Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Favorite what?

So, there's this parish in California - Corpus Christi Parish - that has an online survey that attempts to categorize where people fall on the political spectrum within the Catholic Church.

Of the possible choices - Traditionalist, Neo Traditionalist, Liberal, Progressive, and Alienated, I came out a Neo Traditionalist. According to their profile, I think Vatican II was ok but I wish liberals would stop pushing the envelope, John Paul is my favorite pope and "Gift of Finest Wheat" is my favorite hymn.

What can I say? They got it right as far as how I feel about Vatican II, and John Paul is at least ONE of my favorite popes - there's also Pope St. Gregory the Great and our current Holy Father, after all! I also feel much fondness for Pope St. Pius V, since his feast day is on my birthday, April 30. Pius V is a very un-PC Pope; in the 16th century, he was the Holy Father whose forces beat back the seemingly-unstoppable Muslim invaders at the Battle of Lepanto, thus saving Christian Europe. The Battle of Lepanto was also where Cervantes fought bravely and lost the use of his left arm years before he wrote Don Quixote.

He (Pius, not Cervantes!) was also in charge of implementing the reforms of the Council of Trent, much as John Paul had the job of implementing the authentic interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. (If you ever want to drive a liberal Catholic up the wall, make lots of references to the Council of Trent, as well as "the authentic Vatican II." Of course, in order to be properly annoyed, they would have to be a liberal Catholic who actually knows the history of the Church, and those are pretty rare ;)

However, they are totally wrong about "Gift of Finest Wheat." I hate "Gift of Finest Wheat." With a passion. I suppose it is better than "On Eagle's Wings" or "Here I Am, Lord," but frankly, the very most vile output from Eminem is preferable to "Here I Am, Lord." This is because rap music uses spoken words, not singing, and thus does not involve inane melodic lines. As far as hymns go, I love English hymns of the "Holy God We Praise Thy Name," type, as well as Latin hymns like Pange Lingua Gloriosi, the Salve Regina, and the Magnificat. Gregorian Chant is wonderful. I love, love going to Immaculate Conception on Sundays because the Gregorian Chant is practically professional quality and absolutely transports you beyond time. You can feel the centuries melting away. Long live the Missa de Angelis. Sometimes I wonder if it's the chant or the Tridentine rite itself that is so enchanting to people. I hope it's not impious to say that; of course, the Mass is what matters ...

You can hear browse some Gregorian chant music here.

You can take the survey (I am going to have to make a post on how stupid it is to apply political categories to the Church) here. The parish offering it is in California, so you can imagine what their most popular categories are ;)

Hat tip to LA Catholic.

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