I can almost feel the teeth of the Catholic blogosphere--which so often rants against Marty Haugen--go on edge as I hear (parts of) the Mass of Creation sung at the Papal Mass at Nationals Park.
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
There is one member of our parish choir who calls it the "Mass of Creamation"
Because of circumstances beyond my control I am part of a choir that considers "Mass of Creation" to be NEW music. (If it's post-"Glory and Praise" it's new.)
It's not that it's bad, because I don't think it's BAD. There's other stuff that's just plain bad. It's overused. It's nice to have something familiar, but we can be familiar with a few Mass settings so easily.
I have to lead the choir on Sunday, and the lineup included "I am the Bread of Life." Now THAT one is bad. I'm changing that one out, for sure. Unfortunately the other musician can't handle much post-"Glory and Praise" so my choices are really limited.
If you're up to something daring, the settings for the Mass of the Angels (also called Missa de Angelis or Mass VIII)are easy enough for even a hack like me to sing. Versions are available from a number of publishers. We have it in the back of the Collegeville Hymnal that is used at our parish.
We ususally do the Missa de Angelis for about half the masses in ordinary time, and then we do the Orbis Factor Mass for Advent and Lent. The remaining Sundays the choir does something more complex.
In any case, the Mass of the Angels is simple enough that most of the congregation sings along. Adding it, or something like it to your regular repetoire whoud be in line with Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Vatican II document on litury that siad that Gregorian Chant shoud have pride of place, and it would conforn the the desire of the Holy Father that the lay faithful be familiar with the Latin versions of some of the principal prayers of the Church.
5 comments:
There is one member of our parish choir who calls it the "Mass of Creamation"
I hope s/he doesn't mind if I borrow that line!
Ben, I refer to it the same way.
Because of circumstances beyond my control I am part of a choir that considers "Mass of Creation" to be NEW music. (If it's post-"Glory and Praise" it's new.)
It's not that it's bad, because I don't think it's BAD. There's other stuff that's just plain bad. It's overused. It's nice to have something familiar, but we can be familiar with a few Mass settings so easily.
I have to lead the choir on Sunday, and the lineup included "I am the Bread of Life." Now THAT one is bad. I'm changing that one out, for sure. Unfortunately the other musician can't handle much post-"Glory and Praise" so my choices are really limited.
Barb,
If you're up to something daring, the settings for the Mass of the Angels (also called Missa de Angelis or Mass VIII)are easy enough for even a hack like me to sing. Versions are available from a number of publishers. We have it in the back of the Collegeville Hymnal that is used at our parish.
We ususally do the Missa de Angelis for about half the masses in ordinary time, and then we do the Orbis Factor Mass for Advent and Lent. The remaining Sundays the choir does something more complex.
In any case, the Mass of the Angels is simple enough that most of the congregation sings along. Adding it, or something like it to your regular repetoire whoud be in line with Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Vatican II document on litury that siad that Gregorian Chant shoud have pride of place, and it would conforn the the desire of the Holy Father that the lay faithful be familiar with the Latin versions of some of the principal prayers of the Church.
Ben, I'm not the director, but I'm interested in that Mass setting. I'll check it out! Maybe we have some new music in our future :)
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