African-American
Catholic music: An impassioned voice for Christ
By Bob Steiner
CS&T Editorial Assistant
The command of Psalm 33:3 is simple and direct: Sing to Him a new song;
play skillfully with a shout of joy!
In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, for those who know where to listen,
there is a unique music, burning with the spiritual fire of the Catholic
faith and giving voice to the meaning of that psalm. It is the liturgial
music of African-American Catholics.
“It’s vibrant. It is alive,” says Darin Williams, Director
of Religious Education at St. Raymond of Peñafort Parish. “It
proclaims the Scripture [and] it’s our way of giving God total praise
and adoration in our own, ethnic style.”
Williams, who has directed the Mass Choir for the archdiocesan Mass in
honor of St. Martin de Porres held every November, said African-American
liturgical music is a form of music that “talks directly to the
senses, and allows the listener to be absorbed into the spirit of God
… bringing about the good news of the Lord in a style of music that
is uplifting and spiritualistic.”
To experience an African-American liturgy is to see the coming-together
of a congregation, a community, and a people, who draw on their common
history through song as a means of bringing themselves ever closer to
God in Eucharistic celebration.
African-Americans make up just over three percent of the Catholics in
the United States, yet their contributions to the Mass through music can
hardly be overlooked given the emotional depth of their songs —
a depth that cannot be fully measured outside the context of their ancestors’
horrific past.
“You have to go all the way back to the slavery days, when the spirituals
were born out of bondage, grief, pain,” said Rita Stewart-Bostic,
choir director at St. Ignatius of Loyola and Our Mother of Sorrows Parishes.
“In an African-American church, we’re very expressive through
our singing — our singing is our ministry.”
The expressiveness of that ministry manifests itself in the songs African-American
Catholics sing today — songs, Williams says, that strive for an
intimacy with the Lord.
“It is all about a feeling from within you that connects you with
God,” he said. “The African-American experience is …
interpersonal. It’s [about] a oneness, or a walk with God …
saying how proud we are that we are black, and we are Catholic.
“It is also a way of telling a story — of passing down our
traditions from generation to generation — because our music is
our story and always has been our story,” he said.
That story, of a suffering people yearning for freedom, is also a story
of that same people giving praise to the God who comforted them in their
sorrow, and who would save them not only from sin, as He did all of humanity,
but from the shackles of slavery.
Their story, and the traditions that are derived from it, are present
every time an African-American Catholic community gathers for worship.
The Church has welcomed the incorporation of such traditions into the
liturgy. As part of the Second Vatican Council in 1963, Pope Paul VI said,
in Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy): “Even
in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in
matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community;
rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various
races and peoples.
“Anything in these peoples’ way of life … she studies
with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact,” the pope said.
“Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself.”
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As pastor of St. Raymond, Msgr. John F. O’Brien sees that dynamic
unfold at every Mass.
African-American music, he says, “brings about a feeling —
and not just an intellectual appreciation — of why someone is in
church.” The music, he said, “is a major component in walking
out [of church] knowing that our Lord ... [is] walking side by side”
with the parishioners.
Msgr. O’Brien, who is white, has served African-American Catholics
as a priest for nearly 40 years. From his perspective at the altar celebrating
the Mass, the beauty of the songs being sung are as pleasing to the soul
as they are to the ears.
“The choirs pray as well as sing,” he said. “We have
three choirs [at St. Raymond]. Their purpose — and it’s a
very conscious thing — [is] that they are praying while they’re
singing, so that it blends completely in with the celebrant.”
Such “blending in” is important because, as Pope Pius X said
in Tra Le Sollecitudini (Instruction on Sacred Music), the purpose of
liturgical music “is to add greater efficacy to the text [of the
Mass] in order that, through it, the faithful may be the more easily moved
to devotion and better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace
belonging to the celebration of the most holy mysteries.”
Williams describes how that happens from the African-American perspective.
“The gathering hymn is just that — a gathering, in which we
try to make sure that everybody has a full, conscious and active participation
within the liturgy in which we will come in … singing praises to
God, because we realize that it is Christ, Himself, who is leading us
in this perfect worship,” he said.
“The psalm is always sung,” he added. “It may be sung
in different rhythms — we may add an Afro-centric feel to the psalm
— but yet it is the psalm of the day.
“In praising God with the Alleluia, we thank God that he has brought
us this far in our journey to Him … [A]s a people, as a race, we’re
still here,” Williams said.
Yes, still here — and still thanking God through music.
There is no one set musical form for praise in an African-American liturgy.
Traditional hymns may often be heard resonating through African-American
Catholic churches, along with the old spirituals and more modern compositions.
Leafing through “Lead Me, Guide Me: The African-American Catholic
Hymnal,” an individual finds a wide array of musical styles.
After all, as Stewart-Bostic explained matter-of-factly: “It doesn’t
matter what you sing — it’s how you sing it.”
African-American liturgical music is not only one of many diverse ways
to worship within the Church, but it is an example of diversity, in-and-of
itself.
“It’s not only just gospel music,”Williams said. “We
praise within the realm of all music. We adore the Latin [hymns] as much
as we love the gospel. It shows a real sense of universality, and everyone
being able to bring their gifts to the table.”
But, whatever the song being sung, and in whatever style, the feel is
uniquely African-American.
So for any newcomers who might wonder what to expect, Msgr. O’Brien
has some advice:“Come with an open mind. Your emotions are going
to be touched. Your emotions are going to be affected by the praise.”
And that experience demonstrates how truly universal the Catholic faith
is, Williams added.
“We have an awesome Church,” he said. “I can look at
someone who’s Polish, and their tradition [and] look at someone
who’s Italian, and their tradition … [and] realize the beauty
of everyone’s tradition.
“That’s what makes us so universal, so unique, and so holistic
at the same time,” Williams said, “And the African-American
component to that is a really valid one.”
To that, all people can raise their voices, in a joyful Amen.
Bob Steiner is the CS&T’s Editorial and Sports Assistant. E-mail
him at rsteiner@adphila.org or call 215-587-3698.
Concert of sacred music
African American Music: Past, Present, Glorious
Featuring the Clayton White Singers, under the direction of Dr. Clayton
White.
Sunday, April 2, at 4 p.m. at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, Fairhill
Avenue and Easton Road, Glenside.
Free will offering.
For more information, contact the Office for Black Catholics, Archdiocese
of Philadelphia, (215) 587-3634.
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