Chonak suggested that I get another thread going on this subject, the beginnings of which are found in the comment below, (from the thread, "What is the purpose of hymnody in the Roman Rite Mass (OF)?"
I alluded to the fact that the REAL problem is American Catholicism, which has run us completely off the tracks. "Americanism" was identified and condemned by Leo XIII in his encyclical Testem benevolentiae (can be read here:}
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13teste.htm)
The following article, which mentions a significant new book (American Church) uncovers the tennents of this kind of thinking.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholicism-in-america-in-progress-or-regress
I went on to say this also on the other thread:
"You cannot disconnect the problem of American Catholic hymnals with the deeper root problem, AmChurch, one and the same philosophical issue. Catholics in America, and in cahoots with our present cadre of longstanding hymnal publishers, compose their own tangential theology to that of the Church. It is why we have the constant liturgical carnage in our parishes. It is also why we can constantly 'spin' out new theology and insert it into the Mass at four different points throughout (the hymn sandwich). Our hymnals, in a sense, are the trojan horses that hijack the liturgy en masse.
You are what you eat, and you believe what you sing. That is a LARGE reason why Catholics today don't even know their faith and even less how to defend it against corruption, and why our hymnals are 'full of it', and bereft of authentic sacred liturgical music.
In short, what I am saying is that The Purpose of Hymnody in the Roman Rite Mass is to promote the AmChurch philosophy. It gets 1000% worse when it is superimposed on pop style music, which is ALSO considered 'hymnody'. It's the perfect ruse to present anything one wants in the name of creativity and innovation completely apart from the very authority of Rome."
I alluded to the fact that the REAL problem is American Catholicism, which has run us completely off the tracks. "Americanism" was identified and condemned by Leo XIII in his encyclical Testem benevolentiae (can be read here:}
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13teste.htm)
The following article, which mentions a significant new book (American Church) uncovers the tennents of this kind of thinking.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholicism-in-america-in-progress-or-regress
I went on to say this also on the other thread:
"You cannot disconnect the problem of American Catholic hymnals with the deeper root problem, AmChurch, one and the same philosophical issue. Catholics in America, and in cahoots with our present cadre of longstanding hymnal publishers, compose their own tangential theology to that of the Church. It is why we have the constant liturgical carnage in our parishes. It is also why we can constantly 'spin' out new theology and insert it into the Mass at four different points throughout (the hymn sandwich). Our hymnals, in a sense, are the trojan horses that hijack the liturgy en masse.
You are what you eat, and you believe what you sing. That is a LARGE reason why Catholics today don't even know their faith and even less how to defend it against corruption, and why our hymnals are 'full of it', and bereft of authentic sacred liturgical music.
In short, what I am saying is that The Purpose of Hymnody in the Roman Rite Mass is to promote the AmChurch philosophy. It gets 1000% worse when it is superimposed on pop style music, which is ALSO considered 'hymnody'. It's the perfect ruse to present anything one wants in the name of creativity and innovation completely apart from the very authority of Rome."