African American Sacred Music in Catholic Worship
By Kevin P. Johnson D.M.A.
(Article: Page 1 of 8)
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 Since Vatican II, African American sacred music and in particular, gospel music,
has transformed the way many black Catholics and other Catholic believers worship God
in the Holy Mass and in their everyday lives. This music has been at the core of
African American survival in America and has for more than fifty years allowed
African Americans and others to worship God in a manner befitting their cultural
practices in the Holy Mass. Vatican II documents state very clearly that “
…. There are people who have their own musical tradition, and this plays a
great part in their religion and social life. For this reason their music should be
held in proper esteem and a suitable place be given to it, not only in forming their
religious sense but also in adapting worship to their native genius,…”
African Americans have indeed adapted worship to their native genius in
the American Catholic Church.
 The African American Catholic worship experience has become the catalyst for
dynamic church growth and a primary tool for evangelization. In the 1984 Pastoral Letter
from the African American Bishops of the United States, "What We Have Seen and Heard,
" they wrote, "We believe that the liturgy of the Catholic Church can be an
even more intense expression of the spiritual vitality of those who are of African origin,
just as it has been for other ethnic and cultural groups. There is a splendid opportunity
for the vast richness of African American culture to be expressed in our liturgy. It is
this opportunity, thanks to the norms established in the revised Roman liturgy, which
enables our work of evangelization to be filled with such promise for the future."
The Importance of Quality Liturgical Music
The future for African American parishes is indeed inseparably connected to
the worship experience. Pastors willing to give pastoral vision, leadership and
commitment to liturgy are necessary in churches where authentic, culturally based
African American worship is desired. With pastoral commitment to developing meaningful
liturgies, communities can be strengthened and new members evangelized. For most
African Americans, bringing a potential church member to Mass can be likened to
bringing someone home for dinner to meet the family. Therefore, worship must be
expressed in a manner befitting the cultural norms of the worshipping community
or family.
Due to the low number of African American vocations in the Catholic Church
today, white priests often pastor black parishes. In many cases, these men are
not familiar or comfortable with a culturally based African American style of
worship that may challenge their own ideas about the celebration of the Holy Mass.
While many pastors strive to understand the needs of African American worship,
many still endeavor to impose Euro American worship styles on black congregations.
Twenty-first century liturgical reform efforts, such as the revised General Instruction
of the Roman Missal have given these same pastors more reasons to impose a Euro
centered model of worship on black churches. Pastors must take care to impose current
liturgical reforms in a manner conducive to the cultural expression of worshipping
communities as mandated by Vatican II. African American culturally based worship models
are forward looking, progressive, creative and universal in nature and will never fit
into a pre Vatican II mold. African American worship is expressive, vibrant and depends
largely on the music of its culture to express itself in spirit and in truth. Catholic
documents fully indicate the Church's commitment to liturgy.
Its Instruction on Music in the Liturgy mandates that, Liturgical worship is
given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree
fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it. Indeed, through this form,
prayer is expressed in a more attractive way, the mystery of the liturgy, with its hierarchical
and community nature, is more openly shown, the unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved
by the union of voices, minds are more easily raised to heavenly things by the beauty of the
sacred rites, and the whole celebration more clearly prefigures that heavenly liturgy which
is enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem. Pastors of souls will therefore do all they can to
achieve this form of celebration.
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