CLICK HERE to read Bishop McKnight’s “Making Connections” column on this topic.
CLICK HERE to read a related perspective.
No one can dispute the power of sacred music to draw people into a deeper relationship with God and the saints in heaven.
But not all lyrics and melodies are appropriate for Catholic liturgies, and the panoply of settings for the regular parts of the Mass leaves some people silent when they visit parishes other than their own.
At the same time, continuing to use music by composers who have credible allegations of sexual abuse against them can exacerbate the pain of such abuse.
“So, we have what should be a healthy tension between the gifted artist being creative and the importance of being faithful to the teaching that’s been handed down to us,” stated Father Daniel Merz, chairman of the diocesan Liturgical Commission.
That tension will be thoroughly explored through a diocesan-wide sacred music consultation called for by Bishop W. Shawn McKnight.
The purpose will be to draw the local Church into a prayer-led dialogue about how sacred music can be best used to encourage active participation in the Liturgy.
“I am eager to hear from everyone, in an extensive process of listening and discernment, as we embark on this process together,” the bishop stated.
The consultation will begin with a parishioner survey as well as prayerful listening sessions in several locations in the diocese.
The short survey, conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) can be taken online in English or in Spanish at diojeffcity.org/sacred-music.
People who do not wish to go online will be able to fill out paper versions of the survey at church on Jan. 25 and 26.
Listening sessions will be held:
Registration is not required but highly recommended for planning purposes. Register online at diojeffcity.org/sacred-music.
Information gathered from the surveys and listening sessions will help the diocesan Liturgical Commission formulate a draft of an updated official decree on sacred music in the diocese.
The Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC), the Presbyteral Council and the bishop’s cabinet, with input from priests of the diocese and members of the diocesan chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM), will help shape the draft into final form before Bishop McKnight puts it into effect on Nov. 1.
“This is an exercise in being a Church in which we listen to one another and to the Holy Spirit,” said Helen Osman, communications consultant to the diocese.
Bishop McKnight in October of 2024 promulgated a decree forbidding music by three composers with credible allegations of abuse against them from being sung at Mass; removing 12 hymns with theologically problematic lyrics from songs approved for Mass; and calling for people in all parishes in the diocese to become familiar with four musical settings for the parts of the Mass.
The decree, written in consultation with the Liturgical Commission, was immediately controversial.
In light of comments he received, the bishop rescinded the October decree in early November and issued a second, temporary decree, prohibiting music by those found credibly accused by their diocesan bishop (but without mentioning any names), and requiring those who are responsible for the selection of sacred music to evaluate their music selections using the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) document’s evaluative principles.
That second decree required the process of synodal consultation that is now getting under way. The decree will automatically expire on Oct. 31 of this year, and a new permanent decree is expected by then.
Bishop McKnight said he found the responses to the initial decree to be a reflection of how important sacred music is for people.
“There are quite a few ways the bishop could have responded to that,” Mrs. Osman noted.
“For instance, he could have said, ‘Too bad. I have the authority as bishop, and I have spoken, and now deal with it,’” she stated. “Or he could have said, ‘Okay, we’re just not going to do anything.’
“And he chose perhaps the most difficult response, which I think is also the Catholic response,” she said. “That is to say, ‘I have to hold this in tension. I have the teaching of the Church that I’m responsible to implement, and I have the response from the people, which suggests that we need to find a different way of implementing this.’”
She emphasized that Church teaching cannot and will not be changed through this listening process.
“What we are doing is trying to understand better how people use sacred music to strengthen their faith, and how can that be deepened,” she said.
With listening sessions conducted in an atmosphere of prayer, respectful silence and attentive listening, the process is not about determining what the majority of people think or want.
“It’s about, ‘What does the Holy Spirit want?’” said Mrs. Osman.
Listening attentively
“The surveys will tell us a little bit about people’s understanding of sacred music and how it affects them,” Mrs. Osman stated. “And the listening sessions are intended to help us share our experiences — something we can’t do in a survey.”
The listening sessions will include a short video with information about the Church’s teachings regarding sacred music, and how sacred music isn’t created in a vacuum.
“And then we’ll be asked in the listening sessions to reflect on what sacred music has meant to each of us, and we’ll hear that from one another,” said Mrs. Osman.
“And then we’re asking, ‘What would you like sacred music to become?’”
The discussions are intended to go beyond preferences for certain musical styles, to the very heart of music as a means of drawing people closer to Christ.
“I believe that through this process, people’s hearts and souls will be touched and transformed by the Holy Spirit to be a better Church,” said Fr. Merz. “And that, in the longer term, will be good for the sacred music of the Church.”
Creativity and oversight
Fr. Merz, who is also pastor of St. Thomas More Newman Center Parish and Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia, noted that there’s been “a beautiful explosion of creativity” in the Church since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
“The problem is, there hasn’t been as much oversight,” he said. “With that, you saw all kinds of music emerge for the liturgy — some really good, some less so.”
Church law says each bishop is responsible for overseeing the music that’s sung at liturgies in his diocese.
To help bishops carry out that responsibility, the USCCB Committee on Doctrine in 2020 released a document titled “Hymnody in the Service of the Church.”
In that document, the committee put forth specific criteria for determining whether a piece of music is appropriate for use in Catholic worship.
Fr. Merz noted that according to Church teaching, the best liturgical music “is the music that clothes the sacred words.”
Specifically, “Instruction on Sacred Music” (“Tra le Sollecitudini”) states: “Sacred music ... contributes to the decorum and the splendor of the ecclesiastical ceremonies, and since its principal office is to clothe with suitable melody the liturgical text proposed for the understanding of the faithful, its proper aim is to add greater efficacy to the text, in order that through it the faithful may be the more easily moved to devotion and better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy mysteries,” (no. 1).
“So whether that’s Scripture or the prayers of the Church, including the ‘Our Father,’ the best music adorns those words and makes them come to life in a different way,” said Fr. Merz. “And when we’re talking about the word of God, or the Word who IS God, that’s pretty powerful to make that word come alive in our lives.”
Becoming transparent
One of the desired outcomes of the listening process is a stronger presence throughout the diocese of the diocesan chapter of the NPM.
The organization gives people who lead and accompany music at Mass the opportunity to learn more about their craft and their ministry while networking with each other.
“We try to provide what’s needed from smallest parish with volunteer musicians to the big parishes with paid directors, we try to help each other with what we need,” said Laura Forbis St. Clair, director of the local NPM chapter. “Whether paid or not, they need to be able to network and ask questions and have the resources they need to do their ministry well.”
All of this matters because “music ministry can directly affect a person’s faith and prayer life,” she said.
Sacred music is very powerful because it “touches your heart and your soul and it tickles your brain,” she stated.
Good music draws people more deeply into worship, summoning forth the “full, active, conscious participation of the assembly,” she said, echoing the fathers of the Second Vatican Council.
Bad music, on the other hand, distracts people from that purpose.
“That’s why we rehearse so much,” said Mrs. St. Clair. “You can’t just do it on the spot and do it well. You have to prepare musically, you have to prepare prayerfully.”
She said that ideally, music ministry is transparent.
“If you do it well, the people don’t even realize it,” she stated. “It just flows seamlessly, no matter the instrumentation.”
She pointed out that new music is always being composed and published, “so, we also have to look through the lens of the Church documents at any new music that comes out to see if it’s suitable.”
She cited “Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship,” a document the USCCB released in 2007, which refers to three judgements — each to be taken into account equally — in evaluating sacred music: liturgical, pastoral and musical judgement.
“Namely, is it appropriate for that part of the Liturgy? Is it musically sound, can people sing it? And pastorally, does it work?” she said.
She emphasized that music ministry is not performance.
“It’s sung prayer,” she said. “And if you do it right, you don’t have to worry, because everyone is singing with you, and no one is looking at you.”
Fostering communion
Fr. Merz has been reading about recent discoveries of neuroplasticity in the brain, and how music can stimulate the brain to heal parts of itself that are damaged.
A large section of a book on the subject focuses on the effect of music.
“Music in special ways wakes up and fires up the neurons in special places and gets the brain to quiet itself, and a person instantly starts sleeping better, speaking better, the pain goes away — amazing stuff,” he said.
This is scientific validation to the Church’s teaching in the General Instruction on the Roman Missal that “music is at the top of all the arts in terms of leading us closer to God and inspiring us.”
“The importance of music is known from the ancient world and philosophy to modern neuroscience, and certainly the theology of the Church,” he stated.
It’s always fascinated Fr. Merz that for the last two Sundays of Advent, the Preface before the Eucharistic Prayer says of Jesus that “John the Baptist sang of his coming.”
“Prophets — their prophesies were so important because they were pointing to Christ, and music lifts them up,” the priest stated. “It’s like: ‘I need to convey this important word, so I’m going to sing it, to give it more importance.’”
Fr. Merz pointed out that the verb “to sing” in Hebrew is mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible.
And St. Augustine wrote that, “Singing is for one who loves,” the priest said. “Augustine also tells us, ‘He who sings prays twice.’”
Mrs. Osman predicted that if this Sacred Music Consultation serves its purpose, parishes throughout the diocese will settle on somewhat of a shared musical repertoire, “where you can walk into any church in the diocese and be able to participate in the singing — whether that’s the Mass settings or other songs that we share.
“And more people will be aware of how important music in the Liturgy is, and more care and intentionality will be made in the songs we are singing,” she said.
Fr. Merz is confident that the Sacred Music Consultation will serve a deep and holy purpose, possibly in ways yet unforeseen.
“Whether there will be some new brilliant insights about music that will solve the controversies, I don’t know,” he said. “The Holy Spirit tends to work in a deeper way than that. He works in a way that says, ‘Let’s foster communion and healing on a communal and individual level here, and that will lead to something bigger.’
“The Holy Spirit says, ‘I’m more concerned with healing hearts and bringing them into deeper communion,’ and that transforms the world,” said Fr. Merz.
“And I think our bishop is convinced that that is what will transform our sacred liturgy.”
Other items that may interest you
2207 W. Main St.
Jefferson City MO 65109-0914
(573) 635-9127
editor@diojeffcity.org