Kansas bishop, in pastoral letter, seeks renewal of sacred music
September 15, 2023
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CWN Editor's Note: In a pastoral letter on sacred music, Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita, Kansas, has urged singing the Propers of the Mass—the Entrance, Offertory, and Communion—“which the Church herself invites us to sing.”
Bishop Kemme observes that most of these texts have been set in Gregorian chant, in which “the word always comes first and is more essential than the musical composition.” He recommends a focus on these text rather than discussion of which hymns to sing, since that is “a subjective judgment that too often relies on personal taste and preference.”
Sacred music aids and encourages active participation in the Mass, the bishop writes. He says that “we should hold fast to our tradition and give pride of place to the Church’s preferred musical instruments, which are the human voice and the organ, and to musical repertories of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.”
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