I agree with PGA. All the specifics about Church teachings are unnecessary at this point. What matters is that the Church says X and you (and the priest) are trying to achieve X.

It would also be helpful if, in the letter, you could give a couple of the specific complaints that run counter to your vision. As it stands, the other side of the conflict is too amorphous and anonymous. As an objective reader, I would wonder why you are so up in arms about the suggestion to improve the music; on the surface it sounds like a great idea, not a complaint. You haven't really established what it is that bothers you.

I am having basicly the same problems with teachers complaining about the music at school masses (even parents), and have also used the bullet point method to explain things. Unfortunately, the counter argument is always "but church X down the street does Rise Up and Sing (or whatever else). Does that mean they're not Catholic?" My answer has been that I can only speak for our parish and that we choose to conform to the norms coming from the Vatican itself. Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods, that explanation is not even getting close to stopping the constant complaining.

"Bullet points are an excellent idea, but only if Father is holding the gun."

ROFL!!! Thanks, Noel!

I'm struck by the complaint that "the children aren't singing." When I was in Catholic School (ca. 20 years ago now), if we didn't sing, the music director didn't get in trouble. We did.

Gavin--Yes, WE got in trouble and BIG trouble, after all it was MASS and we were expected to participate. Nowadays, teachers have to get stomach aches and headaches trying to make sure we don't "intimidate the children" and are called on the carpet for everything, including choirs failing to sing. It's suddenly become our responsibility to make sure we provide that which is "fun" for the children and not teach them a darn thing about what true liturgy is all about. Masses have become entertainment on Friday mornings, rather than a time for true worship. Parents attend the masses and complain, complain and complain when the music doesn't "lift them" and "brings the children down". I've heard it all, including "the children have a rough week. On Friday mornings they should be allowed to let their hair down and bang on claves and drums". Geez, as a music educator, as well as a choir director, I thought that's what classroom activity was all about, certainly not liturgy! Am I wrong?

And far as this particular principal is concerned....obviously he/she will find anything in order to get what she wants. My principal blatantly complains at faculty meetings about the state of the music at children's masses, which, of course, only encourages other faculty to complain.

There are a great many teachers in Catholic schools that are liberal progressives. Anything that smacks of traditional orthodox conservative sacred music and musicians are in their sites as a target no matter how well you are as a musician, they'll target you as a teacher too. I know, I've been there! I was once, long ago, the target of such other teachers and their character assassinations.

And we wonder why kids grow up and stop going to Church.

I noticed that the language you quoted from the GIRM paras. 48, 74 and 87 regarding the options for the Entrance, Offertory and Communion antiphons, is from an outdated edition of the GIRM. The GIRM for the Third Edition of the Missale Romanum was translated into English and reissued in 2011. In the current translation, the word "song" never appears in those paragraphs in reference to the antiphons, only the word "chant". Jeffrey Tucker wrote a good summary of the new GIRM last year & it's posted on the Chant Cafe blog, that would be helpful to you I think -- in making the case for chant and against the substitution of hymns, based on the new language in the GIRM. So you should get yourself a copy of the current GIRM.

You seem to have a good grasp of the documents and the mind of the Church. If the principal is willing and has the time to read a lengthier explanation, that's very commendable. But my experience has been that principals are heavily scheduled, and unless they are trained in music won't want to bother getting way down in the weeds so to speak, on the subject, as you have in your letter. A few salient points might be better, and in any case it's really the pastor's battle to fight. The pastor, or whoever writes the principal's performance evaluation and signs her paycheck-- and those are operative facts, maybe not as relevant as what the Church teaches, but relevant nonetheless.

In our cluster there is a K-8 school and I have been invited to celebrate Mass there. There are issues there similar to what you describe. Probably next month I will be in the rotation as celebrant, and then we'll see how I deal with it (I am not the pastor)!

"It may get you fired"............I wish I was in a position to be able to truly do what I feel is right....unfortunately, my bill collectors wouldn't accept the fact that my feelings on sacred music is the reason I no longer have a job.

I think that the whole concept of the "school Mass" should be abolished. If the parish wishes to hold a daily Mass to which the school students attend, fine. But let it be a parish function, following the norms and customaries of a parish Mass rather than tailoring every little element to the kiddie-winkies.

Mass is not an "assembly period" for the school where the students (usually because of the influence of the ultra-lefty teachers who have an axe to grind or an agenda to advance) assert their identity by dumbing down the liturgy with parades of soccer balls, globes, baseball bats and textbooks during the offertory or dramatic readings of the Gospel, or tinkering with the calendar because the kids won't understand who St. Januarius was or why we're fixated on "bloody body parts" (direct quote from an associate pastor I had to deal with in reference to Januarius, but also with the image of the Sacred Heart).

It is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Period. So just stop with the tinkering and get on with preparing souls for eternal life, already.

It's a favorite progressive tactic to redefine and misuse words until they lose their original meaning and subliminally support some agenda.

Amen David and God bless you. I've had those thoughts for many years now. In my parish, the school mass involves the children's choir, child cantors and child lectors. In many instances (today is a good example), the "lector" had not been rehearsed and stumbled over many, many words, making the reading almost painful to listen to. I am responsible for preparing "cantors" (not my choice), and struggle constantly with the kids because they are chosen by the teachers who have no idea between the difference of those who can and cannot sing the responses. Agh!

I said progressive. One can be either liberal or conservative and use progressive means to advance an agenda.

You have got to make is MUCH simpler. They are not going to have the patience to read a long document like this. ONE page will be all they can deal with. You will defeat your purpose with a long document filled with developed logic and argument. They will not be able to get it. One page. (In my humble opinion). Make bullet points, that is how people think.