Why Catholics can't sing
Subtitle: The culture of Catholicism and the triumph of bad taste
By: Thomas Day.
Publisher: Crossroad
Published: 1990
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 183
Subjects: Catholic Church -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Catholic Church -- History -- 1965-; Catholics -- United States.; Catholics -- United States -- Social life and customs.; Catholics -- United States -- Attitudes.; Church music -- Catholic Church.; Church music -- United States.; Popular culture -- United States.; United States -- Church history -- 20th century.
First sentence: Contemplate this very odd situation - today, a large number of Roman Catholics in the United States who go to church regularly--perhaps the majority--rarely or barely sing any of the music.
Description: This book is about the culture of American Christianity and what it does to our understanding of God, self, and community as reflected in the way Christians worship.

"Day, head of the music department at Salve Regina College in Rhode Island, accurately and wittily skewers what passes for culture in American Catholicism, particularly as expressed in church music. He takes aim at the "Irish-American" repertoire of songs that comprise Catholic music in this country, and assails other less felicitous liturgical practices in vogue since Vatican II, such as applauding during Mass. "Liturgical post-modernism," according to Day, has resulted in noisy and forced participation from the laity, and encourages a church-wide narcissism that is a serious threat to individuals as well as the institution. No mere nay-sayer, Day makes positive suggestions for nurturing the latent vitality he perceives in the American Catholic community. This is an informative, insightful and entertaining critique." -- Publishers Weekly.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-177) and index.
Table of contents: title: The Opening Theme
pagenum: 1; title: The People without Music
pagenum: 6; title: The Irish Way
pagenum: 18; title: De-ritualization
pagenum: 35; title: Ego Renewal
pagenum: 50; title: The People
pagenum: 78; title: The Stick and the Carrot
pagenum: 108; title: Mr. Nice Guy
pagenum: 132; title: The End
pagenum: 162