Cleansing Fire

Defending Truth and Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church

Bishop Cunningham: No Jazz at Sacred Heart

December 4th, 2012, Promulgated by Gen

On December 1st, there was a “Candlelight Lessons and Carols” service at Sacred Heart Cathedral. From what we have been told, there was, in addition to the Cathedral’s choir, a Gospel choir, and “people doing strange things in the sanctuary.” (After some discussion, it was agreed upon that this referred not to any of the clerics, but rather, the dancers.) Rather than a traditional service of Lessons and Carols, the Cathedral offered a show of distractions, hardly in keeping with the solemnity of the Advent Season. Don’t get me wrong – miming the story of Creation can be great fun…just don’t do it in the sanctuary of our Cathedral, if you please.

That all being said, the organizers of this event had requested the presence of a jazz ensemble, presumably because the first thing one thinks of at Christmastime is free-form jazz. However, Bishop Cunningham, our Apostolic Administrator, informed the same organizers that such a display would be inappropriate for a sacred space. One can get away with only so much waving the “ecumenism flag,” and evidently jazz groups in church is a step too far in that direction.

And so, for the first time in three decades, a bishop has declared music at the Cathedral to be truly and accurately profane. 

On another note, stay tuned for an announcement Thursday regarding a much more noble, beautiful, and dignified Ceremony of Lessons and Carols to be held at St. Thomas the Apostle Church. 

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15 Responses to “Bishop Cunningham: No Jazz at Sacred Heart”

  1. SALLYANNE says:

    Did Bishop Clark ever encourage “Jazz” in his diocese? Just wondering..if so, did it take place? Just wondering…

  2. Scott W. says:

    However, Bishop Cunningham, our Apostolic Administrator, informed the same organizers that such a display would be inappropriate for a sacred space. One can get away with only so much waving the “ecumenism flag,” and evidently jazz groups in church is a step too far in that direction.

    Is there a link or text to what he said? That would be great because I’ve been on about the loss of the sense of sacred space (which is still sacred even if the Host is removed) which ranges from the careless (observable by all the chatter than takes place before Mass) and the offensive, such as when parishes were putting on mime plays and, even in one case, doing a production of Guys and Dolls in the sanctuary.

  3. y2kscotty says:

    I remember going to a Lessons and Carols service at the Cathedral in which various readers of the texts were drawn from such people as the County Executive or the Mayor of Rochester and others. It was modeled very closely on the Kings College Cambridge Lessons and Carols. There was no jazz. I was unable to attend the last couple of years – and I have to hope that the organizers have NOT departed from this classical form of the service. I hope that the Cathedral will do the “traditional” service – for it is the next best thing to being at Kings College Cambridge itself.
    Do they have Lessons and Carols in Syracuse?

  4. Gen says:

    @y2kscotty – If you’re interested in “traditional” Lessons and Carols, they will be offered at St. Thomas the Apostle on Friday, December 14th, at 7:00 PM. Guest readers include a WXXI announcer, the head of the new local Ordinariate parish, Judge Polito (from family court), and faculty from area academic institutions. There will be, in addition to the carols, Gregorian Chant, Renaissance motets, and brass descants with trumpet and horn.

  5. Gen says:

    @Scott – We don’t have the actual “edict,” if you will, from Bishop Cunningham. We do, however, have friends inside the Cathedral Community who delight in passing on little gems like this.

  6. y2kscotty says:

    Regarding jazz, there is such a thing as sacred jazz, such as Dave Brubeck’s Mass. Brubeck died a day or so ago and was a Catholic. Here’s his Gloria on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhgKYx-ZMSE. To my mind, it depends on the “jazz”, whether or not it should be in church. Maybe the Apostolic Administrator is a jazz expert and can discern the differences? I think we should no more what this is all about before we condemn jazz or even praise the Bishop of Syracuse. I wonder what he’d think of the Missa Luba?
    I’m just annoyed that good sacred jazz is possibly being dismissed as profane.

  7. y2kscotty says:

    Thanks to Gen for the information about the Lessons and Carols on 14th December at St Thomas.

  8. Scott W. says:

    I think we should trust Bp. Cunningham’s judgment on this whether he is an expert on jazz or not. I’ve done plenty of jazz in my musical career and it is safe to say those things even a non-expert can associate with jazz (walking bass lines, swing rhythms, etc) do not match the setting of the Mass. Brubeck’s Mass is more like a 20th-century “serious” composition than jazz from the parts of it I’ve heard. I like it, but still not appropriate for a Mass setting.

  9. Bernie says:

    I don’t think the plan was to use Jazz in a Mass setting. I believe it was to be carols with a Jazz interpretation or rendering in a concert setting or in the Lessons and Carols service. My understanding is that it would be interpretative Jazz with perhaps, improvisation -but I don’t really know.

    The Brubeck Mass is called a Jazz Mass but it comes off more as a ‘modern’ or contemporary concert hall composition. But as music for an actual Mass I would vote, no.

    Sacred music has to follow certain guidelines just as sacred art does. I’m not a music expert at all but generally speaking I would say that sacred music should present us with a sense of transfiguration, transcendence and the life of the communion of saints. Jazz, especially interpretative Jazz, dwells on the particular, the unique, the personal, and stands in contrast to the universal and ‘communion.’ That is true of modern ‘classical’ music as well. We think of sanctification and deification (the purpose of sacred art in the Liturgy) in terms of harmony; counterpoint may be acceptable but dissonance, a characteristic of much Jazz, I would think is not acceptable. It is the antithesis of music that suggests the harmonious existence of Heaven. Now, of course, I am referring to Jazz in a Mass setting. Does my opinion or judgment hold if the musical setting is outside of the Liturgy but in the church building? Yes, I would argue, for the building is also sacred. The building is part of the Liturgy by its very reason for existing. Like the sacred art in its windows and sculpture the building predisposes us to receive the graces given in the sacraments, through the Liturgy, celebrated within its walls and in its spaces. It is not proper to profane the space by behavior or performances that run counter to the purpose of the Liturgy. We would not think to have a boxing match in the church even if the proceeds from the ticket sales were to go to the missions.

    The Missa Luba: It is not enough to cite as appropriate a composition for Mass simply because it is well-known and/or popular. In my opinion, it has to pass the test of what sacred music should be. Does it (any musical Mass setting) stress a transfigured, deified existence or does it leave us earth bound and locked into the normal sounds of an unredeemed world -a world of passionate beats, rhythms, frenzy, dissonance, and private isolation (such as we find in Rock music)? I’m not making a judgment on the Missa Luba , I’m merely suggesting that even a Mass by Mozart may not be appropriate if it does not meet certain criteria. I have not listened to the Missa Luba in probably 40 years now, but I remember liking it. I also remember liking a Mass setting that sounded like a Broadway musical. Looking back on it I think I liked it (the Broadway Mass) because of the music itself and not because it predisposed me to receive the graces given in the Liturgy.

    Of course, cultural and ethnic differences can enter into the picture. But I suppose that is another discussion.

  10. raymondfrice says:

    The Christmas hymn, O Holy Night, first appeared in an opera written by the French composer Adolph Adam in the 19th century. The archbishop of Paris condemned its being sung in the cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris, because of its association with opera and the secular showbiz world. Now it is sung at Midnight Mass in a majority of French Catholic Churches.

    Go figure!!

  11. Bernie says:

    O Holy Night: The archbishop may have been right -for the time. No one, except some very few, would today associate the hymn with an opera or a musical. Time has separated the tune from its original setting. (The same is true of our national anthem.) There is the interesting issue of hymns vs. a Mass ‘musical setting’. I think it’s easier to adjudicate a Mass setting than it is a hymn although I must admit that, except for the most glaring offenses, it is not ever all that easy determining what is appropriate and what is not, in art as well as music. Alas, the effort needs to be made in my opinion. 🙂

  12. Eliza10 says:

    It almost seems as if we got Bishop Cunningham as interim Bishop so that our Diocese could get used to the idea of having a Bishop who does Bishop things. To kind of break us into the real world of Catholic, so that its not so hard for the next Bishop…

  13. raymondfrice says:

    It almost seems as if we got Bishop Cunningham as interim Bishop so that our Diocese could get used to the idea of having a Bishop who does Bishop things. To kind of break us into the real world of Catholic, so that its not so hard for the next Bishop…

    Bishop Cunningham is a modern day John the Baptist!!!!!!! LOL

  14. Dr. K says:

    Bishop Cunningham is a modern day John the Baptist!!!!!!! LOL

    Yes!

  15. christian says:

    I have seen the continued Bishop Perry watch on this site. Do you expect our next bishop to be Bishop Perry? Do you think there is a strong likelihood that he will be assigned to the Diocese of Rochester, New York?

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