no explanation. The rituals of family life—singing “Happy birthday to you,” putting up a Christmas tree, cutting a wedding cake—need no explanation and would of course be killed by one. Communal worship, however, has apparently ceased to be something we can do without constant explanatory comment. This is a most extraordinary state of affairs.

. . . None of these [hymns] was liturgical. They were imported into the liturgy but were massively supplemented, indeed soon swamped by, the Protestant hymnody. Many of these are very splendid hymns— but they necessarily brought with them their contexts of Anglican or evangelical worship. Their melodies, rhythms, vocabulary, diction, sometimes even theology and certainly spirituality, were non-native to the Catholic liturgy. (Even those which are translations of ancient hymns from the divine office had never existed in their vernacular form as such.) It is significant that the most progressive liturgists quickly found them unsatisfactory— they were old fashioned and formal. What was wanted was something friendlier and more informal. And so 1960’s “folk” music was imported into the new liturgy.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Indeed, we may not hope for real Latin poetry any more, because Latin is now a dead language to all of us. However well a man may read, write, or even speak Latin now, it is always a foreign language to him, acquired artificially. It is no one’s mother tongue. Does a man ever write real poetry in an acquired language?”

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

Recent Posts

  • Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
  • Bishop François Charrière Vs. Hannibal Bugnini
  • 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • “My First Year with the Latin Mass” • A Music Director’s Perspective
  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”

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