Michelle Weighart

MU 274
Dr. Seybert
11-16-14

Songs of Seton Hill:

The Role of Music in Catholicism at Seton Hill University

As someone with little experience with Catholicism suddenly thrown

into the world of the Catholic Church during my time here at Seton Hill, I
thought it would be interesting to do my research on music in our campus
ministry at the university. My purpose was to learn about the role of religious
music in the practices and lives of Catholic members of Campus Ministry. I
conducted my research in three parts: history, observation, and interview. I
began by finding historical information on music in the Church and on
Campus Ministry at Seton Hill.
Music in Catholicism first began before the early church, with the
Psalms of the Old Testament that the Church inherited as the book of prayer
and hymns. Eventually, the Gregorian chant was created and became the
official singing style for the Church. Since then, the Church has evolved to
include polyphony and hymns as we know them today, but traditionally the
Mass was done entirely in Gregorian chant, and parts of it are still done that
way in many churches (Olmsted, 2012). After Vatican II, the Mass was
translated into the vernacular, which made the faith more accessible. As a
result, all of the hymns had to be translated into English, and a large number
of new hymns were written (Myers, 2014). Meanwhile, Mother Aloysia Lowe,
the Mother Superior of the Pennsylvania Sisters of Charity, founded Seton Hill
University in 1882. It started as Saint Joseph Academy for Girls in 1883, and
became Seton Hill Junior College in 1914 before receiving their charter to
officially become Seton Hill College in 1918 (Seton Hill University). Even
though the school was founded by the Sisters of Charity and was home to
many sisters, Campus Ministry did not come into creation until some time
during the 1970s, after Vatican II. The number of sisters and priests on
campus had decreased, and Vatican II had begun encouraging the
involvement of the laity. The head of campus ministry, Sister Maureen
OBrien (affectionately known as Sister Mo), told me that the creation of
campus ministry was to involve students in the general community. Through
helping each other in the ministry, students develop leadership skills and an
adult faith. Sister Mo told me that the reason campus ministry strives to
support the faith of college students is that our relationship with God should
grow as we grow (O'Brien, 2014). Having obtained this information about
music and ministry, I went forward to my observations and interviews.
I felt that a good place to start was attending Mass. My first
observation experience focused on the structure of Mass, since at this point I
had only attended a Mass three times in my whole life. As we walked in,
some quiet organ music played, setting the tone. I flipped through the Missal
as I waited for the service to start. I found that the hymnal categorized the
songs into many specific types for different parts of the Mass and holy days.
As I went through the songs, I saw that they were similar to hymnals I had
seen in more conservative protestant churches, with relatively easy to read
music in verse/chorus style. In addition, I was surprised to find the lyrics in
both English and Spanish, especially at a school with a small Hispanic
population. Going through the hymns, I noticed that nearly all of them were
written after the 1970s, which seemed like a strange coincidence at first. I
then remembered my research and realized that of course they would mostly
be recent, because Vatican II had everything translated into the vernacular
not that long ago. As a result, a much larger number of hymns were written
after that time. There were ten songs in total during the service, and I made
a few major observations. First of all, there was music playing during the
vast majority of the service. There was music between every major speaking
part, and there were quite a few songs that seemed to be regulars. The
instrumental accompaniment alternated between piano and organ with the
occasional violin thrown in, with the vocals alternating between cantor- led or
choir-led. The whole style of cantor-led music is completely new to me and
was quite interesting. The concept of only certain people singing entire
chunks of a song while everyone just listens is strange to me.
For the second Mass, I focused much more on the musical elements
and how they related to the Missal. I noticed that there were songs listed in
the Missal for that specific day, but none of them were actually used in the
service. A big thing I saw was that several of the spoken parts of Mass had a
singing option listed in the Missal. The Gloria and all the call and response
parts had written music, but instead of singing, we just said them normally
for some reason. This Mass only used piano, which means that organ is not
required all the time as far as instrumentation restrictions. Much of the music
during the service was fairly upbeat or at least had a cheerful tone, which
was something I had not expected. Two Mass under my belt and a page of
questions in hand, I began my interviews.
At a later opportunity, I spoke to one of the regular choir members and
a Catholic underclassman about everything I saw and had questions about.
Starting with my general questions, I asked how music is picked at Mass and
why certain parts are sung versus spoken. Marisa, the choir member, told
me that the music is picked to reflect that specific Mass. She said that as
long as the piece fits with the days message, it is fair game. So essentially,
the music director has some level of choice when it comes to the music each
week. I had noticed that there were spoken and singing parts written in the
Missal, and asked Marisa why this was. Apparently, these parts are usually
sung, but it really depends on the priest. On special occasions like
Christmas, the Mass is almost always sung.
Moving on to the deeper questions, I started by asking why there is
such a musical presence at Mass. I had noticed that there was music
between pretty much every speaking part. It turned out that the answer was
very simple, and related back to my earlier research. I had known that
Gregorian chants were an important part of Mass from its inception, but
according to Maddie, the Catholic underclassman, the whole Mass used to be
done in chant before Vatican II. Through the evolution of Mass, the element
of constant musicality has remained. I then moved to ask how both girls felt
music enhances their experience at Mass and their spirituality. Marisa said
there is a popular saying: singing is praying twice. It feels like you are
more than just saying the words, and helps you to feel more connected to
God, Marisa explained. Maddie said that singing makes the words more
relatable, and spiritually helps you go a step further than just reading the
words. She went on to explain that singing to God feels the same as sitting
in silence with God, but on different levels. When you sing, you are really
praying through another persons words and song, while silence is the
opportunity to do the same thing but with your own words. I thought that
was incredibly powerful, that the connection between faith and song is so
profound that it becomes more than just music.
I also had the opportunity to attend a Night Prayer meeting, which
meets every Tuesday night. This is a new practice here at Seton Hill, so it
was cool to see students making history as I work on this project. In
addition, the students who created night prayer are my close friends, which
made the interview process simpler. I had originally thought that night
prayer had nothing to do with music, but I was quickly corrected and
discovered that music is a huge element in the practice. There were lots of
call and response elements similar to the cantor-led music at Mass, as well
as a section of back and forth readings that reminded me of polyvocal music
from my own church experiences.
After the short prayer, I had the chance to discuss what I saw with the
lead members of the group. For some background context, Stephen told me
that the practice of liturgy of the hours started in the early church. There are
various names for the practice, including Prayer of the early church and
Liturgy of the hours. The specific prayer they did is called Compline,
which is the prayer done in the evening. Originally prayed by just the clergy,
who would do each part of the prayer eight times a day at various intervals.
After Vatican II switched the Church to the vernacular during the 1960s, the
prayer became more popular for laity. While our group does the prayer in a
regular spoken way, they told me that traditionally the whole prayer is a
Gregorian chant. Our small group is not experienced enough in that style, so
they stick to the basic spoken word. I asked how they picked the hymn for
the middle of the prayer, since I came early and saw them choose one right
before they started. Everyone has a small book that gives the instructions
for the prayer, so I figured it came form there, but I was only half right.
Kasey explained that the book gave hymns to use for each day, however the
hymn in the book only included the lyrics, not the music. So instead, the
group decided to just pick songs they liked from the hymnal. I noticed that
there were no instruments used during the hymn, even though they had
easy access to them. According to Bridget, it is traditional for no
accompaniment, although some gatherings will have some piano just for
note references. Since our group is musically inclined, they really do not
need the note reference. She mentioned that the lack of instrumentation
allows them to focus more on the lyrics of the hymn without the regular
distraction of music. I then noted that while they sung the hymn in English,
they sung the Salve Regina at the end of the prayer in Latin. When I asked
why, they informed me that Vatican II was once again the indirect reason for
this. Vatican II made a large effort to get rid of Latin altogether to become
more popular with the people, but among the traditionalists, it had an
opposite effect. Since then, there has been a large resurgence in the use of
Latin due to the more traditional members of the Church. The group
stressed to me that tradition is a huge part of the Church. Even if the
change to vernacular was to make their practices more accessible, the
people wanted to remain close to their roots. In regards to our the Seton Hill
group, they were all used to doing the Salve Regina in English, so they felt
they grasped the spiritual meaning of the words well enough to perform the
piece in Latin. I asked for some final thoughts or words about their prayer in
relation to music, Bridget responded with "prayer is the music of the soul".
The last piece of my field experience was Thursday night contemporary
worship. This environment was familiar to me from my own home church,
so I focused more on the interviews I wanted to do. Since contemporary
music is very untraditional in the Church, I wanted to ask about how all this
fit in with what I observed at Mass and night prayer. Sister Mo gave me
some background on worship night, which was started about six years ago.
It was not very well attended when it started, in fact, this is the first year that
there has been a consistent core of students who come every week. She
said that it was created as a way for Catholics and non-Catholics to come
together to share our common bond to praise God. For my questions, I
was once again able to speak with Marisa and Maddie. Marisa is one of the
lead members of the contemporary worship singing team, and Maddie
regularly attends the gatherings. In regards to how contemporary worship
fits in with the Church, Marisa and Maddie explained that they think as long
as the song reflects their beliefs and the message the music is "pretty
awesome". Since I mentioned that Kasey from night prayer does not enjoy
contemporary music, they said that it is just a preference just like any other
type of music. Both girls said that they prefer the poetic style of
contemporary music better, especially for formal gatherings such as worship
night. When both girls said they enjoyed the contemporary music, I
immediately wondered how the music affects their spirituality in comparison
to the music at Mass. Marisa said the key is context. Music at Mass and the
Mass in general is much more structured and reflective, so she feels the
same way during that time. Meanwhile, contemporary music relates better
to daily life, so it is much better at feeding her faith on a day-to-day basis.
Maddie agreed with the importance of context, saying that she prefers one or
the other depending on what she is trying to accomplish. When she has no
specific words of her own for daily prayer or when she just wants to listen to
something casually, contemporary music is great. However, she finds it
distracting when used during more serious circumstances. Once in a while,
the contemporary worship team provides the music for Mass, and during this
time Maddie says that it causes her to lose focus. Im trying to talk to God
here! she explained. The music at Mass tends to be less overpowering and
enthusiastic, so it is easier to concentrate on the important things at Mass.
Using this response to segue into my next question, I asked how she felt
about hymns being sung in contemporary styles. She shrugged and said
that it depends on the context. When the style is used at Mass, it really is a
stylistic preference, but it feels a bit out of place. Contemporary music feels
a more celebratory type of worship, while the music at Mass is meant to be
more reverent for contemplation of the sacrifice. Mixing the two worlds does
not always work well.
All of my research ended up being much more of a learning experience
than I thought, and I am glad that I am able to expand my worldview. My
limited perspective made me think that Catholicism is a boring, uninteresting
practice, when in fact it has a rich history and traditions rooted in fascinating
musical practices. While the actual practices of Mass still baffle me, the
layout and musicality are much more clear now. Ive learned through all of
this that while hundreds of years of history and difference in beliefs separate
my Christian culture from that of my Catholic friends, the one thing that
binds our faith together is music. Music binds everyone together across
world cultures, why would the culture of religion be any different? The only
downside to this experience was that now all of my friends are trying to
convert me to Catholicism, an offer which I have now had to deny several
times. While I now appreciate and understand the beautiful nature that is
Mass, I do not think I will be converting any time soon.

Bibliography

Barhart, S. (2014, November 4). Night Prayer. (M. Weighart, Interviewer)

Corona, M. (2014, November 14). Music at Mass and Contemporary Worship

in the Chuch. (M. Weighart, Interviewer)

Malley, B. (2014, November 4). Night Prayer. (M. Weighart, Interviewer)

Myers, K. (2014, November 4). Night Prayer. (M. Weighart, Interviewer)

O'Brien, S. M. (2014, November 14). History of Campus Ministry. (M.

Weighart, Interviewer)

Olmsted. (2012, January 19). Singing the Mass, Part Two: A Short History of

Liturgical Music. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from The Catholic Sun:

<http://www.catholicsun.org/2012/01/19/singing-the-mass-part-two-a-short-

history-of-liturgical-music/>.

Robbins, M. (2014, November 14). Music at Mass and Contemporary Worship

in the Chuch. (M. Weighart, Interviewer)

Seton Hill University. (n.d.). History and Traditions. Retrieved November 16,

2014, from Seton Hill University:

www.setonhill.edu/aboutus/history_and_traditions