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.
