I hate the guitar Mass.
I’ve spent a great deal of my adolescence blaming the modernization of the Church and ultimately Vatican II for putting me through Mass after Mass of three-chord Agnus Dei chants and Christian rock processionals by a white T-shirt-wearing cantor strumming an acoustic guitar while a beautiful organ built into the church went unused.
However, I am a bit of an elitist (read: opinionated jerk) when it comes to both music and religion. My views are not shared by a significant number of my peers, so my thoughts on the way Mass should be celebrated are certainly unique, but oft disregarded.
Growing up, I went to church in New York. I grew up hearing a beautiful organ accompanying a selection of music ranging from traditional hymns to gospel music. While I did not grow up with the Latin Mass, my views of the Catholic Church were certainly more gothic and ethnically diverse than when I moved to Virginia in my adolescence. The absence of kneelers, wooden pews, chanting priests and the alarming presence of Christian rock put me into spiritual shock. So, I tried to force it.
I’ve taught Sunday school in Virginia, I’ve gone on mission trips, I’ve volunteered independently of my church at the local citizen center, I’ve sung in choirs and just for kicks, I joined a political Catholic organization and wrote to my local congressman on appropriate issues. I enjoyed much of the work I’ve done, but I always felt uncomfortable in Mass and it only got worse as I got older. The problem was I just wasn’t comfortable in the pew. Most Masses were unfulfilling for me to attend.
I thought about it once and thought that it had to have been Vatican II. I thought Latin Mass would be the answer to my problem. Why wouldn’t it be? There wouldn’t be any Christian rock at a Latin Mass (hopefully), and everything would feel just a little more “Catholic.” The problem with my solution was I had never attended a Latin Mass before. Though in my childhood I had a priest who still chanted the prayer over the gifts in Latin, I was far removed from enjoying the Latin Mass.
There wasn’t any problem I had with Vatican II. In fact, I agreed with the steps Vatican II took to integrate the Mass with the community over a standardized Mass. Mass now is a celebration of community unachievable when the Latin Mass was being enforced from the top instead of a Mass structure being suggested by the laity celebrating the Mass. It truly is a beautiful thing to see the manifestation of Mass arise uniquely at different churches within different ethnic communities while still being the same Mass no matter where you are.
In the end, my own discomfort grows from the poor musical taste of my community, or rather, the disparity between the Church of my childhood and that of my adolescence. Always remember that when you are choosing the church you go to, you are choosing the community, so choose wisely.
John Valdespino is a music industry senior. He can be reached at
