©2003 Matthew A. C. Newsome

When one thinks of apologetics, especially Catholic apologetics, topics such as Mary, the Eucharist, and Purgatory immediately spring to mind.  Gregorian chant just doesn’t seem to figure into the equation.  So what does “Gregorian Apologetics” mean?  Though hardly anything is more Catholic than Gregorian chant, in these modern times it seems that chant is very much in need of a rational defense – an apologia – to Catholics themselves.

Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker, writing for Crisis magazine (April 2003), attest to this fact.  “You can find recordings of Gregorian chant in every CD store.  You can hear it at the concert hall. . .  You can also hear it in movies, radios, and television.  But one place you are not likely to hear it is at your local Catholic church.”

Why is this?  Robert Fowells, author of Chant Made Simple­, says, “Most Catholic churches no longer sing it because it is in Latin, and no Protestant churches sing it because it sounds Catholic.”  Not that Protestants are not open to chant.  When I informed some Protestant friends that I had started a Gregorian chant group at my parish, the reaction was invariably favorable.  One woman even asked for mass times so she could hear us!  When I told her that we were not (at this time) singing at Sunday masses, she screwed up her face and said, “Never mind, then.  I’m not coming just to hear guitar music.”

Granted, one should not attend mass or not based on the musical selection.  But if the beautiful and timeless music of the Church can bring a Protestant to a Catholic mass, perhaps the Eucharist could convince her to stay.

Be that as it may, one is not guaranteed of like favorable responses from Catholics when told that Gregorian chant will be introduced in their parish.  There are many reasons given.  Perhaps the most common objection to Gregorian chant is the second Vatican Council.  “Vatican II did away with all that Latin!” is the assertion.  This claim is made so much that many believe it to be true just from sheer repetition.  But is it really?  The sixteen documents of the second Vatican Council are easily accessible to clergy and laity alike in print and on the internet.  It is a matter of ease to check and see just what the Council Fathers had to say about the Latin liturgy. 

The Vatican II document on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, states quite plainly, “The use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin Rite” (36).  This certainly doesn’t sound like the Vatican II Fathers intended to do away with Latin in the liturgy.  And to further emphasize, the document further states,  “In accordance to the centuries old tradition of the Latin Rite, the use of Latin language is to be retained by clerics in the Divine Office” (101).  Latin is to be preferred!  But when was the last time you heard a Latin Novus Ordo mass being offered in your parish?

Specifically regarding the liturgical music offered at mass, Vatican II has this to say:  “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy; therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services” (116).    In other words, a parish operating in the “spirit of Vatican II” should, on a regular basis, use Latin in the liturgy, specifically giving Gregorian chant pride of place.

So why do many self-stylized “Vatican II Catholics” object to it’s use at all, even only on occasion?  Well, some simply do not like the style of music.  They would be scandalized if they showed up on Sunday morning and heard Ave Verum Corpus instead of “Here I Am, Lord.”  But, as I pointed out above, taste for a particular style of music is not a legitimate reason for attending mass or not.

In fact, this is one thing that Gregorian chant really has going for it.  The liturgical music at mass is not there, primarily, to entertain us.  And a good thing, too, for if it was there is no way that the average parish choir could possibly compete with what it being offered on radio and television.  If one attends mass because one enjoys the music, well what, exactly, should the choir sing?  Is folk music popular in this parish?  How about rock and roll?  Or perhaps the congregation likes the older selection of hymns such as “Faith of Our Fathers.”  What about a “rap mass” for the teen crowd?  Church music would be forced to adapt to the changing fashion of popular music.

Whatever style is selected, some will like it and others will not.  In an attempt to accommodate all tastes, some parishes resort to offering “themed masses” such as a “folk mass” at one time and an “organ mass” at another, with a “contemporary mass” offered in the evenings.  If you don’t like what’s on one channel, that’s ok, just choose another.

It can be enough to drive a music director batty.  So it’s a good thing that the mass is not there to entertain us.  The mass is there for the benefit of our souls, and this is gained from communion with and worship of the God who saves us.  It only follows that the music used in the liturgy likewise is not provided for entertainment value but to enrich the environment of our worship.

And this is where the traditional Gregorian chant comes in so handy.  It may not be your preferred style of easy-listening music.  You might not buy the greatest hits of the Solemes monks to listen to on your way to work.  But it’s not about that.  It’s about creating an atmosphere of reverence and worship at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  And, regardless of whether or not you know Latin (or English, or Spanish, or German, for that matter) the words and melody of the chant do just that. 

Some simply do not like chant because it is “old.”  Yes, it is very old.  And this endurance is a testimony to its particular liturgical suitability.  The old gets to be old for a reason—people held on to it for its goodness. 

Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604), who collected the various chants and arranged them in a liturgical calendar.  The tradition of chant goes back even farther than this.  Even in the pre-Christian, Jewish tradition, parts of the Scripture (most notably the psalms) were always chanted rather than spoken, for they were considered too holy to be read like normal text. 

As the centuries rolled along new chants were added, their use in the liturgical ceremony of the Church evolved, all organically, the new budding from the old that came before it.  Yes, chant is old—ancient even.  How fitting for an ancient faith.

In our modern age, however, the tendency is not to look into our own tradition for liturgical music, but to the secular world.  We are taking our inspiration from music (some of it quite beautiful, indeed) that was designed to illicit emotion or sentiment, to move us to dance, or simply to sell records!  And we are ignoring a timeless music that was designed for the specific purpose of glorifying God, and creating a “musical silence” for our worship.

Why object to Gregorian chant?  You can’t say it’s not in the “spirit of Vatican II” for that council specifically encouraged it’s use.  You can’t say it’s just “not your style” for that is not a legitimate liturgical reason.  It is merely a matter of opinion, and you are likely to have just as many of those as you have parishioners!  You can’t simply discard it because it is old and outdated, for its antiquity is testimony to its greatness and suitability for the sacred liturgy.

What other reasons are there to object to Gregorian chant?  I can’t think of any.  So why not give it a try?  Let the eternal song of Christian tradition breath new life into how you experience the mass.  It’s time to sing an old song unto the Lord.