Rules on Music Used for Mass

The many laws and rules governing the use of sacred music at Mass can be found in various Church documents such as Sacrosanctum Concilium, Musicam Sacram, and Tra Le Sollecitudini. As to whether the music should be strictly traditional or traditional with some contemporary music added in, it may be either, provided the contemporary compositions “have the qualities proper to genuine sacred music” (SC 121).

John Paul II on contemporary compositions:

Contemporary compositions often use a diversity of musical forms that have a certain dignity of their own. To the extent that they are helpful to the prayer of the Church they can prove a precious enrichment. Care must be taken, however, to ensure that instruments are suitable for sacred use, that they are fitting for the dignity of the Church and can accompany the singing of the faithful and serve to edify them (Tra Le Sollecitudini 14)

Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger:

On the one hand, there is pop music . . . aimed at the phenomenon of the masses . . . (it is) industrially produced and ultimately has to be described as a cult of the banal. “Rock,” on the other hand, is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship, in fact in opposition to Christian worship (The Spirit of the Liturgy, 148).

The following are some general principles in Church documents regarding the use of sacred music at Mass:

1. Sacred music is for the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful (SC 26).
2. Sacred music should consequently possess, in the highest degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy, and in particular sanctity and goodness of form (Tra Le Sollecitudini 2).
3. It must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself but in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it (Ibid.).
4. The introduction into the celebration of anything that is merely secular, or which is hardly compatible with divine worship, under the guise of solemnity should be carefully avoided (MS 43).
5. Instruments that are generally associated and used only with worldly music are to be absolutely barred from liturgical services and religious devotions (MS 63).
6. Gregorian chant should be given pride of place in liturgical services (SC 116).
7. There must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them, and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing (SC23).