David Ancell / Monday, January 06, 2003 / Comments(0)
Greg Popcak has continued his discussion on music. He even had a bout with Victor Lams. Here is what Victor said, and this is Popcak’s reply.
Hmmm . . . a thought occurred to me. Have you ever been in one of those parishes where they ask all visitors to raise their hand and tell where they are from? I know of one priest who does this in Memphis. I hate to raise my hand and tell him that I’m from Memphis when I visit his Church, so I don’t. I know of a few parishes that ask visitors to sign a book. So, what’s my point? Maybe a better way to make visitors feel welcome is to use music that can easily be sung by the average punk in the pews.
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David Ancell / Monday, January 06, 2003 / Comments(0)
I did something today I haven’t done since September . . . I completely unpacked my suitcase!!!
I know that probably 99.9997% of the world wonder why in the world I am so excited about unpacking a suitcase, but I must say that after three months of solid travel, it’s about time. I go back to my regular 2nd shift at 1 PM today.
This also means that maybe I’ll stop getting these huge credit card bills. Then again, I can rack those up pretty well (often on Catholic stuff). I just got a bill for over $500. Fortunately, most of it has been or will be reimbursed by my company.
This will likely have the fortunate/unfortunate (circle one) side effect of increasing my posts on blogs. I’ve also found that by commenting on others’ posts, I can network with them better. I’ve gotten more references from others’ blogs this past week than from the entire rest of the time this blog has been in existence. I’ve also gotten comments from people whom I hadn’t seen before. I’m having a great time with this, and I’d like to thank everyone for visiting.
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David Ancell / Monday, January 06, 2003 / Comments(0)
It is most appropriate that the organization in this article calls itself Crack. You can read on. I am disgusted beyond belief. It is no less than the work of Satan himself when a group is more interested in making daw gone sure they don’t reproduce than it treating their drug addiction. The fact that it sounds so “nice” to unsuspecting people (e.g. naming it Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) suggests even more to me that this is demonic.
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David Ancell / Monday, January 06, 2003 / Comments(0)
I saw in the NY Times that PETA has begun a boycott of Kentucky Fried Chicken. This strikes me as odd because I thought that they were all vegetarians anyway. Therefore, I don’t see how this boycott is going to have any economic impact unless they get people from outside their group to join in.
I’m all for the humane treatment of animals. However, I can see a subtle strategy that may (emphasis on “may”) be used by such an extremist group. It is possible to make it so expensive to keep up with standards that they drive poultry farmers out of business.
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David Ancell / Sunday, January 05, 2003 / Comments(0)
You’d think I just don’t have a life from all these wedding posts. Tell me if you think this wasn’t rigged. My sister caught the bouquet, and I caught the garter. The irony is that neither of us is dating anyone at present (Hey! I’m available!), but we both have friends who are engaged.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 04, 2003 / Comments(0)
Well, the wedding is over, and the reception isn’t until 5 PM. I’m back here blogging. To think, I thought there would be light blogging, but that’s most of what I’ve done since I’ve been home. Our family time will be spent at the reception, I guess. All four of us will be there. The bride is from Iraq. She and her family have been our neighbors for about 15 years. She is familiar with our extended family, and my parents, aunt, uncle, cousins, and all living grandparents were there.
My sister was the maid of honor, and I was the lector. The wedding took place in the church that I was baptized in. There was no Mass; the groom and his family are not Catholic. It went great, and I pray that the couple will have a wonderful life together.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 04, 2003 / Comments(0)
I see that Bishop Houck has left office in Mississippi. I will believe that this is because of age. I must say that Jackson, Mississippi would be a hard diocese to run just because of its geographic size. Do note that the alleged abuse occurred years before Houck was even an auxillary bishop in Jackson. He became reigning bishop in 1984 but had been the auxillary of the diocese since 1979. According to the Diocese, one of the accused priests had left the priesthood before Bishop Houck would have become involved with the diocese.
I remember Bishop Houck from my college days at Ole Miss. Leaders of the parish would joke about his “three homilies.” He was a very easy going personality. However, he took some time at the end of a Mass he said at St. John’s Church in Oxford (where Ole Miss is located) to preach briefly against drunkeness and fornication. I was also involved in the group from which he gathered information for the pastoral letter on ministry for young adults for the U.S. Bishops (I’ve never read the letter and do not know what good it did, but that’s another story. If anyone knows where I can get it, please do tell.).
On another note, I hope that the plaintiffs in the sexual abuse suit don’t win $75 million. When I left Mississippi, the Jackson diocese wasn’t even totally self-supporting. This would devestate the Church down there.
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David Ancell / Saturday, January 04, 2003 / Comments(0)
Looking in the recent comment section on Catholic Light, you’ll see this comment by Greg Popcak, to which I responded in that comment section. I want to elaborate some. Please bear in mind that this is the perspective not of a musician but rather of a punk in the pews.
First, I do respect Greg Popcak, but I, from the standpoint of a non-musician, have some disagreements with what he has said. I do want to make note of other posts where he elaborates, here and here. He writes from the perspective of a parish music director. There are others, but these are most pertinent to what I will say.
First, I will address the practical issue of appropriateness of style. I do not presume anything but good will on the part of those who use inappropriate music, but do they ever think about, or even notice, why no one is singing? How I wish they would take a hint! The people who are in charge of music in the church are often capable musicians. The punk in the pews is not, as I am not. Music that is too fast, too complicated, or otherwise is completely unknown to the congregation will not promote congregational participation. Therefore, style often affects singability, which was addressed by Greg Popcak.
The problem arises in the same manner that I, who can do some computer programming, often don’t realize that my users aren’t going to figure some things out in the interface of my program. When I get questions that indicate that certain things aren’t understood, I revamp the interface. I did this on the web site I did for my young adult’s group. Likewise, musicians need to listen to see if anyone can sing this stuff they are playing. This is a major, though not the only, determinant of what is an appropriate style.
The other issue regarding appropriateness of style is the reverence it conveys. A sense of the sacred is nearly non-existent in most places I’ve been. I believe that this is one reason why the Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy regarded Gregorian chant as most suited to the Roman Liturgy (though other styles were not excluded). I’m not against everything written after 1965, nor am I even against the use of guitars. I can pray well to the music of an acoustic guitar. However, drums are a different story. People clapping bothers me greatly because when we are at Mass, we are at Calvary. Ditto for opera-style singing complete with unintelligible diction during the reception of the Eucharist that makes me wish I had brought ear plugs to Mass.
As for text, I agree with Popcak for the most part. The text should be not only theologically correct, but prayerful. I have a hard time praying while playing the part of God in first person. In Be Not Afraid, I don’t know who I’m talking to while singing “You will cross the barren dessert . . . ” If we aren’t praying, what’s the point? Nothing disturbs me more than songs praising the congregation with no mention of the God who makes the congregation what it is.
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David Ancell / Friday, January 03, 2003 / Comments(0)
I had a great time at the rehearsal dinner at the new Malone Avenue Grill here in Sikeston, MO. It was a small group, and I sat with my sister and her friends. Tomorrow is the wedding.
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David Ancell / Friday, January 03, 2003 / Comments(0)
While music and liturgy are the hot topic, take a look at this article on Peter’s Net about OCP. I laughed when I read the part excerpted below:
The liturgical planning guides are a ghastly embarrassment. Two years ago, for example, the liturgical planner recommended “Seek Ye First” for the first Sunday in Lent (“Al-le-lu-, Al-le-lu-yah”).
Ya know, I think we used this song during Lent at a former parish of mine. I can’t remember when or where, and I’m not even for sure that it happened. I just think it did. We changed the “Al-le-lu, Al-le-lu-yah” to something else.
Anyway, the problem with OCP music is not that all of it is bad. They do have some good music. The problem is that even most of their good stuff doesn’t belong in the liturgy. Music used in the liturgy needs to be music that a congregataion can sing, even if you are challanged in that area as I am.
Really, though, I find it hard to find a church where good music is used. My church ain’t it. I can’t sing most of the stuff they do.
As for “Shine Jesus Shine,” which was a subject of a post by Jeff Miller, this song was used in Stuebenville. I have only seen it used at Mass once, and it was a school Mass for my parish school. I kinda like the song, but I don’t like to hear it at Mass.
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