There was truly sacred music at the Mass in New York today.  I was watching it on Fox (switching back and forth with EWTN but mostly Fox, because my grandparents were here and they love Fox)and Shepard Smith commented that it was unlike anything he'd ever experienced to hear such music floating out over the Bronx.  I can imagine!  It's hard to really grasp just how amazing this was, to have Palestrina, Victoria and a chanted Credo, etc. at a mega-huge Mass in a baseball stadium. (In fact I'll paste the whole music list below, it's impressive.) 

Entrance of concelebrants:
Symphony No. 9 in D minor Ludwig van Beethoven
I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
II. Molto vivace

Entrance of the Holy Father:
Hymnus Pontificius Charles Gounod, arr. Alberico Vitalini
Dixit from Vesperae Solennes de Confessore Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Music for Mass:
Jesus is Risen/ Cristo Jesus Resucita arr. John Rutter
Tu es Petrus  Dom Lorenzo Perosi
Kyrie from Litany of the Saints, adapt. Richard Proulx
Gloria from Missa O Magnum Mysterium – Tomás Luis da Victoria
Psalm  Dr. Jennifer Pascual
Alleluia (VICTORY) arr. Wm. Glenn Osborne

Credo III

Trilingual Intercessions Michael Hay, orch. Wm. Glenn Osborne
How Lovely is thy Dwelling Place Johannes Brahms
Sanctus from German Mass Franz Schubert, adapt. Richard Proulx
Christ Has Died/ Amen - Franz Schubert, adapt. Richard Proulx
Agnus Dei from Missa O Magnum Mysterium Tomás Luis da Victoria
Panis Angelicus Cesár Franck, Marcello Giordani, Tenor, Metropolitan Opera
Sicut Cervus Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Let Us Break Bread Together arr. Carl MaultsBy
This is the Feast Richard Hillert, arr. Richard Kidd
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee/ Jubilosos te Adoramos from Hymn to Joy Fantasy Bruce Saylor
Symphony No. 9 in D minor Ludwig van Beethoven

As you look at the list above, you may notice... one of these things is not like the others. What sticks out like a sore thumb is "Let Us Break Bread Together."  I guess it's one of those songs that is beyond the words for people, it just evokes this emotion, and everyone blissfully sings along.  The same thing happens with "Were You There" on Good Friday.  Or the politically correct first-person-voiced "I Am the Bread of Life."  The affection people have for the tunes goes beyond objections.  Really that was not so bad an infraction, if you want to call it that, in light of the overall line-up (bad pun given the setting).  As others have pointed out (in comments on NLM) to have polyphony, chanted propers, and other dignified sacred music at a 27,000 person (papal) Mass is something new for the U.S.

Hopefully this will set new precedents.  At least, it will inspire sacred musicians of good will who seek to do what the Church intends.  When Raymond and Fr. Neuhause and Carl Anderson were talking about what changes we should expect from the Pope's visit, they concluded it's up to people who heard the Holy Father, what they do with the experience.  Same for those who got a taste of a solemn liturgical experience.  You can't wait for someone else to do something about sacred music.  Individuals in their parishes who feel the burning desire in their heart to do away with mediocre or even really bad music in their Sunday Mass have to take the initiative to make a change.  What might that action be?  Here are some suggestions:

1) Attend the CMAA colloquium.  You will undergo an intense learning experience through total immersion. 

2) Attend Gregorian chant workshops in your area. Promote them.  Or host a workshop in your area.  (We are planning a 2nd Gregorian Chant workshop at my parish Oct 17-19, 2008, more details soon!)

3) Listen to good sacred music.  My world changed the day I got a subscription to Rhapsody and started listening to recordings by the Cambridge Singers, Brabant Ensemble and Chanticleer among others.

4) Form a strategy for implimentation in your parish.  Get allies.  Work with your pastor, music director, organist etc.  There was a great article regarding this by Jeffrey Tucker and Arlene Oost-Zinner.  The Blueprint: Sacred Music in Your Parish.

5) Pray and sing.  Sing to pray.  Sing Gregorian chant for your prayers.  Pray for charity and patience.  Pray for fortitude and persistence. 

6) Be ready to give a reason for... sacred music's place in the liturgy!  Apologetics meets the choir loft.  Believe in yourself, because what you are working for is the dignity of the highest form of worship we humans can give to our God.  You are endeavoring to treat the Mass with the honor and splendor it deserves for the praise and glory of God.  Keep that in mind and don't despair if it doesn't all go just the way you think it should.  The Spirit moves in mysterious ways.

Getting off the soap box now.  Back to what I started out to say, the music for the papal Mass today was splendid and much more worthy than the one in Washington D.C.  It was a study in contrasts.  And really, I can see why some of the publishing houses might be worried.  If the kind of music heard today catches on, they could be in real trouble: much of this was in the public domain.

God bless Pope Benedict as he returns to Rome.  It was sure nice having him here.