Guitars belong in gypsy camps and Salvation Army Bands. It is a shame that the beauty of plain chant, either in English or Latin, continues to be a rarity.

Doesn’t the rule book, GIRM, say that a priest or deacon singing is never to be accompanied at all??

I agree with you, Greg. Not only does this make it difficult (if not impossible) for concelebration (just watch the priest behind this guy!), but it also does make the prayer seem more like a performance. I was visiting a parish once, and as the Eucharistic prayer started, the music minister started softly playing the piano. I simply waited for her to stop and continued. I like to chant the Preface – particularly during the Christmas and Easter seasons (and I am not the best singer). It really does add to the majesty of the celebration. In fact, sung/chanted prayers are the preference (that’s why the musical settings are first, before the texts of the Prefaces. However, as a celebrant, you don’t want to draw attention to yourself – either by good singing or bad.

The music here is not obtrusive. During the Easter season, our pastor also sings the Eucharistic prayer. He has a magnificent voice, and the celebration is greatly enhanced as a result.Catholics of a certain age constantly complain that the Novus Ordo is too pedestrian and less dignified than the solemn high masses they remember from their childhood. I have never heard that complaint about the liturgy at our parish. And we are often in church for hours!

I find that a sung consecration is very prayerful. “Singing is praying twice!” But, I like the piano accompaniment better than a guitar accompaniment. I just find the piano holier. That’s just me, though. I also think the sung consecration should be reserved for special occasions (Corpus Christi, Christmas, Easter, Mary Mother of God) – it helps remind us what a holy day it is.

I think it’s lovely and very reverent. In my opinion, the musical accompaniment helps take the focus off the priest, whereas in chant it would be just him.

Ah, the Mass of Creation. One of Haugen-Haas’ greatest hits.While the chanting, and to a lesser extent the accompaniment, are well-done here, there’s something to be said about the Words of Institution rendered like a performance. Add to that the sad fact that many parishes attempt to pull this off and for whatever reason fail miserably. As it’s said in one of the more recent documents, good music enhances worship, bad music takes away from it.Grab a clip from the chanting of E.P. III at Mass at Saint Meinrad Archabbey or the Benedictine house at Norcia. Now, that’s music well done!

I think it’s one of those questions that we all seem to want to have a rule for. You can do this, and you can’t do that.This setting is from Marty Haugen’s Mass of Creation (some readers are saying, “Ha! I knew there was some reason I didn’t like it!”). I personally found it very beautiful, prayerful and enriching during my high school seminary years. I think used on special feasts or occasions, it can be really neat. And in this particular version you posted, the accompaniament is rather subdued. Without some music, I could picture it being a rather challenging prayer for a priest to sing.IMHBAO, a FAR more common offense is speeding through the Eucharistic Prayer like a TV announcer reading the disclaimers and side effects at the end of a pharmaceutical ad. How about some well-placed pauses, emphases, or uses of inflection? We rarely linger over the profound beauty and meaning of what is being prayed, and we wonder why people complain they “get nothing” out of Mass.Sing, chant, pray– do *something*! I shake my head when I picture the rulebook we’ve created around liturgy. Could Jesus or the Apostles have envisioned any of this on the night He instituted the Eucharist?

You know, this is very well done, but it does feel too much like a performance that overwhelms the sacred moment of consecration.I think I wouldn’t mind using this sort of thing as a recording to facilitate prayer, but I don’t like it in the mass. Jesus Christ is supposed to be to the fore at mass and no matter how humble the priest, or how musical, this detracts.

It’s well-done and reverent . . . and shows one reason why I don’t do it. I would absolutely need the accompaniment (which here is unobtrusive) to stay on pitch, and the expressiveness of the words themselves is overshadowed by the technical challenges of getting the notes right. Frankly, the presider here seems to concentrate so much on the need to “get it right” that much of the value that singing it might add gets lost. Also, the Eucharistic Prayer is ONE unified prayer. If you’re going to sing it, there is NO justification for slipping back into “spoken word” after the consecration, as if the rest (anamnesis, second epiclesis, and commemorations/intercessions were kind of “throwaway” parts after the institution narrative.

I am personally scandalized by all but two of the comments made here in regards to this video.Redemptionis Sacramentum 53 and The GIRM 32 specifically forbid any accompaniment during the Eucharistic Prayer. Why don’t priests and deacons read these guidlines?!RS [53.] While the Priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer “there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent”,[132] except for the people’s acclamations that have been duly approved, as described belowGIRM [32.] The nature of the ‘presidential’ texts demands that they be spoken in a loud and clear voice and that everyone listen with attention. Thus, while the priest is speaking these texts, there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent.It was bad enough to hear the piano during the consecration, but the setting of Haugen’s Mass of Creation? Shame on us really.First off, Haugen and Haas never knowingly intended to have their music be used during the sacrifice of the mass.Second of all, it is sad that this music has become such a staple (and an ugly one no less)in the West. This music we “love” so much doesn’t even have the respect of secular concert halls, otherwise we would all be paying money for seats just to hear it. If this music is absent from everywhere else that seems to know what good music is, why does this have pride of place in the Catholic Church instead of Chant?

I don’t mind The Mass of Creation. I like it, but I think that it’s used so often out of laziness. Choir directors or music leaders simply learn what’s in the book (the missalette) or what’s suggested to them by the publisher of the misalette.

Guitar or piano is not the issue, the sense of what is more worthy is culturally conditioned. (Classical guitar is not an oxymoron.) That said, the rubrics are clear: nothing under a prayer, lest it distract. Singing, done well, offers the chance to slow down the prayers, and provide an additional layer of emphasis, since you have text, length and pitch to carry meaning.From my position in the pew, I would beg, that regardless of the pride of place given Gregorian chant, if you do not have a reasonable voice, or can’t keep on pitch or clearly enunciate, please do not sing – it’s distracting to many. The rubrics are equally clear on this in other places – for example, if you are ordained, but have not the skill, you should step back and let someone not in Orders, but with the necessary skill sing the Exultet — lest you distract.I would also posit that it is difficult to distinguish between performance and prayer on video (watch other Masses). You cannot see his focus on the congregation, you do no know his regular pacing of speech, etc. We had a chanted Eucharistic prayer this morning — it was a lovely way to keep the joyous sense of Easter season going past the octave.

Well the GIRM and RS seem quite clear, at least from the quotes from contratorrentem. That having been said our pastor has done this setting for as long as I have know him. He did it at our wedding and I thought it made it quite beautiful and made it very easy to enter into prayer. I know the Holy Sacrafice of the Mass is not about preference so that makes this a difficult one to take. I missed the idea that this felt like a preformance, but sitting back and thinking about it I can understand where one might come away feeling that. Thank you, as ususal you have caused me to think further on a topic I thought I understood.

I also find it amazing that priests and deacons and in fact some bishops cannot seem to read the Redemptionis Sacramentum 53 and The GIRM 32 and just do what they are supposed to do. It would be nice to be able to go into any Catholic Church and expect to find the mass the same prayerful sacrifice. Is it pride, boredom, or ignornace that drives these dissenters?

Greta, I think the problem is as you stated: pride, boredom and ignorance. Not everybody who violates the law fits into all 3, but I am sure a great number of people do. A priest(including bishops) or a deacon should have the knowledge and aptitude to want to celebrate mass in the most appropriate manner. It’s not about what he thinks is more prayerful, but what has been prescribed by documents such as Redemptionis Sacramentum and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Once we veer off into wanting to do what we think is “right”, or what the people “want” then we fall ever so slowly into depths we will find hard to pull ourselves out of. We don’t need to think or to collect any new ideas. It’s already be done before, and if we are confused we have the documents we can read to affirm us in our actions at worship.As for the people, it’s time to stop sitting back and hoping that the priest tells you how to worship. You have your rights in Canon Law. Read them, know what they are! Pick up the GIRM and the RS documents and make sure you are protected from what will slowly erode our Catholic culture and identity. Once you are baptized as a Catholic, there is no sit back but to get involved in your faith. It is what will protect us from obstinate ignorance of the likes of Biden and Pelosi. Save the Liturgy, Save the World.

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