The Record’s online poll canvassing opinions on liturgical music in the Catholic Church finished recently after receiving 900 votes.
The question, “Is rock music an appropriate form of liturgical music” attracted 494 “No” votes and 406 “Yes” votes.
The poll was on The Record’s website for 17 days, in response to the number of letters received on the topic in August and September.
The poll’s results show that liturgical music is something a lot of Catholics are passionate about, according to local church musician Andrew Cichy.
“What people say or what the final result is really doesn’t matter insofar as that the Church has its doctrinal and disciplinary position,” he said.
“What does matter is what the poll reflects, and that is the fact that music is a very controversial and potentially polarising issue within the Church.”
Mr Cichy is a Clarendon Scholar at Oxford University, completing his doctoral thesis on English Catholic music after the Reformation, and will soon commence advanced studies in Baroque performance practice on historical pipe organs.
He holds both a Bachelor and a Masters degree in music, and his research has encompassed sacred music after the Reformation and the changes of the 20th century, including those of the Second Vatican Council.
As an organist, Mr Cichy has participated in master classes with Dame Gillian Weir, Guy Bovet and David Goode, and has worked as an organ consultant for parishes that wish to install an appropriate instrument in their church.
The 29-year-old said determining appropriate liturgical music is not a new debate.
“The Second Vatican Council is very clear – the Church’s treasury of sacred music is to be preserved, Gregorian chant is to be fostered, and the organ is to be held in the highest esteem,” he said.
“It would be fair to say that there have been problems with the implementation of these directives, but this reflects historical problems and debates about sacred music in the Church.”
Perth’s Archdiocesan Centre for Liturgy music consultant Chris deSilva said Perth Catholics don’t ask him what’s the most appropriate liturgical music.
“They don’t ask me that question because they realise that it’s irrelevant,” he said.
But Mr deSilva, who runs one of the choirs at his parish and is the director of the liturgical choir, The Julian Singers, said Catholics do recognise the importance of good liturgical music.
“I think they’re quite serious about it,” he said. “If they think that music at the parish is not up to scratch they might well consider going elsewhere.”
He said the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) promulgated at the Second Vatican Council made clear the purpose of liturgical music.
“The reason why we have music at Mass is because it can add delight to prayer, foster oneness of spirit and invest the rites with greater solemnity, that’s what it’s there for,” he said.
Mr Cichy, who has spent time teaching sacred music at St Charles’ Seminary in Perth, said the Church is now in the same position it was in when Pope Pius X issued his Motu Proprio Inter Sollicitudines in 1903.
“The only difference between now and 1903 is that in 1903 the main genre of inappropriate liturgical music was opera, and today it is rock music,” he said.
“Either way, we are faced with the problem of a secular genre being mapped onto sacred circumstances. So, in a sense, whether the music is classical or contemporary doesn’t matter, it is equally possible in both of those ambits to do something which is liturgically inappropriate.”
Mr Cichy said some forms of classical music are not suitable for the liturgy, including Cesar Franck’s Panis Angelicus.
“If you actually look at the form of the work, the style, the gesture, it’s an opera aria in all but text, and really that is no more appropriate liturgically than something that apes a pop ballad,” he said.
“A Waterford crystal wine glass, in itself, is beautiful and well crafted; however, one would never use a Waterford crystal wine glass as a chalice, because it is a secular drinking item. What we use in Mass is not secular.”
But Mr deSilva, who is the chairman of the Parish Liturgical Musicians Network Committee in Perth, did not denounce the use of a secular genre of music.
“Any music that can help people to participate in the liturgical prayer is acceptable,” he said.
“The style doesn’t matter, it is whether it fits into the liturgy.”
It was part of the purpose of St Pius X’s Inter Sollicitudines to provide ways to guard against the intrusion of the secular into the liturgy, Mr Cichy said.
The decree states that: “The Church has always recognised and favoured the progress of the arts, admitting to the service of religion everything good and beautiful discovered by genius in the course of ages – always, however, with due regard to the liturgical laws”. It also states: “Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down the following rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savour the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple”.
In 2003, on the 100th anniversary of Pius X’s decree, Blessed John Paul II quoted the aforementioned rule, saying: “I make my own the ‘general rule’ that St Pius X formulated”.
He also re-stated the Second Vatican Council’s affirmation that the Church’s musical tradition “is a treasure of inestimable value”.
The Council also said the pipe organ was to be “held in high esteem”, but Mr Cichy said this has not been the case in the years since.
“My question is, to what extent does our use of the organ liturgically demonstrate a respect for that principle? And I would argue that, unfortunately, we have fallen short,” he said.
In addition to recognising the Council’s admittance of a wider range of musical instruments in the liturgy, it must also be known that the Council said such instruments must be adaptable to the liturgy, Mr Cichy said.
“I would argue, for instance, that the piano accordion is never adaptable to the liturgy because the instrument has such deep and long associations with the secular tradition,” he said.
“Really, by extension, any instrument which has had such a long and deep cultural association with secular genres should not be used liturgically.”
Aside from instruments, singing is arguably more important, the music scholar said.
“The Western tradition of chant has two basic varieties: one is the chant that is for the choir and the other is the chant that is for everybody, and the chant that is for everybody is eminently singable,” he said.
“The attention to setting the new translation of the Roman Missal to plainchant has been meticulous, and the provision of a single, simple English plainchant setting of the Mass is demonstrative of the mind of the Church on the use of chant.”
Despite this, Mr Cichy said there are stigmas attached to support of traditional liturgical music, shown by the request of several authors of letters to The Record that their names be withheld from publication.
“That somebody should feel the need to withhold their name for fear of negative repercussions, when all they’re saying is the Church has always advocated plainchant, is as unfair as it is ridiculous,” he said.
As for parish musicians, Mr Cichy said it would be beneficial if they had opportunities to develop their musical expertise.
“There are so many parish musicians who are so deeply committed and their commitment often goes unrecognised, but also the resources aren’t there a lot of the time to help them develop professionally,” he said.
“Church music is an area that requires many years of study and practice, and I think in some ways it’s unreasonable to expect somebody to be able to come at it as a hobby. Part of what needs to be done is there needs to be an encouragement of strong professional development. I wouldn’t expect an entire music ministry to have read the documents and to understand them, but I would certainly expect that whoever was leading that ministry was qualified to do so.”
Mr deSilva agreed that music ministers should be well-versed in the Church’s teachings on music, but acknowledged that some ministers may not understand their work as well as they could. “There’s a wide spectrum of levels of competence and knowledge and that’s only to be expected,” he said.
“If you don’t understand what you’re doing, you can’t do it. The Church expects us to do certain things, and as music minsters we have the responsibility to do so.
“I think that the state of liturgical music in the Archdiocese is very healthy and that it has a bright future.”