Tuesday 21 October 2008

Sacred Music


It was a couple of days ago that I posted my reflections on the suggestion by the Bishop of Croydon on introducing rock and pop music into worship. Biretta tip to The NLM blog for posting a statement signed yesterday between the Catholic Bishops of Asia and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The important quote in this context comes from paragraph 15 and says: "Music in Sacred Liturgy should be truly liturgical, that is, the Church's loving praise of God. While it also promotes active participation, it should not be left to the whims and subjective initiatives of individuals. It would be appropriate to promote local tradition music and also the Gregorian chant and to discourage hymns that do not represent the deep sense of sound doctrine and the sacred."

So while so many bishops are moving away from the failed experiments of the liberal generation, the bishop of Croydon is still advocating them. This is representative of the state in which liberals are hijaking the C of E and the Anglican Communion in general. Such attitudes lead to the same horror of a proposed order for a (attempted?)eucharist by TEC. (See blogs of Frs Steel and Tomlinson. As Anglo-Catholic to these people we say that the time of gimmicks and experiments is over. Our love and loyalty is to Jesus and him alone, he alone is our joy and fullfillment especially when we wash his feet in those around us. We will continue to love him and serve him and proclaim him in our parishes not by gimmicks and props but by prayer, sacrifice, godly living and witness!

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