by Fred Moleck
This Pope Sings
If you were among the millions watching the television coverage of the World Youth Day in Cologne, you could very well have witnessed a phenomenon that could be the biggest boost in the participation in sung prayer.
Pope Benedict XVI was caught on global TV singing during vespers at the seminary convocation in the Church of Saint-Pantaleon of Cologne.
Yes. You read the sentence correctly. The pope—that is to say, the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Christ on earth, our Holy Father—was openly and vigorously singing the hymn “Lobe den Herren, den machtigen Konig der Ehren.”
We know it as “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation.”
He sang with conviction without the aid of a worship aid and appeared to be probably enjoying it. The subsequent verses were in other languages, and if he had been using a worship aid, he more than likely would have been singing those too.
When he was singing, he was definitely singing. He just didn’t move his lips pretending to sing with that sort of half smile, muttering syllables that sort of matched what everyone else was singing.
It is that feeble attempt of singing that some people try to pass off as liturgical song. It is a miserable failure of faking sung prayer.
Psalm 137, Confitemini Domino, a lovely mantra from the Taizé repertory, was apparently familiar to our Holy Father, since he also sang it. It was one of the psalms in the order of service.
I have great fondness of this Taizé piece. During my one and only trip to Taizé in 1988, I was caught up in the magnificent outpouring of sung praise when a couple of thousand SATBs were singing it.
It was more than this little eastern-European heart could take. I consistently sobbed at the V-I cadence between bars 7 and 8. My bliss was achieved.
My nostalgia peeked while watching the TV. I even felt a tinge of forgiveness when the camera was searching through the assembly and the nonsinging dolts became obvious.
God bless ’em.
The next glimmer that passed through my mind was how I could obtain this footage. It would be invaluable in parish workshops, clergy renewals, DRE convocations, etc.
Here is living proof that the Holy Father sang the liturgy at the liturgy and showed every indication that he had sung before at other liturgies.
The pope himself was taking an active role in the singing. His participation is clear proof that he supports and encourages full and active singing.
Papal testimony frequently is cited to validate a particular agenda or to give ecclesial weight to an event or worldview.
What comes to mind is the alleged evaluation of Pope John Paul II of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
When asked what he though of it after sitting through the showing of the movie, his purported response was “It is how it was” or “That’s how it was,” or something like that.
The comment elicited so much press that one would have thought that he spoke ex cathedra. Well, he spoke from his chair, but it wasn’t the chair of St. Peter.
I wonder what the media response would have been had the Holy Father replied with a half yawn, “Is it over yet?
We church music leaders have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shame nonsingers into singing with conviction, with book in hand and with the appearance that they believe what they are singing.
The same technique could be used in approaching the Tridentiners when they sit with muted lips and unopened books with the comment, “Our beloved Holy Father sings the liturgy in the vernacular. . . . Why don’t you?”
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net