A national hymnal is the wrong approach to arrive at standardized texts: we already have an international collection of texts in the Roman Gradual. These texts have a bad rap because of the rich but difficult monkish melodies developed over the years, in a mode that is foreign to what most ethnicities regard as music. In response, we have Protestantized our worship by using printed hymnals full of currently-popular hymns, a copy in the hands of each individual. This expresses the Protestant ethic of individual conversion and personal salvation, but not the Catholic ethic of dialogue in community.

 

To avoid Professionalizing Sunday Mass, the American church has let our worship instead be Protestantized using printed worship aids full of currently-popular hymns, periodically culled as new hymns arise and old hymns fall out of favor, a copy in the hands of each member of the congregation, which satisfies the Protestant ethic of individual conversion & salvation but not the Catholic ethic of the individual in continual dialogue with the community of faith. The music that expresses Catholic worship is Responsorial: Dialogue Music. But the American bishops, perhaps remembering fruitless choir practices and perfectionist chant teachers, have never made a serious effort to use the Roman’s Gradual’s Entrance and Communion texts. According to Cardinal Ratzinger, it was the texts themselves that constitute its founding rationale: the Cardinal did not mention the elaborate Gregorian melodies, which came centuries later.

 

Paul Ford’s inspiring “By Flowing Waters” sets the English translation of the Simple Gradual to Gregorian-style melodies. I propose going even further toward Catholicizing (internationalizing) our music: use ethnic musical modes to create responsorial-like psalmody, but with shorter verses, for Entrance & Communion, using the prescribed text or a portion of it (a la Paul Ford) as a simple, melodic congregational response, then cantoring the remainder of the prescribed text as the first “verse” of the psalm, and following that with verses from the corresponding psalm or canticle as needed, depending on the time remaining in the procession.. This is not to abandon chant, since most of the ethnic traditions include one or more chant modes, and contemporary composers often “rescue” Gregorian modes by writing them into popular songs, proving that modal music can satisfy the modern ear. We can preserve the flowing rhythms of chant by singing the verses with the “sprung rhythms” of Fathers Gerard Manley Hopkins and Joseph Gelineau.

 

According The Spirit of the Liturgy, by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, an early council discarded the rich repertoire of early hymns, restricting the singing to actual texts of scripture to stop Gnostic hymns from penetrating worship & promoting Gnostic doctrines that were otherwise being held in check. Hence our bishops’ current ambiguity over the Roman Gradual: the bishops want to avoid both the elitist chant-style Masses of the monks as well as the banal, secular, occasionally-heretical songs selected for their emotional impact (such as “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”, which appeared in hymnals approved by some bishops).

 

Elsewhere, Cardinal Ratzinger speaks of the “givenness” of ritual: although it must change slowly to be comprehensible to each generation, it must always have a quality of being handed down, so the participants realize they are doing something eternal, something that touches all ages.

 

I am not the only one who tires of the endless procession of newer & better soul-stirring, poetic songs and hymns: the silence in most churches is deafening. Even when a hymn works well, which is rare, it is an emotional performance, a poetic masterpiece, a human achievement that lacks the deep, quiet spiritual power of the word of God. Hymns have their place in Mass: anywhere but front and center. Good places for popular hymns are Preludes, Meditation after Communion, Closing and Postlude. The only hymn that is important during Mass is the Gloria, and liturgical rules make that text untouchable, to prevent theological tampering. All other hymns are secondary, off-center, supplementary.

 

A national hymnal is not necessary: we already have an international hymnal, called the Roman Gradual. The Roman Gradual has a bad reputation because of the rich melodies developed by professional singers — monks — during 1,000 years of choir practice. The average congregation does not have that much time, and was never able to handle the complexity. Furthermore, these melodies became so elaborate that they defeated their purpose, which is to accompany a procession: the main event is the procession, and the music enhances the procession. Unlike the Glory to God and the Holy, processional music is secondary to the action: its purpose is to promote the action, to make it flow, and to stop when the action stops.