Be Progressive — Support Chant!

From my blog:

In a chapter from his Why Catholics Can't Sing posted online, author Thomas Day answers the question, "What is 'High Church'?"

(And it's not what you think.)

To see just how far American Catholicism has moved away from its heritage of liturgy as "fun" (or how far it has gone with de-ritualization), all we have to do is perform a little experiment. Ask someone to lie down on a couch, relax, and describe the things that come into his or her head when you mention a certain expression. Perhaps start with "trees" and "yellow." Then, after a few minutes of this free association, try this expression: "High Church."

A few people will probably get it right, historically speaking. They will think aloud and describe how "high" refers to a "high voice," that is, a singing voice; in the days before microphones, the "high" service made it possible for the congregation to be aware of the sacred words; the chanting in the "high" voice also represented Christian "enthusiasm," this Pentecostal zeal barely under control. ("Low" referred to the spoken voice.) Most people, however, regardless of their religious background, will hear the term " High Church" and start talking about those Anglican and Episcopalian establishments that are "higher than the Himalayas." Only a few, very few, will associate the expression "High Church" with the American branch of Roman Catholicism, which (at least since the 1940s and in the parishes) sometimes has given the impression of being militantly anti-High Church.

The odd thing about "High Church Christianity" is its historic association with the needs of workers and peasants. Protestant observers, atheists, and implacable enemies of the church have sometimes conceded that Roman Catholicism's historic rituals, "when really done up right," have a way of bringing a sense of relief and assurance to a troubled humanity, especially the "lower classes." In the nineteenth century, when the leaders of the Oxford Movement tried to restore pre-Reformation practices in the Church of England, one justification for the chanting, the incense, and the gorgeous choral music was that such things would convey a feeling of hope to the workers oppressed in dark satanic mills and mines. The popish ceremonies and music were supposed to help the common people feel like important participants in an important act.

The "money" section is actually the one that follows the paragraphs above.

Day explains that before the Council only "liberals" and "progressives" favored a High Mass with sung Chant. (He includes a funny anecdote about a family "trapped" inside Westminster Cathedral just as a High Mass was about to begin.) Most priests were wedded to the idea of a Low Mass with a tacked-on four-hymn sandwich.

Today's mossbacks and reactionaries, whatever they may call themselves, similarly cling to their Gather hymnal and desacralized celebration of the Pauline rite.

So be progressive — support Chant!

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