I played in a Catholic youth band in the early 2000s, convinced contemporary music would fill the pews. I was wrong. Here's what young Catholics are actually looking for.
A personal reflection on Catholic sacred music, drawn from experiences in contemporary worship bands, World Youth Day, and Benedictine monastic life. This essay questions the assumption that relevance-driven music renews the Church, and explores instead the quiet return to tradition, mystery, and transcendence among younger Catholics. It argues that sacred music is not a cultural accessory but a liturgical inheritance meant to shape faith itself.
D.B., I am not a Catholic, but every Christian I know of every kind should be reading this. I am not here to argue doctrine. But I think nearly every Church at one point has conformed or been tempted to comform to the world, rather than to Christ, when it comes to music. And rarely nowadays do I find a Church that has sacred music. This is something that really troubles me.
Your insight into issues like these really doesn't stop at the Catholic Church. I am not a Catholic and find insight and wisdom in most of the things you put on this platform. So thank you. Never stop telling the truth, D.B. We all need it.
30 years before you sincerely believed that the sound of guitars and drums would bring the young people flocking, the same experiment played out.
The Council was wrapping up; nothing, absolutely nothing in the way of published Documents guided the powers that be to become totally hip, calling for rap sessions, belting out new ditties to guitar, circling around the Altar holding hands; nuns shedding their habits so they could play basketball unencumbered; banners and balloons....
Not one young person grew closer to their Crucified Savior because of it.
For me, after decades wandering in the desert of the V-II abomination, I know of NOTHING in V-II that is truly sacred. It seems to me that the heretical bishops have gone out of their way to remove anything and everything from the Mass in particular, and from the entire false church in general that could remotely be called sacred, going so far as to sometimes totally remove the Tabernacle from the sanctuary, as if the physical presence of Jesus Christ might lead someone to recognize just how eternally wrong V-II is.
It has been pointed out also that there are three sacred languages which were used to publish Christ's "crime" when he was crucified. Scripture tells us that the sign on his cross was written in Hebrew Latin and Greek. Only the TLM contains Hebrew Latin and Greek. It is important to follow along with the missal so you have a general idea of the deep theology expressed in the prayers of the mass; but other times I just allow myself to absorb the momentousness of what the priest is doing, his actions, his solemnity his anonymity (in precisely following the rubrics) all speak of worship centered on God and not on the priest's personal preferences or personality as, unfortunately, happens in the new mass no matter how reverent the priest is.
"What is relevant can become irrelevant". Thus sprak a now-deceased priest friend of mine. He wasn't speaking specifically about music, but the sentiment holds
I will add that at the point referred to by the OP, I was very young and being treated to such theological gems as "I Can See Clearly Now", and " Up, Up, and Away".
It's kind of funny to agree with 90% of what you say and disagree with your conclusions. Yes Sacred Music shouldn't be about relevance to the world. But many of the most meditative songs I know are what you would find in a P&W set. I also think the biggest problem of Latin is it does NOT prepare the soil of the soul. The Liturgy should catechize and it's unthinkable to believe God intended all the world to have to be fluent in Latin to understand and worship. Latin certainly made sense before the printing press, but doesn't in modern times. at least not for the masses.
All of this isn't to say Latin and Organ are unsuitable, just they are hardly ideal when you think about the actual effects they should bring about. Pope Benedicts reflection on Latin in contrast to the Liturgy being catechetical reallt emphasizes this for me.
Rob, you're judging the liturgy by what feels most spiritually effective in the moment. That's not how the church has historically judged divine worship music. Sacred music doesn't exist to get an emotional response or create a devotional atmosphere, it's primarily to serve the liturgy. Devotional music and liturgical music aren't the same thing. A P&W song hitting you emotionally doesn't make it liturgically appropriate. The liturgy has always communicated through things that we don't intellectually process ( ritual, architecture, chant, symbolism, etc). You're assuming it must communicate through words you fully understand. But the church never said choose whatever produces the strongest feeling, it said gregorian chant has pride of place. So it's not about what music moves you, it's about what fits the sacrafice happening on the alter.
Your argument on Latin is misguided. Very few attendees at a TLM are good at Latin. It is nowhere required. We go to TLM and use the “red missals” to see Latin/English translation and quickly learn to follow along, learning important phrases quickly. Homilies are in English (or local tongue).
Most human beings in the history of Western civilization were not literate at all, in any language. Yet their one Catholic Mass was in Latin for a good reason. The Latin was always the language of classical learning. It may be a dead language but because of that its meaning cannot change with centuries or countries. Your Latin Mass in any country is universal and easy to follow.
Moreover, in the biggest picture, God chose the dreaded Roman Empire to be the place and time for His Son to be born, and that Latin would be able to help spread the Catholic Church to the farthest pagan worlds.
So go, give it a try. There are two thousand years of history behind you.
I currently meditate on the Roman Missal and other prayers BECAUSE I know their meanings, like other verses. There certainly was a time all writing was essentially in Latin in Europe, but those times passed.
The language of God is silence. The language of man is noise.
My wife and I are so blessed to attend a TLM only Oratory with a wonderful choir and music director. Music flows into your soul.
Thank you for this article.
D.B., I am not a Catholic, but every Christian I know of every kind should be reading this. I am not here to argue doctrine. But I think nearly every Church at one point has conformed or been tempted to comform to the world, rather than to Christ, when it comes to music. And rarely nowadays do I find a Church that has sacred music. This is something that really troubles me.
Your insight into issues like these really doesn't stop at the Catholic Church. I am not a Catholic and find insight and wisdom in most of the things you put on this platform. So thank you. Never stop telling the truth, D.B. We all need it.
30 years before you sincerely believed that the sound of guitars and drums would bring the young people flocking, the same experiment played out.
The Council was wrapping up; nothing, absolutely nothing in the way of published Documents guided the powers that be to become totally hip, calling for rap sessions, belting out new ditties to guitar, circling around the Altar holding hands; nuns shedding their habits so they could play basketball unencumbered; banners and balloons....
Not one young person grew closer to their Crucified Savior because of it.
For me, after decades wandering in the desert of the V-II abomination, I know of NOTHING in V-II that is truly sacred. It seems to me that the heretical bishops have gone out of their way to remove anything and everything from the Mass in particular, and from the entire false church in general that could remotely be called sacred, going so far as to sometimes totally remove the Tabernacle from the sanctuary, as if the physical presence of Jesus Christ might lead someone to recognize just how eternally wrong V-II is.
My late MIL, who was a concert pianist, called modernist evangelical/NO music "7-11 music." You know, seven words repeated 11 times.
She was right. It's just dreadful.
Simplicity ~ Jesus has always been enough it just takes time to see how little we need to become.
It has been pointed out also that there are three sacred languages which were used to publish Christ's "crime" when he was crucified. Scripture tells us that the sign on his cross was written in Hebrew Latin and Greek. Only the TLM contains Hebrew Latin and Greek. It is important to follow along with the missal so you have a general idea of the deep theology expressed in the prayers of the mass; but other times I just allow myself to absorb the momentousness of what the priest is doing, his actions, his solemnity his anonymity (in precisely following the rubrics) all speak of worship centered on God and not on the priest's personal preferences or personality as, unfortunately, happens in the new mass no matter how reverent the priest is.
"What is relevant can become irrelevant". Thus sprak a now-deceased priest friend of mine. He wasn't speaking specifically about music, but the sentiment holds
I will add that at the point referred to by the OP, I was very young and being treated to such theological gems as "I Can See Clearly Now", and " Up, Up, and Away".
It's kind of funny to agree with 90% of what you say and disagree with your conclusions. Yes Sacred Music shouldn't be about relevance to the world. But many of the most meditative songs I know are what you would find in a P&W set. I also think the biggest problem of Latin is it does NOT prepare the soil of the soul. The Liturgy should catechize and it's unthinkable to believe God intended all the world to have to be fluent in Latin to understand and worship. Latin certainly made sense before the printing press, but doesn't in modern times. at least not for the masses.
All of this isn't to say Latin and Organ are unsuitable, just they are hardly ideal when you think about the actual effects they should bring about. Pope Benedicts reflection on Latin in contrast to the Liturgy being catechetical reallt emphasizes this for me.
Rob, you're judging the liturgy by what feels most spiritually effective in the moment. That's not how the church has historically judged divine worship music. Sacred music doesn't exist to get an emotional response or create a devotional atmosphere, it's primarily to serve the liturgy. Devotional music and liturgical music aren't the same thing. A P&W song hitting you emotionally doesn't make it liturgically appropriate. The liturgy has always communicated through things that we don't intellectually process ( ritual, architecture, chant, symbolism, etc). You're assuming it must communicate through words you fully understand. But the church never said choose whatever produces the strongest feeling, it said gregorian chant has pride of place. So it's not about what music moves you, it's about what fits the sacrafice happening on the alter.
Precisely! Nailed it!!!
Dear RobBob,
Your argument on Latin is misguided. Very few attendees at a TLM are good at Latin. It is nowhere required. We go to TLM and use the “red missals” to see Latin/English translation and quickly learn to follow along, learning important phrases quickly. Homilies are in English (or local tongue).
Most human beings in the history of Western civilization were not literate at all, in any language. Yet their one Catholic Mass was in Latin for a good reason. The Latin was always the language of classical learning. It may be a dead language but because of that its meaning cannot change with centuries or countries. Your Latin Mass in any country is universal and easy to follow.
Moreover, in the biggest picture, God chose the dreaded Roman Empire to be the place and time for His Son to be born, and that Latin would be able to help spread the Catholic Church to the farthest pagan worlds.
So go, give it a try. There are two thousand years of history behind you.
I currently meditate on the Roman Missal and other prayers BECAUSE I know their meanings, like other verses. There certainly was a time all writing was essentially in Latin in Europe, but those times passed.
Which is why Latin is the official language of the Church. And why Pope Benedict wrote his “resignation” document in Latin.
Yes, but a few things have changed, and Latin wasn't chosen other than because the Roman people spoke it. And even then it took a few HUNDRED years.
You didn’t really listen to what I so carefully explained. But thank you for the opportunity to clarify.