Orlando's Baldwin Park First Friday Festival is held EVERY First Friday
Recently I overheard a friend ask another, "Are you going to First Friday?" My thoughts immediately went to First Friday Devotions at the parish, then to thinking that I had had no idea that these two people were Catholics. Next they asked each other what they were going to wear. I thought: Wear? What do they mean what are they going to wear. It's not like it's a party or anything. If my two friends had overheard me ask another Catholic, "Are you going to First Friday?" they would have been astonished to know that meant going to church instead of partying all night because First Friday to the secular world and First Friday to Catholics are two different things. One is the Catholic Church's First Friday Devotions in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the other is indeed a party - First Friday Festivals in almost every city, town and community in America and across Western civilization.
One of mine is bad liturgical music. We have been getting it a lot at my parish since we got a new organist who couldn't wait to switch to the GATHER hymnal. Now we get heretical (and just plain banal) songs on a regular basis. You know...the "hymns" about how we take the bread and wine. (NOT! After the Consecration we receive the BODY and BLOOD of Our Lord. There is no more "bread and wine," only its appearance.) Then there are the pitifully inept lyrics. We care, we share, there's "hope in our despair." (Another heretical idea: despair is a SIN against hope.)
I had hoped the bad music was going to disappear with the liturgical changes, but some things are harder to get rid of than poison ivy and the 70s and 80s cabaret style "hymns" seems to be among them. One of this morning's choices had lyrics so ridiculous I couldn't sing them. I wouldn't have been able to stop laughing!
Don't get me wrong.Some of these songs have nice catchy tunes, but they could as easily be sung in a cocktail lounge or added to a Broadway show. They are about as "liturgical" as American Bandstand (I know, I'm dating myself.). If you find yourself wanting to sway to the music, it probably isn't appropriate for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
This is not an insignificant issue. Many terrible things have been fostered using music. Martin Luther wrote hymns to spread his bad theology. One of the reasons the Aryan heresy took the world by storm was through song. Think of the impact of rock music on kids spreading immoral lifestyles, violence, etc. Think of M-TV. Music can easily embed in the subconscious spreading ideas that are just plain wrong. (Remember these lyrics: "It can't be wrong cuz it feels so right?")
The Arian heresy was promoted through song. Modern songs (I can't call them hymns) do the same thing today. They promote modernism by focusing on self worship and often introduce ideas that cast doubt on Church doctrine. Just like the wreckovation of the churches that turn them into theatre in the round where parishioners gaze at each other instead of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, bad music often focuses worship on the people instead of God.
But songs can also be used to teach the faith and I really enjoy these guys who share their faith in Jesus Christ and love for the Bible through song. Their Christmas song remind me of the wags who write delightful parodies of that awful Marty Haugen song, Gather Us In. I've posted just one set of substitute lyrics for it below the videos, but there are lots of others.
The best way to deal with bad theology is to poke fun at it. One question though, Do we have nay Catholics comparable to Go Fish? They're better than The Wiggles and the kids must love 'em! What a way to teach about Jesus Christ! They even have a vacation bible school program and it's really inexpensive to run.
Gather Us In
Here in this place, our comfortable parish, All of the statues carried away, See in each face a vacuous visage, Brought here by guilt or by R.C.I.A.
Gather us in, by Bimmer or Hummer, Gather us in, so we can feel good, Come to us now in this barren Zen temple, With only a shrub and an altar of wood.
We are the young, our morals a mystery, We are the old, who couldn't care less, We have been warned throughout all of history, But we enjoy this liturgical mess.
Gather us in, our radical pastor, Gather us in, our unveiled nun, Call to us now, with guitars and bongos, Hang up your cellphones and join in the fun!
Here we will take some wine and some water, Whether it changes, we really don't care. But when the Sign of Peace comes, our pastor, Jumps from the altar and hugs like a bear.
Gather us in, the privileged and snobby, Gather us in, the liberal elite, Help us to form our personal Credo, Give us a choice between white bread and wheat.
