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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

The Church Must Be Countercultural

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · October 15, 2015

321DraperTallLaren3 NE DAY A YEAR OR SO AGO a priest was consulting with a bride on her upcoming wedding. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t allowing a popular song to be sung during her nuptial Mass. The title sounded sort of sacred, something about ‘raising you up.’ And it was a nice melody, everybody knew it, and it meant a lot to her, and…The young priest finally asked her, “Would you like to have the Ave Maria sung at your reception?” Then she understood that there’s a time and a place for everything. And despite what the popular culture tells us, all things are not equal.

Letting the popular culture into the Mass is dangerous. The Church has been and needs to be countercultural. Consider the generation of Catholics who came of age in the heyday immediately following the implementation of Vatican II. I find it both interesting and ironic that many from that period thought of themselves as countercultural. They were cutting edge, agents of change, new and exciting. The future lay before them and they were shaping it. No innovation was too great for the seismic shift they envisioned for the Catholic Church.

All around this swirl of activity the secular culture was changing as well. In the Church, a vacuum of available music was filled with pop and folk inspired songs. I remember walking into church one summer Sunday and seeing kids from my high school standing up in front with guitars. They were singing music that sounded like it was from the radio. (I never listened much to the pop songs of the day, so I really hated what was happening). Of course, since all of this music was “new” and I didn’t really know any of it, I couldn’t participate in the Mass. At that point I had no idea about “actuoso participatio.” It all just felt weird. But at least the kids doing the music seemed like they were having a good time.

Now some (not all, some) of those same countercultural people, those who embraced radical change, those who were so progressive, hip, open-minded and open-armed, are the very same who, when confronted with a resurgence, or gradual re-discovery of chant, Latin, sung dialogues, solemn liturgical practices and gestures, and solid Catholic hymnody, are now rigid and unwilling to accept change. They don’t want the Church to be countercultural.

Thanks to websites like this and many others, the Church is once again becoming countercultural. Except now, the culture it’s turning away from is the one created by some dubious choices in music, architecture, and sacred language.

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 Dr. Alfred Calabrese

Dr. Alfred Calabrese is Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Rita Catholic Church in Dallas, TX. He and his wife have two children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

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

“The priest coming nearer to the faithful; communicating with them; praying and singing with them and therefore standing at the pulpit; saying the COLLECT, the EPISTLE, and the GOSPEL in their language; the priest singing in the divine traditional melodies—the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo—with the faithful: these are so many good reforms that give back to that part of the Mass its true finality.”

— Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1965) praising vernacular readings at Mass

Recent Posts

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  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

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