Am I mean? Am I just narrow-minded, divisive, overly rigid, Pharasaical, because of my dismay at our recessional "hymn" at Mass today?
As announced by the cantor: "In honor of our country's history, our recessional song will be God Bless America. "
Hmm. I think that singing a hymn asking God's guidance and blessing for our country is a great thing, especially if it has a verse or two imploring Him not to give us the judgment we so richly deserve. Until that hymn gets written, though, why not O Beautiful for Spacious Skies or even Faith of Our Fathers?
My issue with God Bless America is that, first of all, it's not a Catholic hymn or really even a hymn at all. It's a show tune, originally written by Irving Berlin for a revue, set aside, and then revised into the version made famous by Kate Smith. I have no problem with the song in secular settings. But for Mass, let's select a piece with a style and history that says "hymn."
There's also the small quibble that music at Mass should honor God, not "our country's history."
Finally, I have a practical objection. Apparently the publishers of our hymnals share my thought that God Bless America is not a hymn, as they have not seen fit to include it in any of the small library of missalettes, song books, and other supplements that grace our parish pews. (I'm sure it's not the royalty issue, as they're paying out big bucks to include the Compleat Haugen.) That means there are no printed lyrics available for anyone who wants to sing but doesn't already know the words.
Gen-Xers (and Y-ers, and younger) how many of you could sing God Bless America, beginning to end, with no prompts, right now? I know I can't, and I would consider myself fairly average when it comes to songs known by heart. We also have a number of people in our parish who were not born in this country. So at least half the congregation was just standing around while everyone else sang.
But those who did sing, sang well and sang the whole verse, and that's pretty rare at our parish -- usually people are gathering up their stuff and headed out the door the second the priest turns around.
Oh well. As long as I'm giving the report, the opening hymn was some contemporary thing I didn't recognize. We did sing Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest. And of course, no Mass at our parish is complete without that fine gem, Christ Be Our Light by Bernadette Farrell, played with a monotonous one-trip-let one-trip-let one-trip-let accompaniment on the organ. I've never had a migraine headache, but I always imagine it as being something like this piece.
And no, I'm not going to write a letter to the pastor.
Oh, and what's up with this -- our missalette did not print the text of the Sequence! It only referred us to its own musical version in the back, set to Ode to Joy. I might write suggesting that we switch missalettes next year.
Our closing hymn was "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", which I personally love.
I was surprised that the lector read the Pentecost sequence rather than Father or the (guest) deacon reading or chanting it.
but at least we heard it.
The lector read the Sequence at our parish too, and our pastor's big on abiding by the rubrics. We didn't have music at the 12:30 Mass though. (I was surprised that they did "Be Not Afraid" the other week. It doesn't offend me, I just know many people in blogland seem to have issues with it but would probably otherwise love our parish.)
I'm not quite 26 and I know all the words to the commonly sung part of "God Bless America" (through the oceans white with foam/home sweet home rhyme -- don't know if there are more verses.) This is not to say I think it's a great choice, just since you asked.
Gen-Xer here who can sing "God Bless America" all the way through without prompts. But I do agree with your points. We too were graced with "Christ, Be Our Light" today. My grouse with the second (and with "Lead Me, Lord") is the implicit idea that we invite Christ to be our light -- or to be our way, our truth, and our life -- as if there were options behind doors 2 and 3 for those who'd rather not have Christ be their light, way, truth, or life.
I have to admit that I can only get through the first line. I have no idea what comes next. Something about Purple Mountains? No that is "America the Beautiful," which seems a fine tribute to the country. Of course, I would prefer "California the Beautiful," since we have everything nifty (other than mangrove swamps and alligators) that the rest of you have, and I prefer to think of crossing the Sierra Nevada as foreign travel.
Anyway, I am very glad that our parish stuck with a Latin chant. Much more Catlick that way. If you all are sick of that Marty Haugen dreck, you should make a field trip out here. I can show you a number of churches that shun all that Amchurch nonsense. It has gotten so good that I can't remember the last time I had to use an OCP publication at all (Deo gratias!).
If you are suggesting a new hymnal for your parish, might I recommend the Adoremus Hymnal? An excellent publication that is full of good material and is a good looking book to boot.
I have often said that if I ever hit it rich, I will buy my parish a set of Adoremus hymnals and a mass subscription to Magnificat (one to replace each disposable missalette). It strikes me as SO WASTEFUL (and not good stewardship, to boot) to print the word of God on cheap paper and then trash them.
Do any of you remember when missals and prayer books were treated as sacramentals, and blessed and cared for with reverence?
Well, I must be a bigger grump, because I think Pentecost should supercede Memorial Day. Thankfully our recessional was another hymn to the Holy Spirit. I'm sure today's recessional was more patriotic, since it *is* Memorial Day.
Funny, though, that so many of us were treated to "Christ Be Our Light"...was it during Communion? We also sang "Come Holy Ghost", but it was the opening hymn for us.
And, yes, the Sequence was sung to the tune of "Ode to Joy." Am I the only one who wants to sing, "Freude, schöner Götterfunken Tochter aus Elysium..."?
Hmmm...I think I'll stick Beethoven's 9th in the CD-ROM while I finish browsing through the parish.
Valerie,
Yes! I think of the Schiller poem whenever that is trotted out. The Ode to Joy works great in the 9th Symphony, which has a marvelous structure as a whole work, but taken out of that context, it is pretty insipid.
I should clarify that we didn't skip the Sequence. The lector read it. The missalette just didn't see fit to include the text except in its own goofy setting.
I can sing about three and a half lines of "God Bless America". I can get as far as "Stand beside her, And guide her." I know there's something in there about "the mountains and the prairies"
We sing "Christ Be Our Light" pretty much every darn week, complete with that one-trip-let one-trip-let drone, except for Marian feasts, when we sing "Immaculate Mary" twice. When we don't sing "Christ Be Our Light" we sing some other unsingable contemporary thing, like "Shepherd Me O God."
We had a "Bob Hurd Mass" without our regular pianist/cantor, so we got the old folksy people (with their eletric guitar) argh!
And I'm pretty sure I could sing "God Bless America" all the way through in a group setting like Mass, but I also know the second verse to the "Star Spangled Banner" (Boy Scout summer camp staffer).