Washington Mass a Liturgical Disappointment?

"Brace yourself for the Pope's mass in DC", says Jeffrey Tucker (The New Liturgical Movement), responding to the Washingtion Diocese' announcement regarding its selection of music. Tucker pronounces the list -- "it includes mostly Gospel numbers, some rock/blues thrown in ("Jesus is Here Right Now"), together with the "Mass of Creation" Sanctus and Amen" -- "as skimpy as it is troubling."

At issue: the question of cultural diversity, personal creativity and Catholic universality as it is manifested in the musical selection:

The director Tom Stehle says that the music announced so far "represents our long Catholic and Christian tradition and the current diversity of our church."

I can't understand the implication that our diversity as Catholics is somehow "current" and not part of our past. This usually comes with the claim that the music of our past is bound up with Eurocentric sensibilities and unsuitable for a diverse age. Actually, a defining mark of true liturgical music is its universality over time and space, and chant and its elaborations certainly have that mark of universality about them. Its universality is one of the most remarkable discoveries made by musicologists who have looked at chant in the first millennium. And this feature is not only part of the history of chant; it is also an embedded melodic feature of Gregorian plainsong that it strives to transcend time and place.

All of this I learned from reading the Pope's own writings on liturgy and music.

Moreover--and this pains me to think of it--our current "multicultural" obsessions are more than a little insulting to racial minorities and especially African American Catholics. It is a caricature of the worst sort to assume that only Gospel spirituals somehow "represent" their culture and people, and to further imply that chant is somehow incomprehensible to them. I can only speak from my own experience in this regard: the African Americans in parishes I've worked in are among the most passionate supporters of authentic sacred music, precisely because it is an aid to prayer, which, after all, is the core of liturgical art.

From what we have seen so far, the music at the D.C. Papal Mass is not a progressive program. It is a pre-Benedict program with a utility-oriented lineup focussed on making some kind of cultural/political/sociological statement to someone (American Catholics? The Vatican? The Pope?) through the liturgy. There is no evidence of change, growth,and development toward ideals.

Let's hear it from the Pope himself -- an excerpt from The Spirit of the Liturgy (SF, CA: Ignatius, 2000), pp. 146-47:

In the West, in the form of Gregorian chant, the inherited tradition of psalm-singing was developed to a new sublimity and purity, which set a permanent standard for sacred music, music for the liturgy of the Church. Polyphony developed in the late Middle Ages, and then instruments came back into divine worship--quite rightly, too, because, as we have seen, the Church not only continues the synagogue, but also takes up, in the light of Christ's Pasch, the reality represented by the Temple. Two new factors are thus at work in Church music. Artistic freedom increasingly asserts its rights, even in the liturgy. Church music and secular music are now each influenced by the other. This is particularly clear in the case of the so-called "parody Masses", in which the text of the Mass was set to a theme or melody that came from secular music, with the result that anyone hearing it might think he was listening to the latest "hit". It is clear that these opportunities for artistic creativity and the adoption of secular tunes brought danger with them. Music was no longer developing out of prayer, but, with the new demand for artistic autonomy, was now heading away from the liturgy; it was becoming an end in itself, opening the door to new, very different ways of feeling and of experiencing the world. Music was alienating the liturgy from its true nature.

At this point the Council of Trent intervened in the culture war that had broken out. It was made a norm that liturgical music should be at the service of the Word; the use of instruments was substantially reduced; and the difference between secular and sacred music was clearly affirmed.

Homework: "Pope Benedict XVI on Sacred Music", compiled by St. Michael's Catholic Church in Auburn, Alabama

Related

• Richmond Catholic wonders "Will the Pope sing along?" March 21, 2008.
• Recovering Choir Director: Re-title this press release for the DC Papal Mass "... “lack of sound liturgical formation”

Stehle: Haugen's "Mass of Creation" will NOT be performed

Tim Drake (Pope2008.com) does some fact-checking and nixes the rumors and the misleading list that has been circulating:

I just got off the telephone with D.C.'s "Music Man" Tom Stehle regarding the conversation taking place online with respect to the music being performed at the Mass in Washington, D.C. Stehle was able to confirm that the list that made its way to freerepublic is neither complete nor accurate and should not be circulated.

Stehle is in the midst of preparations for Holy Week celebrations at his parish and so couldn't comment further, but said he has been shocked by the level of "vitriol and hate" that has crossed his desk in the form of emails.

"There will be chant. We're not performing 'The Mass of Creation Fraction Rite'. The papal Master of Ceremonies and I went through the music," said Stehle. "The list that was posted online was neither complete nor accurate, and there are pieces that are missing."

Stehle has promised to speak with Mr. Drake next week, after Easter, when the Archdiocese plans to release the list of the 48 pieces of music being performed -- catch updates on this topic at Pope2008.com.

Related

• Thomas Stehle named director of music for upcoming Papal Liturgy in Washington Catholic Standard January 23, 2008.

No! Not Marty Haugen! -- Say it isn't so!

Sanctus for the Pope's Mass: Haugen's Mass of Creation The New Liturgical Movement March 16, 2008 - Jeffrey Tucker has a bone to pick regarding the music selection for the Pope's Mass in Washington:

The music in New York and at Vespers in Washington at the Shrine is forward looking and impressive. It seems impossible that at the Pope's April 17th Mass in Washington, D.C., that anyone could possibly schedule The Mass of Creation by Marty Haugen,: the Sanctus, the "Great Amen," and Agnus Dei. Composed in 1984 (I think), with obvious Broadway influence and overdone melodrama, it has been an unrelenting presence in parishes all over the country. In fact, it is legendarily over used, in every season, again and again and again, so much so that these parts of the Mass sometimes seems like the movie Groundhog Day.

[...]

"God of Power, God of Might." "Jesus, Lamb of God." The text departs not only from the Latin but even from the ICEL translation approved for English use. In this sense--and it is a small thing with big symbolic importance--how could it be possible that this setting would be used at a Mass celebrated by the Pope?

[...]

Surely, organizers would not shun this for Benedict XVI and surely they would not bypass this in favor of what might be the most embarrassing aspect of American liturgy? What signal would the organizers be sending to the Pope by scheduling the Mass of Creation by Marty Haugen? That America is stuck in the past, refuses to update itself, refuses the aesthetic leadership of the Vatican, refuses even the approved texts of the Mass, refuses to get passed the confused times of the postconciliar era and embrace the new times, and refuses to make the larger tradition of our faith a living presence in our lives?

[...] So who is responsible? The name that keeps coming up is Thomas V. Stehle, who directs music at Our Lady of Mercy, in Potomac, Maryland. (He is also available to be hired as a consultant on architecture.) The diocesan paper announced that he would be organizing the music for the Pope's visit, and here is what he said is guiding him when it comes to making musical choices:

"The most important thing to me is that everyone present is fully engaged," he said. "The music is aimed at allowing the assembly to take up its role and not just be spectators, but full participants in the celebration, no matter where they are sitting."

Well, it so happens that Cardinal Ratzinger wrote an entire book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, to explode this anthropocentric, community-obsessed view of liturgy. In his writings, he actually said of this perspective, that liturgy is all about maximizing the singing of the congregation, is "insipid pedagogic rationalism."

Do the organizers of this Mass care at all about the cause to which this Pope is so obviously dedicated? Are they seeking to say: your cause is not our cause?

This isn't responsible liturgical planning. This is an insult. American Catholics should be deeply embarrassed and outraged.

Perhaps it's high time to introduce the Holy Father (and Thomas Stehle) to the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas?

(100+ comments and counting - join the debate!)

Tom Stehle, "D.C.'s Music Man"

Tim Drake of the National Catholic Register catches up with Tom Stehle, the pastoral associate for liturgy and music at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Potomac, MD -- and currently serving as the director of music for the Papal Mass in Washington, DC.

Meet Thomas Stehle . . .

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profiles Thomas Stehle, music director for the papal mass in Washington:

When Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass for 45,000 people at the new ballpark in Washington, D.C., a musician from Western Pennsylvania will lead the hallelujahs.

Thomas Stehle, a Butler native, will oversee a 250-voice choir, a gospel choir, a multicultural choir, a children's choir and an orchestra at the April 17 Mass. He's in sensitive negotiations with yet-to-be-identified famous singers. This is on top of his duties as director of music at a parish in Potomac, Md.

The papal post came as a surprise to Mr. Stehle, who hadn't applied. He expected it to go to a director at the cathedral or the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

"When I first heard that the pope was coming, there was a little sense of relief that I wasn't in a position where I would necessarily be called to do this," he said. "It's a wonderful honor, but the responsibility is tremendous."

He was prepared for it, he said, by years of service at parishes in the Pittsburgh area. . . . [More]

Related

• Thomas Stehle named director of music for upcoming Papal Liturgy in Washington Catholic Standard January 23, 2008.