What type of music do you prefer at Mass?

October 19, 1997 - St. Peter's Basilica main altar after the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II declaring St. Thérèse of Lisieux a Doctor of the Church.


- A Poll on Catholic Radio in North Texas

Below are the results of an unscientific poll being taken on Catholic radio (http://www.grnonline.com) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (Catholic Dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth). These results, although not large in number, because many, it seems don't log on to the KATH radio's website or they don't have an opinion about liturgical music.

What type of music do you prefer at Mass?
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Type of Music Votes Percentage
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Gregorian Chant 40 30.5%
Classical 24 18.3%
Pipe Organ 23 17.6%
Contemporary 21 16.0%
Guitar/ Folk 13 9.9%
No Music 6 4.6%
Other 4 3.1%
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Number of Voters : 131
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First Vote : Monday, 08 March 2010 19:41
Last Vote : Monday, 15 March 2010 00:05
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My opinion and preferences are not far out of line with what is here. I would prefer the age-old option of Gregorian Chant as my first choice. It is the music of the ages and what I hope will be how we will praise God for all eternity!
If I had to make choices and rank them, they would be... in order:
1. Gregorian Chant
2. Pipe Organ
4. Classical
5. No music

After these noted above, none of the others are even worthy of consideration because they do not involve the use of true liturgical instruments and the music itself often borders on, if are not outright irreverent. This inappropriate music would be better left for campfire singing - if that. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict, uses the term "profane" to describe music inappropriate for liturgical use. It was noted by the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus at Pope Benedict's celebration of the Mass at National's Stadium in Washington, DC that music choices were, "unfortunate." I believe he was right. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf also notes on his blog WDTPRS with regard to this... "It is almost as if the organizers of this Mass had never read a single thing of what Joseph Ratzinger has written about sacred music and liturgy."

I believe that we have waited too long for truly beautiful liturgical music to return to our parishes and to the celebration of the Mass. Catholics everywhere are hungry for truly good music, not watered-down junk. Liturgical music should be bigger that we are and be glorious and uplifting. Watch this almost one hour movie on truly beautiful liturgical music from Musica Sacra. It is new. It nearly brings tears to my eyes as it is something that I, and most of us simply don't have and may very well never have. I pray we will someday. We should have it and God certainly deserves our best - and this is what is our best!


Sacred, Beautiful, Universal: The Full Movie
- listen to the part of the movie, especially from 3:50 to about 4:50, the music is simply breathtaking! THIS is what we can have, we just need to want it and ask for it.

SACRED, BEAUTIFUL, & UNIVERSAL: Colloquium XIX from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.