by Fred Moleck
A New Big Brother
At a recent informal gathering of some of the illuminati of the regional NPM, the discussion dealt with the newly constructed music review board of the BCL [Bishops Committee on the Liturgy, a.k.a. Secretariat for the Liturgy]. For us in Pittsburgh and environs, the memory of a "review board" of the 1940s and 1950s is but a glimmer of secondhand information.
You see, during those days, the Rev. Carlo Rossini was the supreme director of liturgical music for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. (The Diocese of Greensburg was yet to be born. That happened in 1951.) His mode of administration was running herd on errant musicians and pastors who did not comply with diocesan regulations.
If they didn't cooperate, he would publish their names in the diocesan newspaper.
It was not unusual for him to visit a parish and demand that the "forbidden" music that was part of the parish's repertory be confiscated and burned.
How did one discover what music was allowed and what music was forbidden? By consulting the dreaded "black list," which was formulated by his office, based on the "black list" of the St. Gregory Society.
Needless to say, he did not receive many Christmas cards, nor was he invited to dinner very frequently.
For us western Pennsylvania-ites in 2002 approaching rapidly 2003, we wonder how the deliberations of the BCL's music committee will affect our daily work.
Probably not too much, judging from the track record of the church's bureaucracies. There is also the factor of the enormity of their task.
Paragraphs 48, 61, and 87 in the most recently revised and translated GIRM list what the sources are for musical items to be sung at the entrance rite, the responsorial psalm, and the communion processional. These paragraphs are part of the adaptations for the dioceses of the United States:
1. the antiphon and psalm from the Roman Missal as set to music by the Roman Gradual or in another musical setting;
2. the seasonal antiphon and psalm of the Simple Gradual;
3. a song from another collection of psalms and antiphons, approved by the USCCB or the diocesan bishop, including psalms arranged in responsorial or metrical forms;
4. a suitable liturgical song chosen in accordance with GIRM, no. 47.
In all three instances of sung items during the entrance song, responsorial psalm, and communion processional, there is reference to the USCCB music committee. There is, however, a loophole in the inclusion of the diocesan bishop as an authority ("approved by the USCCB or the diocesan bishop").
Just as an aside, in paragraph 61, which deals with the responsorial psalm, a concession is made that psalms in metrical form can be used. I read that to mean that hymns that are metrical psalms are permitted. The next sentence: "Song or hymn may not be used in place of the Responsorial Psalms."
Go figure.
I am more than just curious, . . . I am obsessed to see how a committee will review the tons of liturgical music we have accumulated in the past forty years, how it will be evaluated and deemed worthy or unworthy.
I am equally curious to see how many parishes in the United States build their music repertory around the Roman Missal, the Roman Gradual, or the Simple Gradual.
I am not completely condemnatory of the principle of some type of national review. No doubt, that in your ministry during the past years, you have muttered something about constructing a list of forever condemned pieces of music. Frequently, these items are mentioned in the wills of church musicians who name specific titles that are not to be included in their funeral liturgies.
My concern is Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The past several months of the church news supports that observation.
Whether or not a national Carlo Rossini emerges is anyone's guess. If there is one, I hope I have his or her address and phone number.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net