Sing an old song

New prayer texts aren't the only area where advocates of a "reform of the reform" are trying to make an impact on Catholic worship. As the experience of St. Edward's parish shows, music is another area where traditionalists hope to have an influence.

Few people are as passionate about recovering the church's musical heritage as Jeff Tucker, the managing editor of Sacred Music, the quarterly publication of the Church Music Association of America. Tucker, the author of Sing Like a Catholic (CMAA), also directs a chant choir at his parish in Alabama and regularly travels around the country giving workshops on Gregorian chant.

"There can be no reform of the liturgy without addressing the stagnation of liturgical music," says Tucker. "We're missing the best of the Catholic musical tradition." 

Like many of those involved in the "reform of the reform" movement, Tucker is critical of contemporary Catholic hymnody, which he feels is too tied to popular musical forms. "You can hear this same kind of music outside the church," he says. "As a result, the music ties you to the earth rather than lifting your mind and heart to God."

Tucker, though, does not believe that the answer is replacing contemporary hymns with traditional ones. Parishes, he says, should move beyond the "four-hymn sandwich" approach to choosing music for the Mass. Tucker laments that hymns have come to replace the entrance, offertory, and communion antiphons for every Mass that are specified in the church's liturgical books.

"These texts are part of the Mass in a way that hymns are not," says Tucker, who believes that chanting the parts of the Mass should be an ideal toward which parishes should always strive.

Zimmerman of the Institute for Liturgical Ministry believes Tucker's vision is unrealistic. "It reflects the spirituality of a monastery rather than a parish. The average congregation is not going to learn new antiphons and psalms every single week. You'd end up with only the choir singing. If people don't participate, what have you gained?"

Zimmerman also questions the criticisms aimed at contemporary hymns. "Some of those hymns from the '70s were truly god-awful, and I have no problem saying that," she says. "But we also have some truly excellent hymns. I think ‘Gift of Finest Wheat,' for example, will stand the test of time as well as any of John Wesley's hymns."

The Catholic bishops of the United States appear to be taking a middle path on these questions. In a 2007 revision of their national guidelines on liturgical music, the bishops significantly strengthened the language encouraging the use of Gregorian chant while retaining the option of vernacular hymns.

Back to the future?

The wider use of traditional prayers and music may lead some to wonder whether the liturgical reforms of Vatican II are at risk. Could the church ever return to the "old" Mass?

The answer is almost certainly no. It's true that in 2007 Pope Benedict liberalized the rules governing the celebration of the older rite-now dubbed the "extraordinary form" of the Roman Rite-and encouraged its wider use.

While the pope was partially motivated by a desire to achieve reconciliation with schismatic groups attached to the older Mass, he also expressed a hope that its wider celebration would encourage those praying the reformed rite to do so with greater reverence.

"If that is his objective, then he's going about it the wrong way," says Baldovin of Boston College, who believes that efforts to improve the church's celebration of the liturgy should look forward rather than backward. "The problem with the reformed liturgy is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has not been tried," he says.

Many of those who disagree with Baldovin on specific issues share his conviction that the focus of the discussion should be the rites as they were reformed by Vatican II.

"The post-conciliar liturgy is the one that we have received," says Martis of Mundelein Seminary. "Our responsibility is not to wish we had another but to celebrate it as authentically as we are able. My desire is that people understand it better and recognize how it can be a genuine expression of our deep faith in God."

St. Edwards' Keyes does not plan to offer the extraordinary form at his parish anytime soon, citing both scheduling challenges-his parish already offers six crowded Masses every weekend-and a lack of time to learn the prayers and rubrics of the old rite. More fundamentally, Keyes continues to hold the liturgical reforms of Vatican II in high regard. "People who don't think that the reform was necessary are misinformed," he says.

It may be too much to expect that a consensus on this point might lead to a truce in the church's "liturgy wars." Nevertheless advocates on both sides of the current debate may agree on more than they realize.

Hitchcock concedes that the time before Vatican II was hardly a golden age. "Prior to the council, seminaries didn't really teach liturgy. They taught rubrics, how to work your way through the books," she says.

Baldovin, for his part, agrees that those seeking a "reform of the reform" are on to something when they complain about a loss of reverence. "We've said that liturgy is the ‘work of the people,' which is true. But it's God's work first."