I’d rather… just… [music] …sing!*

Karen Hall went to Mass this past Sunday at the parish of the infamous “singing priest of Orlando”.

He sang the Eucharistic Canon. No, not chanted it. He sang it. Think Rodgers and Hammerstein.

As a gang leader said on “Third Watch”, in an episode not written by me, “Y’all feel me when I say this:”... He sings it exactly like it’s from a Broadway musical. I don’t know who wrote the arrangement, but I’d bet a lot of money that whoever it is, he or she is a big fan of Rogers & Hammerstein. Chris said he kept waiting for the altar girl to chime in. I was waiting for the big finish, wherein the chorus of liturgical dancers would come rising up on a hydraulic lift from behind the orchestra pit. At first it was shocking, then maddening, then it became comical. By the time he sang “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith,” it was all I could do not to answer by breaking into “Those damn Yankees, why can’t we beat them?”

Okay, now I’m really, really curious what it sounded like. Which Eucharistic Prayer did he use? Tell me it was No. 1 and watch the RadTrad heads explode at the contradiction.

Reminds me of a story where a friend went to Mass in Pittsburgh. The sanctuary had an honest-to-goodness stage curtain separating it from the congregation. At the beginning of Mass, there was no procession, the curtain parted, a spotlight shone, and Father was already at the altar. Behind him was a large projection screen on which scenes were projected during the Mass, related to the various parts, i.e. the Last Supper during the Canon.

At the end of Mass, the curtain closed and my friend leaned over to his wife and said, “I guess the show’s over, honey.”

*To understand the reference see this link.