I Want Mass to Have Top-Ten Music

In a complete turnaround from every point of view I’ve ever held, I believe we should cater to the dictatorship of the young when it comes to music in the liturgy. I think we’ve been stuck in the old ways for way too long. With mass attendance dropping and the younger generation feeling disconnected from the liturgy we need to do something drastic to bring them back into the pews.

Since we’ve been stuck with folk music for 40 years, I say we give a top ten album a try for another 40 years and let’s see how it works out.

We need something hip. Something trendy. Something kids can hear in their video games and on their FM radio stations. Something that’s big over in Europe.

Oh Ok. Here I found just the thing – The Cistercian monks of the Stift Heiligenkreuz Abbey are unlikely candidates to make pop music’s Top 10 list — but they did just that, debuting at No. 9 in the United Kingdom last week.

A CD of their prayer, “Chant: Music for Paradise,” (sold as “Chant: Music for the Soul” in some countries) has been called a “must-have” by reviewers.

Cistercian Father Karl Wallner, rector of the Benedict XVI Papal University of Heiligenkreuz, attributed the CD’s overwhelming welcome to the fact that “Gregorian chant spreads harmony, peace and consolation in the depth of the soul.”

You must admit it’s a little hilarious that the hippies threw out all the great music of the church in order to “connect” with “the people.” And all we got are a lot of pretty awful folk songs. And then video games go Gregorian chant crazy and people all over the place are seeking out this wonderful sound.

But do you think the old hippies will change their minds. Ask them with mass attendance dropping and the younger generation feeling disconnected from the liturgy do we need to do something drastic to bring them back into the pews?

Don’t bet on it.