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Corpus Christi Watershed

“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

“Contemporary” Catholic Music • Is it truly dead?

Jeff Ostrowski · April 12, 2017

HOSE ATTENDING this year’s Sacred Music Symposium will experience a marvelous surprise, which we today announce. All participants will be given an opportunity to meet composer Kevin Allen! Here’s a snippet from 2011 DVD which features Mr. Allen’s music and conducting:


Kevin Allen’s compositions are truly inspired, by which I mean they are hauntingly beautiful but utilize a contemporary harmonic language.

ERIOUS COMPOSERS like Kevin Allen—and many do still exist—remind us that authentic contemporary church music is not dead. The Symposium is proud to be promoting what is positive and wholesome and healthy and holy. For the record, that’s also why I’m thrilled to be part of the Brébeuf Hymnal project, which uses a ton of newly-composed texts and melodies. Mr. Allen will deliver a presentation about living composers who compose serious church music.

Examining what’s being published in too many of today’s Catholic hymnals can be quite discouraging. The following comes from a 2013 (!!!) GIA hymnal, and I find its syncopation and grammar inappropriate for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:

242 GIA Publications


Is this really sacred (“set apart”) music, building upon the vast treasury of traditional Roman Catholic music? Or is this a goofy attempt to insert 1 into the Catholic liturgy styles which don’t belong? And was the bizarre grammar (“angels sang when baby born”) maintained in the Spanish translation? I’m afraid I don’t know Spanish well enough to know.

By the way, GIA has been pushing similar stuff for decades. Consider the following piece from GIA’s WORSHIP II HYMNAL, with accompaniment by Robert J. Batastini:

241 GIA Publications


What was so unacceptable about the assigned texts, which come directly from sacred scripture? Why was it necessary to abandon them, in favor of stuff like this? And what’s going on here? Is this a story about the Nativity?

No, we haven’t got a manger.
No, we haven’t got a stable.
We are Christian men and women,
Always willing, never able.

But how can that be? How could people be “Christian” at the time of Christ’s birth? And what does this stanza mean?

Jesus Christ has gone to heaven;
One day he’ll be coming back, sir.
In this house he will be welcome,
But we hope he won’t be black, sir.

When I was growing up in the 1990s, we sang songs like this in our Catholic school. Only through secular pursuits—performing works by Chopin, Liszt, Medtner, Glazunov, Brahms, Debussy, Mozart, Bach, Rachmaninov, and others—did I eventually discover the glorious Roman Catholic heritage which had been so carefully hidden from me.

My wife and I have decided never to allow our children to be poisoned by music like what is contained in those “Catholic” GIA hymnals.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The other day, we spoke of seminary professor who wants more secular styles at Mass, such as jazz and “commercial pop music.” He seems unaware that people have been struggling mightily to insert secular styles into the Holy Mass for many years.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Heretical GIA Hymns Last Updated: March 24, 2021

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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

A hymn verse need not be a complete sentence, but it must have completed sense as a recognisable part of the complete sentence, and at each major pause there would be at least a “sense-pause.” Saint Ambrose and the early writers and centonists always kept to this rule. This indicates one of the differences between a poem and a hymn, and by this standard most of the modern hymns and the revisions of old hymns in the Breviary stand condemned.

— Fr. Joseph Connelly

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