To the editor:
I am grateful to Dr. Patrick Gorman for his recent guest column on church music. His column was learned, thoughtful, and realistic. Furthermore, he expressed himself with the love and humility that should characterize all of our communications with each other as fellow members of the Body of Christ.
About 20 years ago, my husband, son, and I attended a Sunday liturgy at an Anglican church in London, near our son’s university. We were awed by the traditional beauty of the church, the long procession of elegantly vested clerics and acolytes, and especially the exquisite, classical music of the large choir. And yet, the church was almost empty; those involved in the service far outnumbered those in the pews.
As a member of the Catholic ministry team at the Dane County Jail, I see each Thursday night at the jail chapel how some music can touch a wounded and grieving heart, and open it to the message and person of Jesus Christ.
“He who sings, prays twice,” in St. Augustine’s famous words. Shouldn’t our goal be to have everyone “praying twice” at Mass?
M. Susan Hundt-Bergan, Madison