When people talk about the evident decline of sacred music, they often are quick to refer to the faults of the clergy – to the faults of priests, bishops, cardinals. But actually, while it is true that they are undoubtedly at fault, since they are the ones responsible to safeguard the dignity of the liturgy, we cannot deny they are also children of the climate that has caused the present situation. And so I have tried to find at least four reasons that their faults, which undoubtedly exist, may be considered involuntary.
1. Musical formation in seminaries has failed dramatically. At one time, every seminary had a choir of priests and seminarians that executed compositions from the great musical tradition of the Catholic Church, or modern compositions that were similar. But today, the lack of exposure in seminaries to this type of repertoire, above all to Gregorian chant, has caused an appalling cultural impoverishment. It’s not that everything used to be perfect, but there was at least an effort to respect a certain standard. Today, for the most part, seminarians are taught to sing popular religious music but not liturgical chant. Perhaps the lack of understanding of the difference between these two types of music has led to the enormous confusion in which we now find ourselves. While it’s true that there may be certain places in which things are going reasonably well, such places are clearly in the minority.
2. From the time they are seminarians, priests have been taught to imagine that there is an absurd opposition between the choir and the assembly of the faithful. I believe that almost every choir director, organist, and cantor has found themselves having to fight with priests who say that the choir shouldn’t sing too much because if they do the assembly will not participate. This is totally false, as can easily be proven, and it is contrary to the documents of the Magisterium on liturgical music. And yet it doesn’t matter: this completely false idea has been instilled so well in the minds of priests that now it seems completely natural to think this way. There are numerous publications that demonstrate the inconsistency of this position and explain how the assembly and choir can and should complement one another. But almost nothing can be done when dealing with people with strongly held ideological positions.
3. Then there is the problem of obedience. It’s true that priests should obey their superiors, the majority of whom have been formed in the post-conciliar mentality that has nothing to do with the true Second Vatican Council. I know many priests who would like to do things differently, who are well aware of the reality of the situation, but who find that their hands are tied. On the one hand I understand and sympathize with their situation, but on the other hand I do so with a bit of anger. This is why the role of the laity is ever more important, so that they can keep an attentive eye on this problem.
4. Recently, I found myself in a conversation with an archbishop. I was lamenting the lack of liturgical and musical culture among priests. The archbishop said to me that priests are also the products of this society, a society in which before they entered the seminary the only “Psalm” they had ever heard of was the [famous Italian] rapper [Salmo] and the only “Madonna” they had ever heard of had nothing to do with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Priests no longer have a humanistic cultured background, as is now common in our society. They no longer form an intellectual class that was once truly elevated and proposed itself to society not only as a spiritual guide but also as an intellectual elite. Certainly there are exceptions, there are still priests who are men of great culture, but this is no longer the rule as it once was. They are also a product of the breakdown that has been caused by the education they have received from television as well as the “education” brought about by the mass media and especially social media. It’s true that we can learn a great deal from television and social media, and many people find lots of truly important and interesting information through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc. But there is also a lot of garbage, and so those who don’t know how to make distinctions quickly become victims of indistinct and unverified information. Priests are in the same boat as all of us in this regard. We try to keep this in mind when we are dealing with them.
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