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These Last Days News - December 15, 2011

Why Is Catholic Music Such a Mess?

"The institution itself, as set by Me, remains to be true; however, the cavorting and the banjos and the guitars and the musical interludes and the dancing are all created by satan. So you can understand that satan has entered now with his armies in full regalia, appearing as humans. However, they are demons in disguise, and they have one ultimate aim: to try to destroy My Church, the Roman Catholic Church, with the seat of Peter as the head." - Jesus, March 18, 1989

"Pagan practices of diabolical music is not condoned by the Eternal Father, nor shall We condone dancing and all manner of worldly entrance within the holy houses of God." - Our Lady of the Roses, March 18, 1975

The Chant Cafe reported on December 9, 2007:

I get this question enough that it justifies an article. Here’s the scenario. A long time Catholic of bourgeois sensibilities, a man who trying to hold on to his faith but doesn’t attend Mass on a regular basis, decides that it is time to try again. He goes to a parish not far from his house. The processional says to him: nothing has changed from the last time I tried this. He grinds his teeth throughout. By communion time, he is nearly losing his mind. The recessional hymn puts him over the top. He goes out to the parking lot cursing under his breath, mad all over again, recalling why he doesn’t go that often.

The problem is the music. It is bad pop music, shabbily done by people who nonetheless seem to be pretty proud of their performance. The entire Mass, the man keeps asking himself: how does it happen that the most beautiful liturgy, the product of 2000 years of tradition, could be reduced to this? More importantly, isn’t there something that can be done about it?

I receive phonecalls and emails along these lines all the time and have for many years. The stark contrast between what exists and what they remember Mass to be, or imagine it can be like or have seen or heard elsewhere, is too much too handle.

I see my main job here as trying my best to calm people down and get them to see that the source of the problem is not as metaphysically malicious as they might at first think. We do not need a purge, as tempting as that idea might sound. Nor is the solution some dramatic leap into an authoritarian future in which a Bishop or the Pope imposes one set of music and tosses out everyone who doesn’t go along, as satisfying as that fantasy might be.

There are a number of core reasons why this problem persists, and these reasons are related to each other in complex ways. Let’s first be clear that the musicians themselves typically feel a sense of discomfort about what they are doing. They are not entirely sure that they are really making a contribution to the liturgy. They feel a sense of disconnect with what is happening on the altar. They are unclear about whether the music they are doing is really appropriate. But they are unpaid volunteers who are aware that no one seems to be objecting, and they do receive compliments from time to time. Hence, they reason, they might as well continue what they are doing, which is showing up to Mass 30 minutes early and selecting for hymns and otherwise doing what they already know how to do. They do not see the big picture. They do not imagine what they cannot musically render or understand.

The number one issue, in my own view that has been formed over a decade of close study, is that the musicians themselves do not know better. Most people doing music in the Catholic Church do not even have a rudimentary understanding of the musical demands of the Roman rite. They do not know what parts of the Mass constitute the ordinary structure of the Mass. They do not know that the propers of the Mass exist. They have no idea how the music is related to the word or the calendar (apart from Christmas and Easter). They have no idea what is mandatory, what is an option, what is the Church’s choice, what is the publisher’s choice, what tradition consists of, or how to tell genuine liturgical music from nonliturgical music.

This is because they have never been told. And a reason that they have never been told is that very few people actually have this understanding at all. You can attend ten national conventions, read ten books, subscribe to all the major liturgy publications, troll websites all day, talk to your pastor and grill your predecessors, and still never discover these basic points about the Catholic liturgy and its musical demands. Yes, you will come away with some slogans and with the knowledge that “the people” need to participate but do not (it’s always easier to focus on the sins of others), but that’s about it.

The core information about the role of music is not known because it is not known, and this problem is not only serious at the grass roots; it goes straight to the top. Again, it is not malice that is preventing this knowledge from leaking out; it is just that so much information has been lost during these confusing decades that there are very few around that truly get it.

The second problem is that the resources to actually make a musical contribution to the liturgy have been missing for many decades. The music book of the Roman rite, the Roman Gradual, is unknown to 98% of musicians in the Catholic Church. They’ve never seen a copy and never heard of it, even though it is mentioned in both the Missal and in the instruction for the Missal. Even on the off chance that they have seen this book, they can’t read either the language (Latin) or the notation (four-line staff). They do not know that there are English versions of this available. If they did know this, they wouldn’t know how to get them.

Historians who have looked in detail at this problem note that it all began in the 1960s as an extension of a problem that pre-existed the Second Vatican Council. In a Low Mass culture, it was common to replace the sung propers with hymns and spoken propers. When the prevailing style of hymns changed in the 1960s from stodgy to groovy, and Mass propers fell by the wayside, that tendency to match the music with the times also stuck. That’s why the first signs of what many regard as corruption began to appear in the 1960s. Pop music began to dominate, first in the area of songs as replacements for propers. Only later did it become common for the ordinary chants of the Mass to be replaced by settings that matched the style of the new songs. By the early 1970s, it was a clean sweep. All the music of the Mass had a completely different face. By the time that the Roman Gradual that pertains to the ordinary form was actually printed in 1974, the whole issue has already been settled and the book was widely ignored.

There are other problems out there, to be sure. People talk about the problem of the publisher cartel, and it is a problem. But as I often remind people, they way to deal with this problem is simply a matter of changing the market. You have to change the buying preferences of the consumers. It’s pretty simple. You can do this without legislation, crack downs, hectoring, or belligerence. It is just a matter of supply and demand. In markets, products come and products go. If you don’t like what sells, support something else.

What about legislation and mandates? Statements from on high? Impositions from authority? I don’t consider these to be part of any real solution. There will continue to be statements just as there have been for decades. They are not as important as actually changing hearts through real experience. This is why educational colloquia and teaching conferences are so important. And it is why books like the Parish Book of Chant and the Simple English Propers are also so important. We have to have the resources. And we have to have the money to fund the production of these books and conferences - and generous donors (blessed are they!) are in short supply.

This is my sketch of the world we’ve inherited and how we must work to change it, the one I’ve relayed seemingly hundreds of times. There is a solution to the problem and it can be brought about quickly. We don’t need decades. But we do need passion, work, funding, and prayer.

"Should you go and wish to buy a small instrument, even a guitar, that We hear plucking away at the dervishly, and devilry, of what is called the musical Mass, strung by guitars, and other creations of satan." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 7, 1985

 Let Us All Pray the Rosary Together Around the World for a Return to the Traditions of the Church... Click here...

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The awesome Bayside Prophecies...  https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/default.htm  
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:

GUITARS, MUSICAL INTERLUDES, DANCING
"Already there is much discord in My Church upon earth. It saddens everyone in Heaven. And We are out in force now, going throughout the world seeking to set up armies of good children who will fight, to the bitter end if necessary, to save My Church upon earth. It is being destroyed. Just as rodents will burrow into a house, those who have evil natures are burrowing into My Church. We find it almost unrecognizable, My children. However, I will say this: I asked you to remain in your parish churches, not to judge by the actions of man.
     "The institution itself, as set by Me, remains to be true; however, the cavorting and the banjos and the guitars and the musical interludes and the dancing are all created by satan. So you can understand that satan has entered now with his armies in full regalia, appearing as humans. However, they are demons in disguise, and they have one ultimate aim: to try to destroy My Church, the Roman Catholic Church, with the seat of Peter as the head." - Jesus, March 18, 1989

CREATIONS OF SATAN
"My child and My children, the days will grow darker, and there will be hunger in your land. Yes, My child, what I brought you here for this evening is to tell the world that there will be a crash in the monetary doings of your government--an absolute crash that will affect every man, woman, and child in the United States and Canada, and then, like a serpent, creep all over Europe, until the world sees one big, massive depression. I can illustrate to you, My children, what I mean by this monetary depression.
     "Should you go and wish to buy a small instrument, even a guitar, that We hear plucking away at the dervishly, and devilry, of what is called the musical Mass, strung by guitars, and other creations of satan. My child, I go on to tell you, you will say that the guitar is not a costly item, but in order to buy this guitar you will carry an actual satchel, an overnight bag-size, My child--let Us put it that way clearly--of notes, your currency. It will take a whole suitcase of paper--paper money that no longer has a value. You will soon be reduced to bartering for your food." - Our Lady, September 7, 1985

NOT OF THE CHURCH
Veronica - Our Lady is placing Her hands upon Her eyes, and She's pointing over to the left side, Her right side. I see the inside of a church. There is a service going on. But however, what are they doing? They are skipping, like frolicking down the aisle. As I watch, I see--it is the priest, I believe, behind the altar.
     He's motioning to two children to come out of the pews and go to the rear of the church. The children are hastily- almost running to the back of the church, and I see they are picking up something. Oh, it is the ciborium and the plate. Oh!
Our Lady - "Now what are they doing, My child?"
Veronica - They are taking it up to the altar. Now the priest and the other man--
Our Lady - "The deacon, he is called, My child, the deacon."
Veronica - They are giving these over to them and the priest is now going back to his station behind the altar. Now all of a sudden he raises his hand, and a young- oh, a young woman is coming out of the pew. But oh, my goodness me! She has on a pair of shorts, and she's heading for the altar.
     Now Our Lady is pointing. The woman starts to sing. Her music is not one of the church, or those accepted by God. And as she sings, the priest stands behind the altar. And in his eyes -"Is he admiring her or admonishing her?"
Our Lady - "It looks, My child, like he is admiring her." - June 18, 1993

Directives from Heaven… https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D1 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass  PDF
D19 - Prayers    PDF
D20 - Importance of Prayer (Part 1)  PDF
D21 - Importance of Prayer (Part 2)   PDF
D85 - Tradition  PDF
D127 - Vatican II   PDF
D280 - Ungodly Music PDF 

Articles...

Latin, the universal language of the Catholic Church
https://www.tldm.org/news5/latin.htm 

Pope Benedict XVI on the disintegration of the liturgy
https://www.tldm.org/news7/PopeBenedictXVIDisintegrationOfLiturgy.htm

“Kneel before your God in the Eucharist”
https://www.tldm.org/News5/kneeling.htm 

Vatican on kneeling for holy Communion
https://www.tldm.org/vatican%20letter.htm 

Should women cover their heads in Church?
https://www.tldm.org/news6/veils.htm 

Pope John Paul II recommends praying the St. Michael Exorcism
https://www.tldm.org/news6/exorcism.htm 

Restore the high altar
https://www.tldm.org/news5/main%5Faltar.htm

"You cannot separate Tradition from your Faith"
https://www.tldm.org/news6/tradition1.htm 

Vatican II, part 1: Infiltration of the Church
https://www.tldm.org/News6/VaticanII-1.htm

Vatican II, part 2: Dark clouds forming before Vatican II
https://www.tldm.org/News6/VaticanII-2.htm

Vatican II, part 3: the satanic revolution gains momentum at the Council
https://www.tldm.org/News6/VaticanII-3.htm

Links…

Pope Benedict XVI harshly condemns Masses that have been transformed “into spectacles that require directors of genius and talented actors"
http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=28889&eng=y

Pope Benedict XVI Long-time Supporter of the Traditional Latin Mass, Una Voce America
http://www.unavoce.org/news/2005/benedict_xvi.html

Why Latin? The Latin Mass Society of Ireland
http://indigo.ie/~colmgren/latsoc/template/latin_hist.htm

The Popes on the Latin language, Una Voce
http://www.unavoce.org/popes.htm

Pope John Paul II strongly encourages use of “immortal language”, Una Voce
http://www.unavoce.org/popelatin.htm

The Sacredness of Tradition, by Alice Von Hildebrand

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"My children, My little humble children, I appeal to you as your Mother, go forward on foot, knock on the doors; bring the light to your brothers and sisters.  For those who have been given great grace, much is expected of them." Our Lady of the Roses  May 26, 1976

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