CD 'accompaniment' at Mass

[HallamPhil]

Some of the pronouncements in Leviticus seem pretty ludicrous in our time and we ignore them.

In 1958 they may have feared heterosexual conduct unbecoming in choirs but the elephant in the room was homosexual activity which was becoming an illicit reality. The liturgical document TT cites is of its time and at that time many households had pianos and people to play them rather than televisions and computers. The situation we are dealing with nowadays is rather different. The number of people with the skill to entertain at the keyboard let alone lead community song has diminished considerably. This is why in Hallam although most primary schools have a piano they struggle to find someone to play it. In this context the practice of using CDs with accompaniment, whilst far from ideal, at least enables liturgical music appropriate to children to be achieved. It certainly does not prevent them offering their praise or lament to God.

I welcome the provision of accompaniment only CDs by Chris Walker and Bernadette Farrell and intend to do the same with my New Wine setting of the revised translation. For my own part, however, I am hoping that for the foreseeable future I will retain the faculties which obviate the need to use such resources but I would still advocate their use when that skill is absent.

By the way, I can wholeheartedly also recommend Wairau Cove Sauvignon Blanc currently on offer at Tescos.

[Eastern Promise]

There's nothing wrong with CDs at Mass. Our priest plays the theme of The Deer Hunter during Communion, and they say he's going to be a bishop soon.