Tamil Catholic Hymns Lyrics
Custodio Groves
I am maker of mountains; I am God of the earth.
Like a mother in labor I bring all to birth . . .
With sun and moon we dance for joy!
We are your work of art, the glory of your hand, the children of your loving.
Narcissism, then, explains the beardless puerility of so many of the lyrics. Can anyone imagine a group of grown men who had any choice in the matter singing, or even making sense of, this coquettish address to almighty God?
For narcissism kills: The boy feeds upon a vain image of himself and finally becomes that vain image, a flower drooping its head at the margin of a puddle. The narcissism of our hymns is a slow but deadly poison, coated with a little sickly sweetness, compounded into pills with some bleached and powdered Scripture.
Even under the current General Instruction of the Roman Missal, hymns are listed only as substitutions for the chant Propers in the Roman graduale; indeed, using a hymn for the Entrance, Offertory, and Communion is the fourth option. Why?
Basically, there is an incompatibility between the form of Scripture and the form of hymns. Hymns and songs are metrical and symmetrical; they have a regular rhythm and lines of the same length. Scripture is not usually metrical and symmetrical. That means that Scripture has to be edited, interpreted, or rephrased to fit into verses with a set number of measures. Doing so without changing the meaning of Scripture requires a composer who is both a poetic genius and well-formed biblical scholar.
"I don't really have a problem with any of them. They're trying to filter out things that probably should have been filtered out a long time ago," Solis, a wife and mother in her early 30s who oversees liturgical music at a small parish in Omaha, told NCR.
The context of the document, however, is a different story. "Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church: An Aid for Evaluating Hymn Lyrics," first came to light in early December, amidst a surge in the pandemic and a spate of federal executions. The executions drew a statement from the bishops' conference on Dec. 7, but Solis says the gap in priorities is clear.
"I have a big problem that they didn't go that hard on the federal executions. Because which one is the greater evil?" she said. "I've stopped expecting them to loudly condemn violence against any oppressed group besides the unborn."
The other pushback to the document was the perception that the bishops were trying to establish a blacklist of songs. The document lists six areas where the bishops see hymn lyrics falling short and provided examples from actual hymns currently in use. The inclusion of "All Are Welcome" and "Canticle of the Sun" on this list created an almost instant Pope Francis vs. the bishops optic. Concerns included referring to the Eucharist as merely as bread and wine (wine being especially problematic because the Scriptures and prayers at Mass mostly refer to a cup or chalice), imprecise language in reference to the Trinity and misstatements about the relationship between God and humanity and the role of the Jewish people. The document made no judgment on the title of "All Are Welcome."
"There's a lot of drama when stuff like this gets out," David Anderson, editor-at-large at GIA Publications in Chicago, told NCR. "It's important to realize that they're trying to give the bishops some advice."
Anderson understands the complexities of the ecosystem of liturgical music. This includes composers and hymn text writers who create new hymns, the publishers who include them in hymnals, the bishops (especially those with publishers in their dioceses) who grant approval for their usage, and the musicians and cantors who play these compositions and lead their people in song, all in dialogue with each other at every level. In addition to his role at GIA, Anderson is director of music and an organist at Ascension Parish in Oak Park, Illinois.
"As a publisher, I'm not in charge of all this. I have to work in collaboration with the bishops," he said. "It's not always top-down. There is a lot of collaboration that goes on. There's a lot of respect."
A composer who knows what it is to have his work name-checked for the world to see is Fr. Michael Joncas, whose composition "On Eagle's Wings" received a prominent reference in President-elect Joe Biden's Nov. 7 victory speech. Joncas calls the new document "at best advisory" with a much narrower focus than a bishops' conference document like 2007's "Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship," which was approved by a vote of all the bishops.
"I see it as a positive thing, even though they critique particular hymn texts and, frankly, hymn texts written by my friends," he said, affirming that what is sung at Mass is incredibly important "because it shapes and forms us."
Many challenges face composers and hymn text writers seeking to fulfill the standards of conformity with Catholic doctrine and appropriate words and imagery, which the new document asserts. For one, there's the outright disparity in genre: Song lyrics are poetry.
"The poetry of a hymn text and the academic prose of the catechism just can't be considered similarly," said composer Orin Johnson, who serves as director of music ministries at Sts. Joachim and Ann Parish, near St. Louis. "We ought not have heretical hymn texts, of course, but neither can we expect them to always be literal and complete, unless the suggestion is we move toward singing only Scripture or the catechism verbatim."
A piece of sheet music is pictured, for a hymn composed by Fr. Michael Joncas for the coronavirus pandemic. Joncas, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said his composition, "Shelter Me," is a paraphrase of the well-known Psalm 23. (CNS/Courtesy of Fr. Michael Joncas)
The standards for what meets Catholic doctrine, however, can be subjective when it comes to assessing lyrics. Linda Reid, director of music and liturgy at St. Thomas Church in Providence, Rhode Island, notes that this framework puts the onus on newer hymns while glossing over the license taken by writers centuries ago.
Hilgartner concurred, citing examples even from the songs singled out by the new document that reflect the messiness of tradition. For instance, the reference to wine in "Bread That is Broken" receives criticism, despite being taken from the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch. "The Communion antiphon from his feast day cites that text!" Hilgartner said. Similarly, with, "Canticle of the Sun," he said, "They're questioning the verse about dear Sister Death," which "is part of the 'Canticle of the Creatures' " by St. Francis of Assisi.
"They did have to think carefully about using examples," James LeGrys, theological adviser for the Secretariat of Doctrine and Canonical Affairs of the bishops' conference, told NCR, noting that the document would have been ineffective in conveying the committee's concerns without specific examples. While the document didn't focus on certain composers or publishers, he acknowledged, "It does kind of put people on notice."
He added, however, that the document was intended for a quiet rollout among bishops for sharing with publishers, composers and liturgy offices. But the calling out of certain texts took everyone by surprise when media got a hold of the story. For those who question the timing and prioritization of the document, LeGrys said the project of addressing hymns languished on the backburner for eight years.
"This should be looked at as something that's actually looking to the future, as providing a way forward. It's hoping to push things in a different direction," LeGrys said. "A lot of these problems, I don't think it would take an awful lot to fix them."
Alan Hommerding, a composer who has worked in publishing for decades, agreed it's a natural part of the process in reviewing hymn lyrics to say, "This is not correct, but this would be another way to say it that would fall within Catholic doctrine."
[Don Clemmer is a writer, communications professional and former staffer of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He writes from Indiana and edits Cross Roads magazine for the Catholic Diocese of Lexington. Follow him on Twitter: @clemmer_don.]
This is the first of two articles by the chairman of the diocesan Liturgical Commission about a recent document from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on evaluating hymn lyrics. CLICK HERE to read the second article.
In other words, Catholic hymns may have inspiring melodies, but unless the text also communicates the truth of the mystery of faith, they cannot be called beautiful. Beauty is constitutively related to truth.
Ultimately, our bishop, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight, has that responsibility, but without direct input from him, the pastor exercises that care. Any Catholic should feel free to approach his or her pastor in order to inquire or express concern about a given song.
If the pastor is not certain, he is welcome to contact me as chairman of the diocesan Liturgical Commission. It should be noted that while the bishops examined about 1,000 hymns, they expressly flagged only 12 hymns for concern.
The Committee has presented 12 negative examples, but in some ways the greater work remains for every diocese to ensure not simply that incorrect texts are avoided, but also that all aspects of any teaching is included.
The doctrine committee of the US bishops' conference (USCCB) earlier this year produced a guide to evaluating the lyrics of hymns on the basis of their doctrinal content, noting that Vatican II declared sacred music's purpose to be "the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful."
"It is all the more important, then, that hymnody selected for the liturgical life of the Church successfully draw out the beauty of the Christian mysteries themselves. This cannot be done if language is used that is out of keeping with the sensibility created by scriptural texts and universal liturgical usage."
The U.S. bishops' doctrine committee provided two general guidelines for determining whether a hymn is doctrinally suitable for liturgical use: whether it conforms to Catholic doctrine, and whether its images and vocabulary appropriately reflect the usage of Scripture and the liturgical prayer of the Church.
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