With superb new liturgical settings created for the Roman Missal Third Edition, why are some churches continuing to use atrocious theatrical melodies for the Confiteor, the Kyrie, the Gloria, and the Sanctus, and why do we continue to sing inappropriate hymns?
Two Sundays past it was "Lord of the Dance" (1963), a "hymn" with lyrics by British poet Sydney Carter set to the music of the 1848 Shaker hymn, "Simple Gifts," by Elder Joseph Brackett. For all I know, some Catholic congregations may actually dance liturgically to the song, although probably not with elegant Shaker spinning, a more languid version of Dervish whirling - the one meant to shake out sin, the other to be an eddy of ecstasy.
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