The Recovering Choir Director

Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism, reflects on his first encounter with Gregorian chant when he was a student at Bob Jones University (my emphases in bold):

I was suddenly transported both back in time to a more mystical, monastic and medieval age. It was easy to feel romantic about it all, and in time I learned much more about the Benedictine life and the practicalities of it all. However, it is the Benedictine chant which really captivated me and made me see that here was something different, something more transcendent and strange and ancient about Christian worship than I had ever encountered before.

Benedict XVI encourages us to renew our practice of Gregorian chant in the Catholic Church. There are many reasons for this, but one of the reasons is that it is so distinctively Catholic. When I say Catholic, I mean Gregorian chant not only “sounds Catholic” but it is the one type of sacred music which really is distinctively Catholic. All the other sacred music we use is pretty much second hand. It may be fine music, but we have got it from the secular stage, from popular culture, from Protestant traditions or from the street.

Because Gregorian Chant “sounds Catholic” it makes our worship distinctive, and we mustn’t underestimate the impact this music has on those who visit our churches and want to learn more about the Catholic faith. Just today I received an email from one of our catechumens at St Mary’s, “Father,” he wrote, “we want to know more about the Agnus Dei which we sing in Latin at Mass. My wife and are are rarely moved emotionally about religion, but when we sing this both of us are in tears for the beauty of it.”

The impact of Gregorian chant on me at the Benedictine monastery so long ago had a similar impact. Here was ancient Christianity. Here was something far more beautiful and mysterious and wonderful and strange than I had ever encountered before. I was drawn to it and when I became a Catholic it was at another Benedictine monastery with other black-robed monks singing in their same calm and ethereal and beautiful tones.

I recall St. Augustine’s famous words from his Confessions:

How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, … and tears streamed down my face—tears that did me good.

And Pope Benedict’s clarion call to church musicians and the faithful:

An authentic renewal of sacred music can only happen in the wake of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.

Let us endeavor to be more aware of the role of this music and its proper place in the liturgy and the world.