Sing, and chant, to the mountains

By Paul Schratz

"Pope bans rock ’n’ roll Masses," read one headline.

Another said, "Pope wants guitars silenced during Mass."

An even more strident warning: "Pope wants ‘Pop’ music banned from churches."

And my personal favourite: "Pope starts the chant – stop the pop."

All of which underscores the modern journalist’s credo: never let facts get in the way of a good story.

It was a story that no doubt bemused prudent observers of ecclesial journalism. Did it make sense that a Pope who has his hands full with an international family conference, liturgical standards around the world, and ecumenical, moral, and spiritual issues too numerous to count would out of the blue issue a prohibition on the use of guitars and modern music in Mass?

It made little sense. For one thing, such a vague policy against popular music and instruments would raise more questions than it answered. Does that include Mariachi Masses? Trumpet? Masses with gospel choir? Drums in an African Mass?

Not to mention the fact that in the year since we’ve known him as Holy Father, Benedict XVI hasn’t typically been the sort who bans, cracks down on, issues ultimatums, or employs any of those authoritarian action phrases favoured by headline writers.

He has shown himself to be a shepherd more interested in pastoring than in cracking a whip, his responses on even the thorniest issues reflecting moderation and reason, even when speaking extemporaneously.

In fact, on review it turned out the Pope had said nothing like what he was reported to have said. What he did include in his remarks was that it is possible for "an authentic updating of sacred music," but that it should recall "the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony."

That’s it. Nothing about bans, guitars, or rock music.

This is not to say Benedict thinks everything is rosy when it comes to today’s liturgical music. The Second Vatican Council said quite clearly that "The Church acknowledges Gregorian Chant as specially suited to the Roman Liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services."

The late Father Nunzio Defoe of this archdiocese was a keen student of sacred music. Back in 1955, he was chairman of the archdiocese’s Sacred Music Commission, which sponsored a series of lectures on sacred music.

The lectures were designed for those involved in choir work in the archdiocese, and some of the discussion that took place at the time sounds remarkably like the debate still taking place half a century later.

After the lectures, he summarized them in a Manual of Sacred Music, which he edited.

The manual contains references to the Church’s "White List" of music that conforms to the standards of Pope Pius X, who in 1903 outlined some principles for sacred music. At a time when most of us would think Church music must have been pretty good, Pius X was reminding the faithful of the important place Gregorian Chant has in public worship and that non-Gregorian Chant music "must conform to the spirit and inspiration of Gregorian Chant" and "possess the qualities proper to Gregorian Chant."

The archdiocesan music commission reinforced that point, saying modern music "has its place in the liturgy of the Church. But not all modern music."

Again quoting Pius X, the commission noted that the more closely a composition in church "approaches the Gregorian form in its movement, inspiration, and savour, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple."

A final point: the ideal, as tradition and Church documents through history have stressed, is for music to be woven through the Mass and its parts, such as the Kyrie, the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei, rather than considered as an add-on. As Pius X said, "Do not sing at Mass; sing the Mass."

Guitars are optional.