More On Secular Music At Mass … John Lennon?

AT TIP to Jeff Ostrowski for his exposé on Dan Schutte’s “Missa My Little Pony.” As soon as I heard it, I told my fiancée, “He’s right—it’s the same song. And there’s more music like that.” As in, there’s more church/liturgical music stolen from… errr… similar to secular music.

I told her I couldn’t think of precise songs at the moment, but I knew there were more. Now that it is Advent, with Christmas music blaring from radio stations and every department store’s overhead speaker, I have remembered one of the songs.

I was fortunate to go to World Youth Day 2008, where I saw His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, and where I heard an Alleluia song by Guy Sebastian. It might just be my imagination, but isn’t the supporting vocalization/background music of John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas” the same music as that Alleluia? Judge for yourself:

      * *  Mp3 Excerpt: Guy Sebastian and Paulini’s “Alleluia”

      * *  Mp3 Download: John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas”

Listen to the “Alleluia” first, and then listen to the Lennon song. You will hear the “Alleluia” music slowly coming up from the background. If you go to the original YouTube video versions, you can set the “Alleluia” to 1:04 and “So this is Christmas” at 1:03, playing them simultaneously. (Sebastian sings slower, but he fits in so well as things progress.)

So this is Alleluia! Happy Advent to my fellow Catholics and Merry Christmas to the secularists who are already saying that. Try not to think of Sebastian’s Alleluia every time you hear Lennon’s Christmas song!

We hope you enjoyed this guest article by A.W. Smay.

Editor’s Note: It would be important to know whether this song was sung DURING an actual liturgy, or whether it was used outside of Mass only.