Latin chant or folk guitar: What should Catholics sing at Mass?

Jesuitical

America Media

Spirituality, Christianity, News, News Commentary, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 949 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Zac speak with Kate Williams, the vice president of sacred music at GIA Publications, publisher of the “Gather” and “Worship” hymnals. Ashley, Zac and Kate discuss: - Why Catholics don’t sing at Mass - How the role of music in liturgy changed post-Vatican II - Why the slightest changes in language make all the difference when it comes to hymns In a brief “Signs of the Times,” Ashley points to America’s coverage of Pope Leo’s first major document, “Dilexi Te,” and calls for audience comments and questions. Links for further reading: Latin chant or folk music at Mass? A debate on what makes liturgy ‘reverent’ The new Gather hymnal is just good enough — and that’s perfect What makes for good liturgical music? St. Thomas Aquinas has 3 criteria for what works at Mass. Pope Leo in first major document: Love for the poor is not optional for Christians Read “Dilexi Te” You can follow us on X and on Instagram @jesuiticalshow. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/jesuitical. Please consider supporting Jesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at americamagazine.org/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you looking for a place to be alone with God in the beauty of his creation?
0:04.4	Come to Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, a place of peace and prayer to help you grow in your spiritual life.
0:11.9	Visit manrasa-sj.org for more information.
0:16.6	That's M-A-R-E-S-J.org.
0:23.3	Hello and welcome to Jesj, a podcast from America Media for saints and sinners.
0:40.1	You can join us each week for honest conversations about the Catholic Church and our world today,
0:44.9	sometimes over drinks.
0:46.4	I'm Ashley McKinless, and I'm not joined at the moment by Zach Davis,
0:50.0	but he's going to join me later for a really fun conversation with Kate Williams.
0:53.9	She's the vice president of Sacred Music at GIA Publications. but he's going to join me later for a really fun conversation with Kate Williams.
0:58.2	She's the vice president of sacred music at GIA Publications.
1:01.1	And you've probably never heard of GIA publications,
1:04.2	but you've probably sang out of their most famous books,
1:06.9	the worship hymnal and the gather hymnal.
1:08.1	Those are both from GIA,
1:12.0	and they have some of your favorite church classics.
1:27.3	So with Kate, we're going to talk about the role of music in the liturgy, especially how it's evolved since the Second Vatican Council when we went from a lot of Gregorian chant, more modern musics, think masses with guitars that sound like they're from the 70s. And of course, because we're Catholics,
1:29.3	this is not at all uncontroversial. Like everything that has to do with the liturgy, there is a battle
1:35.4	over what is the appropriate type of music to have at mass. So we ask Kate about all that and more.
1:42.1	But before we get to that, we don't have signs of the times this week,
1:45.2	but I did want to alert you to Pope Leo's first major document that came out this Thursday.
1:51.4	So at the time you're listening to it, you know more about it than I do right now.
	...

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