Hello Gregorian Chant! Pope Benedict XVI is bringing back the tradition of Gregorian chant at the Vatican in a long-standing dispute regarding new and differing styles of music during the Mass.
Pope John Paul the Great favored the new styles of music (probably more than Blessed Pope John XXIII did), and encouraged their participation frequently.
This probably doesn’t mean much to non-Catholics, but given the almost tacit giveaway in the United States between a more traditional parish and a more liberated parish based upon it’s musical tastes, and you can see why this might be an issue… though such a motivation isn’t even close to the point as to why Pope Benedict XVI instituted the reform.
We are moving into an era of liturgical revolution. Benedict detests the feeble “folk Masses” that have remained the staple fare of Catholic worship long after they went out of musical fashion.
He wants the Church to rediscover the treasure of its heritage – and that includes Gregorian chant as well as the pre-1970 Latin Mass that can now be celebrated without the permission of bishops.
The old guard of trendy choir directors and composers (many of whom have signed lucrative contracts with dioceses) will fight his reforms every inch of the way, egged on by philistine bishops.
But younger church musicians, like young priests, are conservative in their tastes.
Culture is the point, and rediscovering that culture in the Latin Rite is the very root of these reforms.
Besides, folk Masses are so… old and stale and vapid and… arrgh! It puts me to sleep, not to mention the kids!
I can only imagine what today’s music would have inspired if the so-called liturgical revolution of the 1960’s happened today….