If you’ve heard (or sung) the contemporary hymn “Sing a New Church,” have you ever stopped to wonder precisely what “new” church the author meant? And why we need a new church, as we still have such a long way to go in order to fully realize the church Christ gave us? Father Paul Scalia’s article “Ritus Narcissus,” from the Adoremus Bulletin, addresses the topic and a lot more. He writes

[the hymn], a triumphalist paean to diversity by Delores Dufner, OSB, also fosters the Cult of Us: Let us bring the gifts that differ And, in splendid, varied ways, Sing a new Church into being, One in faith and love and praise

You’re not going to find the “Cult of Us” in music whose text is the propers of the Mass. And if I’m not mistaken, Sister Delores is the same person who recently opined in Pastoral Music magazine that musical settings of the psalms didn’t seem “relevant” to people today. If Scripture no longer seems relevant, the problem is with us, and the solution is not dumbing down the Mass but purifying our tastes and desires. —————- Now playing: Tallis Scholars – Miserere via FoxyTunes