Ethnic Identity and Catholic Singing

My colleague Lisa Schiltz suggests that my frustration with Catholic singing might be remedied by spending some time in ethnic parishes:

The church where I was married was a tiny, old traditionally Polish parish church in the tiny steel town of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh.  The church itself has since been consolidated, but in the years I attended those masses with my father, the music was, I think, one of the most important parts of the worship experience for most of the older parishioners of Polish heritage.  The American hymns were sung dutifully, but when the organist cranked out an old Polish hymn, the (somewhat screechy, usually not any where near in tune) older parishioners would raise the roof.   Over the last couple of nights I found myself finally watching the network miniseries on Pope John Paul II that we recorded months ago, and I was struck by how many of the Pope’s most emotional moments of communication with crowds involved the Polish people singing various Polish hymns – often as much an expression of ethnic, political identity as an expression of faith, but in these situations Catholic hymns clearly had as much power as the words that were being spoken around them. 

One of the most incredible Mass experiences Pat and I ever had was at a tiny Catholic church in a predominantly Black parish in Mississippi, where the music was absolutely transporting – probably reflecting evangelical influences, I’ll grant you that.  With respect to parishes closer to home, Fr. Kevin McDonough tells stories of the music at St. Peter Claver parish, where the Ethiopian immigrants have positively electrifying Masses in which the music is key.  And even in our own pretty bland, white, suburban parish, some of the most beautiful music, the tunes that really get our entire parish singing and sometimes even clapping along, tend to be the ones (from the same, rather-bland song-book that has “On Eagles Wings”) with notations indicating they come from a Spanish or African (or sometimes even Irish) traditional songs.

Rob