Just a minor point: while I am certainly all in favour of tradition and reverence, I must point out (based on the musical experiences I've had at every parish I've ever attended Mass at!) that it is possible to have a guitar playing the lead melody and still maintain a sense of reverence and holiness.

There seems to be an undercurrent of arrogance at work in your post which I do not think is fitting, nor wholly necessary.

Maybe a bit of arrogance. Which probably is distracting from the point that I was trying to make.

That is that there are way too many attempts at 'Protestantizing' of the Mass to make it 'entertaining'.

It was late and I was tired, but hey, thanks for helping me clarify my point.

I too would tend to disagree with the "Protestantizing" of the Mass, but I think that criticisms along this line fall too heavily on an innocent instrument. The use of guitar in music may be a symptom of the movement away from orthodoxy, but it is not a cause of it.

And my own experience has been that a faithful and orthodox Catholic Mass can be celebrated even when the lead instrumentalist is playing a guitar.

The opposite is also true: there are "Catholic" parishes in Canada that retain a very traditional music style, but which have largely given over to secularism (see Quebec for an example).

The milage of other persons reading this may, I confess, vary greatly. I wonder how much of the variance is a function of what side of the Canada/U.S. border one is on?

At any rate, glad it helped!

"The use of guitar in music may be a symptom of the movement away from orthodoxy, but it is not a cause of it.

And my own experience has been that a faithful and orthodox Catholic Mass can be celebrated even when the lead instrumentalist is playing a guitar."

What you suggest denies the truth of "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi", the law of prayer is the law of belief. It means that how we pray affects how we believe. Happy clappy music does not engender the worshipful reverence due to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the unbloody re-presentation of Christ's passion on Calvary.

The guitar does not have the musical qualities suitable for "sacred" music as continuously taught by the Catholic Church. Even the very reverent pipe organ was barely approved at the council of Trent.

Matt,

So what musical instrument can be used besides the organ? I personally do not like the organ. Never have, never will. Is the piano okay?

Anna B.