A Review of Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship

In November 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB.org) replaced the widely known document, Music in Catholic Worship (MCW 1972) and the 1982 statement, Liturgical Music Today, with a longer and more comprehensive guide, entitled Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship (STL). The document is presently available for purchase from USCCB Publishing (usccbpublishing.org), edition 7-022, ISBN 978-1-60137-022-8. I am limiting my commentary and personal reflections to those areas of the text that concern singing and praying with children and to general principles regarding music and song in the eucharistic liturgy.

Sing to the Lord and Children’s Liturgy
Sing to the Lord complements the Directory for Masses with Children (DMC) by adding to the pedagogical imperative of building children’s faith and preparing them through music for the richness they will find in the celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments. The Directory for Masses with Children was prepared as a supplement to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) and has been widely used for many years in the United States. It allows for adaptations, calls for the children to perform many liturgical ministries, and encourages the children’s active participation, especially through singing and gestures, but also through stillness and silence. Sing to the Lord supports the spirit of DMC through its general guidelines concerning different kinds of music for the liturgy, the preparation of music for liturgy, the music in the structure of Mass, and the educational and spiritual importance of liturgy and music in the life of Catholic children.

Music in Catholic Schools
Within the new guidelines is a section on music in Catholic schools that reinforces the obligation that Catholic schools have toward music and the liturgy. “Catholic schools are called to foster the joy of singing and making music, to cultivate the repertoire of sacred music inherited from the past, to engage the creative efforts of contemporary composers and the diverse repertoires of various cultures, and to celebrate the Sacred Liturgy worthily” (54).

Sing to the Lord does not mention religious education programs, but music and the parish music repertory should be nurtured not only in Catholic schools but also in parish catechetical programs for children.

Readiness for Mass
School liturgies during the week should be prepared with attention to the appropriate age level of the participants, but at Mass the children should be catechized and ready to sing the various parts of the liturgy (STL 110–114). As in any liturgical planning, the choice of music in liturgies with children should be determined by the liturgical seasons and the nature of the occasion following the principle of “progressive solemnity” (STL 110, MS 38). This is a process of choosing what to sing from among the various parts of the Mass, giving preference to those parts that are of greater importance (STL 115, GIRM 40). Sing to the Lord lists a general order of precedence: sung dialogues and acclamations, antiphons and psalms, refrains and repeated responses, and hymns. The same priorities apply in Masses with children, but consideration must always be made concerning the length of the service as well as the age and comprehension of the children participating.

Parents must decide at what age their child is ready to join the adult worshiping community. This cannot be set in stone, but introducing children gradually to all aspects of parish liturgical life is a boon to the community and to the children.

“Internal” Participation
Active participation by way of songs, acclamations, responses, and gestures is the norm for children because of their limited attention spans, but active listening and meditative silence should also be fostered in liturgies with children, especially in the middle and upper grades. Through regularity and repetition all elementary age children can learn “to raise their minds to God” in the quiet times (STL 12, DMC 37).

A Singing Celebrant
“No other single factor affects the Liturgy as much as the attitude, style, and bearing of the priest celebrant” (STL 18, DMC 23). Sing to the Lord highlights the importance of the priest’s participation, “especially by singing” (19) and promotes the training of priests to sing and chant more confidently (20). When the celebrant invites the children to respond using his own singing voice, the acclamations and sung responses will be more spontaneous and enthusiastic. The eucharistic prayers for children are transformed from monologues into joyful blessings when they are sung at least in part by a celebrant who can dialogue with the children in song, drawing their focus to the center and highpoint of the liturgy (DMC 52).

The Importance of Children’s Choirs
Choirs and choral singing in elementary schools provide children with an invaluable experience in music education. In addition, Catholic school choirs can give children the opportunity to learn more about the liturgy, to serve as leaders, and to introduce some of the parish music repertory to the rest of the student body. By singing in a choir, children “will be better prepared for their eventual role as adult members of the worshiping assembly” (STL 55, DMC 22).

Diverse Cultures and Languages
This document also addresses the diversity of cultures and languages in the United States. The bishops cite the need for liturgical music today that resonates with “the multicultural diversity and intercultural relationships of the members of the gathered liturgical assembly” (60). “Local worshiping communities are encouraged to develop bicultural or multicultural celebrations from time to time that reflect the changing face of the church in America” (59). As an example, I teach at a school in Oakland, California, where our children speak seven different languages at home. At school our language is English, but we try to acknowledge in our prayer, song, and musical styles “the cultural pluralism [that] has been the common heritage of all Americans” (57).

In Catholic schools throughout the United States children sing bilingual hymns and songs that include words and phrases from a mixture of languages — English, Spanish, Latin, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Swahili, Zulu, and at Christmas, French, German, and others languages. These experiences prime children, helping them to welcome the concept of unity in diversity and to celebrate faith in the Holy Spirit, the unifier and “soul” of the Church (CCC 813–814). On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit became manifest as an array of diverse people gathered around Peter, and all could hear and understand one another speaking in different languages about the wonderful things God has done (Acts 2:11). Embracing a diversity of cultures and languages within the Church through prayer and song models the larger vision set forth in Gaudium et Spes for unity among the whole human family as created in the image of God (24).

Cantate Domino! Latin and Gregorian Chant
The vernacular remains the norm in liturgy, but Sing to the Lord also endorses the use of Latin, particularly in liturgical song (61). Moreover, Sing to the Lord recommends, “each worshiping community in the United States, including all age groups and all ethnic groups, should, at a minimum, learn Kyrie XVI, Sanctus XVIII, and Agnus Dei XVIII, all of which are typically included in congregational worship aids” (75). In this suggestion the bishops remain faithful to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) in acknowledging that Gregorian chant enjoys a “pride of place” in Roman liturgy. But the Council document adds the cautionary phrase, “other things being equal” (116). In other words, while chanting in Latin is encouraged and laudable, pastoral and liturgical considerations have to be made to ensure that the nature of the assembly is respected and that it can participate in the singing (STL 73).

Children are naturally drawn to the new and different sounds they hear in foreign words. They will laugh and repeat the sounds enthusiastically. With the proper introduction and practice children can sing in any language. But they need to be reminded more than once of the meaning of the words they are singing. As with adults, if children cannot sing the Latin language well and with intelligibility, “it would be more prudent to employ a vernacular language in the Liturgy” (STL 64, DMC 31).

The Use of Instruments at Mass
Sing to the Lord reaffirms the special place of the organ in liturgy. “The organ is accorded pride of place because of its capacity to sustain the singing of a large gathered assembly” (STL 87, MS 62). Catholic children are fortunate when they can participate in a variety of liturgical events both with adults and with other children where they can hear and see many different instruments, including a pipe organ, joining in the praise and glory of God. Sing to the Lord continues to encourage the practice of using many other instruments to “enrich the celebration of the Liturgy, such as wind, stringed, or percussion instruments” (90). The Directory for Masses with Children points out the great value that musical instruments have in Masses with children, “especially if they are played by the children themselves . . . and do not overpower the singing” (DMC 32, MS 64).

Musical, Liturgical, and Pastoral Judgments
The document reiterates the three well-known judgments from Music in Catholic Worship: musical, liturgical, and pastoral (STL 126–136). Which judgment holds priority is likely to be a source of continuing discussion. Wisely, the bishops do not suggest a priority. They mention the use of the treasure of sacred music of various periods, styles, and cultures (30), and they restate from the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, “The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her own; she has admitted styles from every period according to the natural talents and circumstances of peoples, and the needs of the various rites” (123). This statement was first made in the context of church art and architecture. Its use here seems to imply that liturgical music enjoys the same creative freedom and latitude of style as other church art and architecture. “The Church never ceases to find new ways to sing her love for God each new day” (STL 83).

The Responsorial Psalm
Sing to the Lord clarifies an important practical matter concerning the psalm at Mass. Many options are allowed in addition to the proper or the seasonal psalm, including approved “psalms arranged in paraphrase or in metrical form” (158, 159). A Latin gradual can also be sung from Graduale Simplex or the Graduale Romanum. But singing the proper or seasonal psalm from the lectionary with the assembly responding is preferred to a Latin gradual (157). The bishops underline their flexibility by quoting from the Lectionary for Mass: “Because the psalm is properly a form of sung prayer, every means available in each individual culture is to be employed in fostering the singing of the psalm at Mass” (21). In my experience Masses with children often go beyond the minimum required by the Directory for Masses with Children in regard to singing and hearing the word of God in the psalm (46).

The Singing Assembly
In the section on the Communion song or chant Sing to the Lord continues to reflect the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, reaffirming that “the singing of the people should be preeminent”(STL 189, SC 114). In Masses with children singing throughout the liturgy should be the standard (DMC 30).

In the four decades since the promulgation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Catholics have become more aware that singing together is a symbol of the community as the body of Christ and a sign of the faithful exercising their baptismal priesthood (STL 24, 25, 26). Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church from the Second Vatican Council, emphasizes the importance of the priesthood of the faithful and its interrelation with the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood (10). The biblical reference to God’s people as a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) does not diminish the ministerial priest, but it invites all the baptized of every age to participate fully in the one priesthood of Christ (CCC 1546).

In his 2007 encyclical, Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope) , Pope Benedict XVI refers to the “social reality” of salvation and how a redeemed life is “linked to a lived union with a people” and is only attained by the individual within the “we” (14). A singing assembly, as the body of Christ, actively proclaims its unity in faith, reveals its priestly identity and kindles its hope for salvation.

Liturgical Catechesis
Sing to the Lord speaks directly to the connection between good celebrations and strong faith (5). The faith is passed on confidently in the liturgy for the Church believes as it prays, following its ancient maxim: lex orandi, lex credendi (CCC 1124). Children and adults are taught by the mystery of God’s presence in liturgy.

Singing and music sustain both the individual and communal aspects of worship. “Thus, it is no wonder,” the bishops state, “that singing together in church expresses so well the sacramental presence of God to his people” (STL 2). The eucharistic liturgy balances the experiences of transcendence and immanence as the priest addresses God invisible who “dwells in unapproachable light” and also God actively present in the body of Christ.

In a talk to US bishops in 1998, John Paul II noted, “The liturgy has dimensions both local and universal, time-bound and eternal, horizontal and vertical, subjective and objective. It is precisely these tensions which give to Catholic worship its distinctive character” (On the Liturgical Reform, 1998, BCL 3). For children and adults this dynamism exemplifies how liturgy itself, through its ritual and spiritual dimensions and through its cultural context, exerts “its own inherent power to instruct” (STL 67, DMC 12).

Conclusions
Anyone expecting a list of unqualified and categorical rubrics for music in Catholic rituals will likely be disappointed with the approach the US bishops have taken in Sing to the Lord, and some might view the document’s flexibility as ambiguity. But Catholics of every persuasion should find something to like in Sing to the Lord. These guidelines were written with a pastoral understanding of the complexity of the Catholic faithful in the United States.

With Sing to the Lord the bishops continue to give encouragement and direction to Church musicians and liturgists in the march of renewal while at the same time remembering and celebrating the tradition and beauty of the sacred music rooted in liturgical history. Additionally, the bishops did not seek Vatican confirmation to make this a legislative document; instead the bishops issued Sing to the Lord as an official statement of the USCCB, demonstrating the importance of their own autonomy concerning matters of culture, language, and art in worship within the United States. By honoring the past and looking to the future without denigrating the present, Sing to the Lord strikes a thoughtful balance in speaking to the heterogeneous American Catholic Church.

Ongoing Renewal
“God does not need liturgy; people do” (EACW 4). And the people of God can only celebrate and express their faith through the art, the music, and good works that flow from their mottled and imperfect humanity. While God is complete without worship, God’s people are incomplete and bound by duty and privilege to join the saints, giving honor and glory to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“The primordial song of the Liturgy is the canticle of victory over sin and death” (STL 7). It is the mystery of Christ, dead, risen, and present today that breathes vitality and hope into the efforts to worship God worthily. Sing to the Lord not only addresses the meaning and mechanics of music in liturgy but also reminds the faithful that their paschal song must extend beyond the liturgy into the world (8). The Church is called to live the Christian mystery it celebrates: lex celebrandi, lex vivendi (IC 3). What is important in the end is the Gospel vision — the way of life implicit in a community gathered in prayer and witnessed especially by the young. Children who grow up in paschal communities concerned with the needs of others and striving to celebrate faith and tradition with diversity and imagination will lead the renewal of the Church and its liturgy into the future.

Abbreviations BCL: Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, now called Committee on Divine Worship CCC: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition DMC: Directory for Masses with Children (1973) EACW: Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, BCL (1978--Updated in 2000 with the publication Built of Living Stones) GIRM: General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2003) GS: Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965) IC: Introduction to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI (2005) LG: Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964) LFM: Lectionary for Mass MCW: Music in Catholic Worship, BCL (1972) MS: Musicam Sacram, Instruction on Music in the Liturgy (1967) SC: Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963) SS: Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope), Benedict XVI (2007) STL: Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship, USCCB (2007) USCCB: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (formerly the USCC/NCCB)