How?, Why? and Active Participation
I was lucky enough to catch the BBC Radio 3 programme, Private Passions, while driving in my car the other week. The guest was Eamon Duffy, Catholic historian and Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge. The whole programme is worthy of a listen, but at 23 minutes 42 seconds into the programme he is asked about the current state of music in the western Catholic liturgy. He begins his response with, “That’s rather a depressing question”. He singles out James MacMillan for praise and vaguely refers to (I’m guessing a very few) other Catholic composers, but otherwise he paints a very grim scene indeed. I highlight a few key things that were said below…… # “….we sing in Church the kind of music we would never dream of listening to and that we only otherwise hear at school assemblies….” # “…[there has been] a radical impoverishment and a loss of the sense of the numinous.” ...