Sacred Music and Saint Joseph's Cathedral

In the August 1, 2010, Catholic Times publication, an article appeared under the heading “A quick note from: Office of Liturgy”. The article titled: The Cathedral Church, The Center of Our Diocesan Liturgical Life, astutely identified the cathedral as the site of the bishop’s throne…for Columbus, that of Bishop Frederick Campbell. The article went on to talk about the importance of the sacred music and how it is an intrinsic part of the liturgy, which I certainly agree with and support from the perspective of worshiping God. A further explanation is offered regarding the necessity of preserving the sacred music and the requirement to have “well-trained” musicians. This is the point where I begin to differ with the article and find that the presentation of the music in the liturgy becomes heresy.

Saint Joseph’s Cathedral hires non-Catholic musicians for its choir. If music in such an important part of the liturgy and part of the believer’s worship intended to honor and glorify God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, how can having musicians that may not or do not share our beliefs be permitted to be members of the choir? It is not my intention to judge anyone, but paying non-believing musicians to perform sacred music merely for producing the quality of music the choir director deems appropriate, rather than for the true purpose of the glorification of God our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior, is truly heresy. There is no more perfect music presented for the Lord’s ears to hear than that offered by true believers lifting up their voices for His glory and honor.

The last paragraph of the article states, “It is in places like the Cathedral that we receive the divine anointing of which Isaiah speaks.” The paragraph ends with, “Without good liturgy, the source and summit of our lives (which of necessity includes great music and great music making), this committed proclamation of the gospel of love and service will simply not take place” is misleading, nay, a heresy itself. Music is not intended to uplift the believer, but to honor, praise and glorify God…and even our greatest efforts, no matter how hard we might try, fall well short of perfection. Finally, spreading the message of salvation and the sacrifice of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ really has nothing to do with singing, for if it did, most believers would fail miserably at spreading the word.

And finally, I would like to offer two thoughts: 1) might it be possible that some of the non-Catholic, non-believing participants hired as musicians for the Saint Joseph’s Cathedral Choir are supports and promoters of abortion and other blasphemies that dishonor our God, our Lord Jesus and our faith? Maybe, a cursory glance at the bumper stickers on their cars will give you your answer; and 2) is our Lord Jesus Christ not the most important part of the liturgy and if so, why has Saint Joseph’s Cathedral relegated Him to a little nook off of and away from the Sanctuary, where the paint is peeling?