Saturday, February 13, 2016

Disgusted during Mass


On Ash Wednesday, Rocky and I went to the St. Anthony Shrine, in Ellicott City, Maryland. The shrine is beautiful and it's always good to see friars and their ushers did an excellent job with the crowd. However, the Mass was disturbing because the cantor was out of control. Before Mass she made us all practice the opening song. I saw one young man trying to pray before Mass but the cantor kept talking, and strumming her guitar so he gave up. During Mass she banged away on the guitar and sang the Hosea song which I can't stand.  If that wasn't bad enough, later during Communion she sang a damn near blasphemous, drippy, moan and wail song that sounded like a woman talking about her lover.  It would have been perfect as a cabaret performance in a dark room but it didn't belong in a church. The whole Jesus-is-my-boyfriend genre of Protestantized hymns is revolting. I cannot imagine a man singing this crap and not only did I refuse to sing it but I felt uneasy hearing it.
On whole, the music completely overshadowed the Mass. It was a relief when Father stood up to give the homily because  there was no humming or strumming for a few minutes. After Mass as the cantor was leaving she remarked to Father that the Mass of Creation went really well with the music she chose. Think about that for a minute. Ugh!