By Anthony Barich
National Reporter
THE reform of music in the newly translated Roman Missal to hit parishes by Easter 2011 will prompt Catholic Education Offices and people writing and choosing music for children’s Masses to “lift their game”, the director of the Australian Bishops’ National Liturgical Office said.
Fr Peter Williams told The Record last week that Catholic Education Offices around Australia have too often adopted works of familiar artists without proper scrutiny of musical and theological value, resulting in children not fully understanding the mysteries of the Mass.
“Much music has been written for music in schools; and while some is fine, much of it is poor, and the texts employed are really somewhat trite and banal – you get texts that get the kids singing “we’re happy to be gathered here, thank you God for being here” … they really don’t say anything,” Fr Williams said.
“You’re dealing with a whole bunch of jingles which are problematic and are not leading the children into anything. We’re not saying they should be singing complex theological texts but we can do a lot better than what we’ve used in celebrations in schools, and a lot of it is really very poor.”
He added, however, that he does not blame teachers, as “those who write for children, or say they do, have done so for a long time, and their music is well known and they will present to Catholic Education Offices their latest offerings, but there’s not a serious critique going on”.
“People are just happy to say ‘here’s the latest by him or her, it must be good so let’s put it out there’, but nobody’s critically assessing whether the music or the texts have any real substance to them,” he said.
While admitting that it is a fine balance between making music accessible to children and keeping it theologically sound, “there’s a lot (of music) there that we could jettison”.
A subcommittee of the National Liturgical Music Board is currently conducting a review of hundreds of texts of children’s music, expected to be completed by the end of this year – “an exhaustive exercise that must be done carefully, with a view to establishing certain criteria”.
He stressed that in this review process, “we’re not after people; it’s not a campaign. We’re attempting to help those who do work in that sector to lift their game, and we’ve already had productive meetings with people who work in that sector, and they understand that there is a need to reappraise”.
Fr Williams’ comments echo those made in a presentation at the 4-7 February national liturgical conference in Perth by Jenny O’Brien, liturgy coordinator for the Archdiocese of Adelaide, who said that liturgical, musical and pastoral judgement must be considered when choosing hymns.
In doing so, she said, texts of hymns must always support the liturgical text and convey meaning faithful to Church teaching. “Many songs written ‘for children’ fail in this regard,” she said.
“Over recent years quite a significant body of music has been published which purports to be ‘liturgical music for children’.”
“While some of this is indeed very good”, she added that “much of it is also very poor from both a musical and a theological perspective, and does not lead the children deeper into the mystery being celebrated or to full, conscious and active participation” as Vatican II said it should. “We insult both the liturgy and the children when we use inappropriate music just because it is ‘catchy’ or ‘easy to sing’,” Mrs O’Brien said.
She suggested that parishes and schools have a “shared repertoire” so the parish can regularly include in its Sunday liturgies music that is sung for school or class Masses, and vice versa.
She also warned against the use of tunes used in pop culture for the sake of appeal, which runs the risk of losing the sense of the sacred.
Mrs O’Brien said that while personal taste is a factor in musical judgement, it should be made by “competent musicians, since to admit to the Liturgy the cheap, the trite or the musical cliché often found in secular popular songs is to cheapen the Liturgy, to expose it to ridicule and to invite failure”.
Debra Sayce, WA Catholic Education’s director of Religious Education, said that the new translation of the Roman Missal would give schools an opportunity to reinvigorate liturgical practices and deepen the staff, students’ and parents’ understanding of liturgy.
“To cite (the Australian Bishops’ Liturgy Commission chair) Archbishop Mark Coleridge, this ‘new translation will give new energy for mission that will lead to new evangelisation’. We in Catholic education look forward to being part of this process,” she said.