Letters

Rose-coloured glasses

Cathy Cleary

Contents - Aug 2011 - Buy a copy now Homily: Benedict XVI: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Pope Benedict XVI The Carbon (dioxide) Tax: a religious perspective - Peter Finlayson News: The Church Around the World Britain's anti-Christian brave new world - AD2000 REPORT Events: In defence of the authentic meaning of marriage - Canberra, 16 August 2011 - Babette Francis Bishop Conley on the new Missal translation: 'The very words of God' - Bishop James Conley Defending the Catholic Church against ill-informed attacks - Fr John Flynn LC Obituary: John Wright (1923-2011): pillar of the Catholic faith - Michael Gilchrist Exegesis: Genesis account of creation and fall: what does the Church teach? - John Young Young adult Catholic ministry: further progress - Br Barry Coldrey Letters: Archbishop Hickey - Frank Bellet Letters: Unseen kindness - Anne Lastman Letters: , - Arnold Jago Letters: Catholic schools - Fr Brendan Dillon PP Letters: No oxygen - Fr M. Durham Letters: Rose-coloured glasses - Cathy Cleary Letters: Christian heritage - Fr Bernard McGrath Letters: Anglican ordinariate - Michael Apthorp Books: PRODIGAL DAUGHTERS: Catholic women come home to the Church, ed. Donna Steichen - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: STANDARD-BEARERS OF THE FAITH: Lives of the Saints for Young and Old - Terri Kelleher (reviewer) Poetry: Consequences - Bruce Dawe Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The new evangelisation: 'missionary spirit' needed - Fr Dennis W. Byrnes

There seems to be a view among your journalists and correspondents that pre-Vatican II Catholicism in Australia was a period of beautiful Mass celebrations with perfectly appropriate music (mainly Gregorian chant) and reverent congregations, who followed the mainly Latin Masses in their missals with rapt attention and complete understanding.

In fact like most visions of the past, these people would appear to be looking at this period through extremely rose-coloured glasses!

I am now 63 and as a child lived in Melbourne and was a parishioner at St James' Church, Gardenvale, a church which I assume would have been fairly representative of churches of its time. Most Masses were Low Masses and had very little or no singing - and in earlier memories were silent, except for the murmurings of the priest, with his back turned.

If there were hymns for the congregation to sing, they were of the ilk of "To Jesus' Heart all Burning", "Faith of Our Fathers" or "Hail Queen of Heaven" - all enjoyable to sing but with no relationship to the Mass, the Church Season, or the Gospel of the day.

Many people did not have Missals and spent their time at Mass saying the rosary or other private prayers - again worthy activities but not the participatio actuosa that is the ideal promoted by the Church.

Occasionally there were High Masses and as a member of the church choir I enjoyed singing the Gregorian chant required for these. I do not, however, remember the congregation participating in this singing to any great extent; it was really more of a performance by us: a concert with the congregation as the audience.

The only instances of appropriate congregational singing I remember were at Benediction - and even then many of the hymns like "O Salutaris Hostia" were changed from the Gregorian setting to one easier to sing!

I loved the Church of my childhood, but I do think that the music when it existed at Mass was mostly either inappropriate or elitist. I find that now at Mass the hymns are usually carefully chosen to be appropriate to the season and to the readings and, again, mostly, relatively easy for the congregation to sing.

I have seven adult children and 24 grandchildren, all thankfully, still practising their faith and I love to see them at Mass praying by singing as well as by their responses and, of course, their silent prayer.

As a child at a Low Mass in Melbourne, I was only able to do the silent prayer!

CATHY CLEARY
Surfside, NSW

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 24 No 7 (August 2011), p. 16