Steubenville hymnal
Todd’s blog pointed me to a new hymnal from Franciscan University at Steubenville.
Anyone seen this thing? I have a knee-jerk reaction to Jim Cowan’s stuff, much of which seems to have about 10 words and half as many chords.
posted by Cantor @ 10:21 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Steubenville illustrates that a lot of the convenient catagories we use don't always fit.
The FUS folks are very solid on theology, and as far as I know, they try to be faithful on liturgy . . .
Yet they aren't super-traditional -- they go in bigtime for "praise and worship" music . . .
Yet they aren't big liberals . . .
It might be that the categorization doesn't fit the truth. My sense is that "praise and worship" music is more of a conservative trend, not a liberal one.
Steubenville folks strike me as "enthusiasts," at least in the theological sense. They've included some chant and more traditional hymns because it's the "right thing" to do. But praise choruses strike me as something that fits with the Franciscan sensibility: affective, emotional, personal with God.
It would be interesting if FUS ever installed a sacred music department in a big way and what that might do to the state of liturgy on campus.
Gotta be careful about P&W. Nothing wrong with Lord I Lift Your Name. But a lot of songs lack Christological focus, and some make praise dependent on human effort.
Where I see a problem with Steubenville is that their approach to liturgy - many different styles for many different tastes - refuses the call to form people.
It is Church teaching that all Catholics are to learn their parts of the Mass in Latin, but if I go only to a P&W Mass, I lose that. Steubenville is not teaching that part of the faith; instead, they teach that “Latin is there if you want it”. Faith is not about tastes, which ultimately are a petty human phenomenon.
To orient the liturgy around tastes by offering many different styles concurrently is to teach people to think, “not as God wants, but as I prefer”. Variety is ok, but let’s have every Mass the same, with the style changing each weekend.
This all being said, I love the gutsy, no-crap approach to Church teaching that seems to emanate from Steubenville.
I'm not a big fan of the Steubenville music oeuvre, and I say that as one who spent four years there. Todd is correct to describe the prevailing mood for liturgies there as "enthusiam". One can, however, only take so much enthusiasm before longing for something with a bit more backbone.
Most students who didn't care for the charismatic style of worship eventually ended up going, not to the quiet 6am campus masses, but to the church in town.
It still grates on me when the choir at my church now decides to sing a Steubenville hymn after Mass. More sincerity doesn't make up for less quality.
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