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Wednesday 27 May 2009

A Big Ol' Mess of Steaming Pottage

(Big ol' mess of steaming something...)

A h/t to the Catholic Cooperator, (no, I didn't know what one was either,) a self-described baby-boomer, for this Amazon review of a cd of older Catholic music, by a mere infant ;oP, (the 16-year-old Teresa,) which the Cooperator thinks sheds some interesting light on generational differences in viewing the last 40 years in the desert, (that's my descriptor, not the Cooperator's.)
I often feel as though those '60's generation Catholics quietly disposed of the rich and all-embracing ("catholic"!) Faith that was to be my birthright, and, beaming, set a big ol' mess of steaming pottage in front of me instead.
They told me how lucky I was not to have grown up being forced to listen to Latin, be taught by real live nuns, or shock my poor tender eyes on statues or ornate high altars.
Instead, I would have the privelige of attending guitar-and-maraca Masses, where the priest warbled the words of consecration in a sort of blues tune, and-... Ai!
Is this really about the God "who gives joy to my youth"?
Then why did they, ahem, cut that line? Trying to reconcile all this relentlessly chirpy weirdness with the Holy And Awesome Sacrifice that IS going on - it always deals me Kafka-esque trauma and a headache.
[emphasis supplied, there -- loved the phrase "relentlessly chirpy weirdness"]

Another young sufferer labels his review, Burn the "Glory and Praise" hymnal!
I resent the 1960's generation who felt the need to throw out 1500 years of beautiful sacred music and replace it with the Paul Simon-like strains of "Here I Am Lord." When I hear this music in Latin, all I can say is "DEO GRATIAS!"
(Paul Simon should feel slighted by the comparison, but he seems like a nice man, and is probably forgiving.)

Incidentally, not all of this "traditional" music is necessarily suitable for liturgical use, either.

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