Diocese bans All Are Welcome, other hymns from Catholic Masses

Nov 08, 2024

By Jonah McKeown
The Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, will implement a formal ban on the singing of certain contemporary hymns at Mass because of doctrinal inaccuracies in their lyrics as well as a blanket ban on music by three Catholic composers who have been accused of misconduct.

Jefferson City appears to be the first US diocese to formally align its music practices with guidelines issued by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2020, which laid out a list of problematic hymns, faulting many of them for falling short in their presentation of the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist.

In a decree dated October 24, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight listed a dozen commonly used but “doctrinally problematic” Catholic songs that will be “absolutely forbidden” in the diocese after November 1.

Most of the hymns were written in the 1980s or 1990s, with the oldest dating to the 1960s.

The list includes such songs as All Are Welcome by Marty Haugen; God Has Chosen Me by Bernadette Farrell; Led By the Spirit by Bob Hurd; and Table of Plenty by Dan Schutte.

The decree also forbids the use of any music composed by David Haas, Cesaréo Gabarain, and Ed Conlin due to credible accusations of abuse against them.

Haas’ music, in particular, has already been dropped by a number of publishers and banned in his longtime Archdiocese of Los Angeles since sexual harassment allegations against him surfaced in 2020. Gabarain, a deceased Spanish priest, has been accused of sexual abuse of minors.

According to the Catholic Missourian, McKnight issued the decree following a “thorough process of study and review” by the Diocesan Liturgical Commission as well as consultation with the diocesan Presbyteral Council, made up of priests who are ministering throughout the diocese. McKnight said his goal is to encourage “full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy” through a common musical repertoire.

Fr Daniel Merz, pastor of two Columbia, Missouri, parishes and chairman of the diocesan liturgical commission, told the Catholic Missourian that some hymns tend to overemphasise certain aspects of the Eucharist, such as its communal and social dimensions, while neglecting other crucial elements like the sacrifice, Real Presence, and need for personal conversion.

Merz underscored the importance of sacred music that elevates and inspires, calling people to a deeper relationship with God and a higher moral standard of living.

“[This decree] is all about providing good direction and guidance. We want to foster good music for our liturgies because we recognise that music is such an important part of how we worship God and pass along the faith,” Merz said.

A set of 2020 guidelines from the US bishops, Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church, lays out criteria for evaluating whether hymns sung at Mass are accurately conveying the truths that Catholics believe.

Emphasising the formative power of music and its influence on Catholics’ understanding and practice of the faith, the document warns that hymns with inaccurate or incomplete theology can lead to a distorted understanding of key doctrines. The document notes that “over the years, concerns have been raised regarding the lyrics of hymns and songs used in the liturgy that may be misleading or lacking in substance.”

It gives examples of hymns that convey Catholic belief accurately as well as ones that convey it inaccurately. For example, hymns that imply that the Eucharist is merely bread and wine, rather than the true body and blood of Jesus, have no place in a Catholic Mass, the bishops said.

On this point, instead of hymns like Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees and All Are Welcome, the document recommends hymns such as Ave Verum Corpus and I Am the Bread of Life.

The document also emphasised the importance of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, criticising hymns that seemed to show a “reluctance to use the word ‘Father.’” --CNA