"Ecclesiastical Karioke"

Top choral director calls modern Church music 'ecclesiastical karaoke'

Read the entire article, but here's an excerpt to whet your appetite:

In his analysis, Cullen says the rush to find new musical settings for the Novus Ordo mass in the 1960s led to little artistic scrutiny being applied to the process. As a result, he says, most parish Masses now have poorly composed hymns being used inappropriately as mere “filler” throughout the sacred liturgy.

He writes, “Low-quality material in both inspiration and facility is commonplace. Hymns are set to popular music (for example, "My God Loves Me" to the tune of "Plaisir d'amour") with little regard to the inappropriateness of the original and well-known words.”
He also criticized the practice of a lone cantor leading the singing in parishes. “The misuse of one booming voice behind a microphone, an ecclesiastical karaoke, seems to have killed off unified congregational singing.”

He hit the nail on the head. In my own parish I cringe during the Communion when the congregation is silent and the cantor has his/her stage moment. Organ music or silence would be preferable to the distraction of the cabaret atmosphere.