So what is there, then, in ‘Roman’ liturgy that makes some Anglicans murmur quietly to each other ‘N.Q.O.C.D.’?
Well, there’s the music, of course. The CofE has a truly splendid patrimony of hymnody (just think of those unmatched translations of J.M.Neale), and has some excellent, and many good, choirs up and down the country. But not as many as it had, and there are also excellent choirs in the Catholic Church, though not so many, of course. My impression is that many, if not most, CofE parishes now struggle if they want to maintain a musical tradition, largely because there simply isn’t the body of layfolk to draw on. And it also strikes me that the number of parishes replacing Hymns Ancient and Modern with Hymns Weird and Wonderful is increasing. A lot of this is simply because our culture itself is becoming increasingly dumbed-down...
Read the rest of Fr. Finnegan's thoughts on parish music at his blog Valle Adurni.
My good people
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Wise people who frequent the exquisite little Penlee Gallery in Penzance
will be familiar with one of its prize exhibits: The rain it raineth every
day (1...
3 months ago
It's not Fr Finigan. He's at
ReplyDeletehttp://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/