The Church IS that old time rock and roll

This was one of the lessons given today at our Newman meeting. I'm sometimes wary of student the presentations at the Monday meetings, especially if they are going to involve sound ("oh no, she's going to subject us to something 'moving,'" one thinks), but this one was both very amusing and very true. The talk was on what's special about Catholicism and why we should take joy in belonging to the Church. To illustrate the point, the speaker used 5 pop tunes that had lyrics that could be made (perhaps "forced" is a better word) to apply to the Church -- such as Bob Segar's "Old Time Rock and Roll," from which she talked about our rich history and Tradition. It was all rather Chestertonian, although she could have gotten a little deeper into the "ours is a happy God" deal more explicitly. But really, Catholicism is amazing, it is special, it is exciting and different and joyous. How many things are still exciting after 2000 years? Not many. And it's always been the same thing, in those things that really define us, matters of faith and morals. The mass has always been the mass -- from the upper room to Tridentine to Novus Ordo, it's always been Christ's body and blood, soul and divinity. Lots of folks claim to faithfully carry on the tradition of the Apostles, but St. Tarcisius didn't die for a symbol. And he wasn't Methodist.

Aquinas might have said that "newer rites of grace prevail," but that was 800 years ago, and his "newer rites" were already 1200 years old then. So, today's music ain't got the same salt, I like that old time [Gregorian Chant].

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