Oh dear, oh dear... I did wonder how on earth the Papal Visit organisers managed to avoid using something like the "New Israeli Mass Setting" or the "Mass of Creation" for the setting of the Papal Masses at Bellahouston Park and Cofton Park. It seems that, for once, the Bishops had a bright idea, and the news got out before the "liturgists" (sorry, should that be "performers" according to the helpful sheet given to the media?) managed to squash it.
I find it incredible that an objection to MacMillan's new Mass setting was that a competent organist would be required to play the accompaniment... I mean, I know organists are rare, certainly there are fewer good organists than guitar-strummers, but, well, for the Papal Mass, you think finding a competent organist wouldn't be too difficult... there might be one or two in the whole of Scotland who'd be willing to turn up...
A liturgical committee... That explains why they had those repeating bits - despite James MacMillan having told us at the Faith Summer Session that he hated verse-response stuff.
Minds me of the old joke:
ReplyDeleteWhat would you do if you had two rounds in your pistol and found yourself in a lift with a manic terrorist, a suicide bomber and a liturgist?
Answer? Pump two rounds into the liturgist!
Talking of tempering the wind to the shorn lamb, didn't Archbishop Nichols virtually abolish mortal sin a few weeks ago, when he described it as "an unsuccessful attempt to motivate the Faithful"?
ReplyDeleteForgive me if I point out that England has some of the world's very finest liturgical organists . . . as I can confirm from my own experience !
ReplyDeleteAccordingly, this is merely an attempt to interfere with something good by raising an entirely unjustified argument which has no merit whatever.