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Views from the Choir Loft

Weak-Kneed Prayers or Religious Patrimony?

Guest Author · September 17, 2014

0319_DO-LG N GOING THROUGH some old books that had been discarded by a Catholic school library, I found a book from 1982 on planning Masses with children. Filled with various articles about liturgical planning involving children, I chuckled at the drawings and skimmed through the text. One article on prayer (itself written and published in 1981) caught my attention. The author questions her readers:

“What will the next generation of students say about their school prayers? Will they rise up 20 years from now to criticize us for giving them a diet of weak-kneed prayers, full of trendy jargon and self-conscious posturing? Or will they complain that they have learned nothing by heart because we never used the same prayer twice? Or will they thank us for introducing them gradually to the strong and surprising words of praise that are a part of our religious patrimony?”

I could not help but think of my own grade-school years when all of us learned our prayers by heart (the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, among others) and had to practice them and recite them from memory to our teachers. This was certainly not the case across the country or the world.

Even today, in 2014, in one diocese in the United States, in a survey of 11th grade Catholic school students, only 28.1% stated that they always pray with their family before meals (48.6% stated always or often). In the same survey, 54.1% of 11th graders said they never pray the Rosary alone or with family at home.

The author of the article I found in that discarded book wondered what students would say about their school prayers 20 years in the future. It’s been 33 years since she asked those questions and I haven’t heard young adults thanking their elders for “introducing them gradually to the strong and surprising words of praise that are a part of our religious patrimony” (which, by the way, is not a bad thing: our religious patrimony should be passed down to each generation). Instead, one can see with groups such as the Juventutem International Federation, college councils of the Knights of Columbus, and various Newman Center campus organizations/parishes a return to authentic religious patrimony—a patrimony that was, sadly, not passed down.

Do we criticize the older generation for the “diet of weak-kneed prayers, full of trendy jargon and self-conscious posturing?” Do we complain that nothing has been learned by heart because no prayer was used more than twice? It’s been 33 years: the blame game has been played and doesn’t need to be played again. Rather, let’s focus on returning to our authentic religious patrimony so the next generation can thank us for that.


We hope you enjoyed this guest post by Fr. Alan M. Guanella.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Liturgy For Children Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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

“Although the Mass contains much instruction for the faithful, it has nevertheless not seemed expedient to the fathers that it be celebrated everywhere in the vernacular. The holy synod commands pastors and everyone who has the care of souls to explain frequently during the celebration of the Masses, either themselves or through others, some of the things that are read in the Mass, and among other things to expound some mystery of this most Holy Sacrifice, especially on Sundays and feastdays.”

— ‘Council of Trent, XII:8 (1562)’

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