Saturday, July 9, 2016

Why I Will Never Again Sing Anything By David Haas

I was alerted to his problems by Eponymous Flower and Tantumblogo.  The latter had a picture of a facebook entry so I decided to look at Haas' facebook page myself.  Sure enough, it's full of gay-enabling and climate-change shilling crap.  See:
Given his obvious sympathies for gay perverted sexuality, may we believe that he's the same David Haas who at one time was on the Board of Directors for the Long Island Gay Men's Chorus?

Perhaps some choir directors don't know these details about Haas, although he makes no secret of them on the facebook page.  Perhaps they should do some "due-diligence" work on song authors before they use their pieces and lend credibility to their dissidence and heresies.

22 comments:

  1. There are many reasons not to use the dribble that spews forth from the pen of David Haas. Among serious church musicians, he is considered one of the many composers who have dumbed-down sacred music ad nauseum -- and diminished the power of the Liturgy by 'offering' music that resembles badly written show tunes at best and silly-soppy ads for the church of "feel-good" at worst. There is no debate about this among serious, classically-trained church musicians. He is an inferior composer who routinely changes the text of sacred scripture to fit his own sentimental agenda. As a church musician who has studied the liturgy and rubrics for the last twenty years or so - (as the Director of Sacred Music for a DC institution) I have never found his music to be worthy of the Sacred liturgy. Sadly, most Catholics, know little or nothing about the 'Great Treasury of Sacred Music' to which they are the rightful heirs and are rarely, if ever, exposed to high quality sacred music and Gregorian Chant that is truly transcendent (i.e. Palestrina, Tallis, Durufle, Holst, Byrd). Even sadder is that there are MANY modern composers whose music is exponentially superior to the droppings of David Hass - but are not well known and struggle to earn a living diligently composing breathtaking music for the liturgy that are unknown or obscure. One such composer is Kevin Allen. (You can listen to some of his music here: http://www.ccwatershed.org/motecta/)

    If you want a short primer on the liturgical rubrics and standards to which sacred music for the liturgy should be held, check out this post - '24 Questions on Sacred Music' by Musica Sacra/The Church Music Association of America. (http://musicasacra.com/about-cmaa/faq/)

    David Hass' music and the music of the "St. Lewis Jesuits" cannot pass muster in regard to the principle of "bonitate formarum" or “excellence of forms.” In my opinion, using his music for the liturgy is like feeding pig slop to the angels. The damage to the liturgy by such 'music' is inestimable.

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    1. Wow. Wow. Wow.
      God gifted David Haas with a beautiful talent. Did it make you feel better to spew such hate.
      Are you a good Christian man? God judges, not us.

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    2. Ladies and gentlemen, let's unpack CC's screed, shall we? Notice how he/she accused us of "spewing such hate" and then, in the very next sentence, admonishes us that "God judges not us"? CC, are you really so oblivious to your obvious contradiction, or are you just a run-of-thhe-mill progressive hypocrite? More importantly, are you too a gay advocate? I hope not for if that's true, you place your own soul in grave danger of hell fire. Please, for your own sake, cease and desist and go to Confession.

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    3. There was no hate in that comment. Your lack of charitable comment is noted. That's all. You seem to me to be one who would have kicked Mary Magdalane out. " My ways are not your ways" says the Lord. Thank God, I guess. You don't like the man's music. Why not just leave it at that? How insecure do narrow of mind are you? Do you think your hurtful words will ever change the minds of those who love and admire and - yes - find God in his work. You use "Restore" but Pope Francis made it plain as sin in his writing this week that there will be no turning back, and that the contemporary vernacular direction of universal Catholic liturgy that sprang from the Spirit in Vatican II is - his words, not mine - "irreversible" and now part of the majesterium. Learn to live with that. (And PS, I'm a 48 year happily married man with kids and grandkids. So don't try to lump my views as "from those!"). The Spirit lives in me - and you.

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    4. So are you also stating that Pope Benedict's Summoram Pontificum is irreversable? The "man's music" stems from his dissidence. Deal with it.

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    5. I am stating that your perceived holier than thou attitude is not that of Christ or of the vast majority of people in the church that recognize that David’s music, regardless of your diatribes is spiritual and inspired by the Spirit. Christ didn’t reject leorts, or prostitutes. By what right do you claim authority to disparage gays. You don’t care for his music? Fine. Choose to leave it at that and drop the sanctimony. Restore is arrogantly unChristain in a Soddy attempt to be Catholic.

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    6. "By what right do I disparage gays"? Would you object to my post if Haas was a neo-nazi or child-molester? I somehow suspect not. Haas flaunts his support of mortal sin - and you sound like you're right in there with him. If you are a supporter of the "gay lifestyle" you are placing your soul in danger of damnation. Christ doesn't reject sinners who are repentant; those who flaunt their sins reject Him.

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    7. As a professional composer and devout Catholic with a doctorate in music and a deep concern with the liturgy, I will categorically support everything that Restore-DC has written. I can't see what it hateful about it. In fact, by my estimation, it may even be too gentle. Haas, his music, and the kind of "catholicism" it has inspired needs to be chased mercifully out of the sanctuary with a whip of cords. There is further nothing "sanctimonious" or "holier than thou" about wanting actual Catholic music in a Catholic liturgy. It is simply the *way things should be*. And yes, we're annoyed with Haas-ism and catholic-light culture, to the point of having no charity left for them.

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  2. Among other things, David Haas is a dissident Catholic with ties to Call to Action. For a critical look at how "Call to Action" originated, watch EWTN's new movie "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". Also, read this blog by Stephanie Block to get a flavor of what David Haas has been involved in:

    http://www.speroforum.com/a/18285/Which-religion-is-promoted-at-Catholic-congress#.V_FwX-UrLRY

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  3. I hate to break it to you, but every song writer that has ever existed has been a sinner... Romans 3:23

    God bless

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    1. My post isn't dealing with all song writers in general - just those writing songs for worship of God. Are they sinners? Certainly - we all are. But those of us who are serious about following Jesus will repent of our sins and amend our lives. Mr Haas flaunts his sins quite publicly. Any priest or music director that knowingly allows his music in church is affirming him in his mortal sin.

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    2. I make no comment on any specific person, mentioned or not in the original post, but it is important to differentiate between those who sin, (all of us,) and those who publicly and proudly embrace and encourage sin, denying that a sin is.... well, SINFUL.
      (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

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    3. True. Jesus aid that "he who be with out .... cast the first stone." He was without sin and He didn't even attempt to throw one Himself.
      David Haas may be, whatever, but so are countless classically-trained church musicians! We refer to it as "The Organist's Curse."

      I happen to like all types of music, although I prefer the serious pre-Vatican Two church styles.

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    4. There is a vast difference between "casting the first stone" versus turning a blind eye to the very public dissidence of those in mortal sin and utilizing their works in worship. If these other "countless" church musicians are flaunting their dissidence as is Haas, their works should not be used. Somehow I don't think you'd be disagreeing with me if Haas proclaimed himself to be a neo-nazi.

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    5. They can be sinners. They just best not be open dissidents, and actually strive to write something *decent* for the liturgy. At this point, I'll take decent. "Decent" if far better than most everything we have gotten since the St. Louis Jesuits began to peddle their aesthetic filth.

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  4. My concern is with a particular song of his called Coming Together for Wine and for Bread. I had to cantor it today and, before mass, tried to argue in favor of making a clarifying statement to the congregants but that idea got nixed by the director. She feels that, because the W and B are capitalized, and the song ends with "Jesus, the Wine and the Bread," there's no ambiguity. I strongly disagree. Most at our parish don't even look at the books during the Communion song, so they are hearing us sing, "Coming together for wine and for bread." See the problem?! Do any of you know what Haas's beliefs are re. the Eucharist?

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  5. I am concerned about a particular song of his, Coming Together for Wine and for Bread. He's capitalized the W and B in the lyrics, but it's still, in my opinion, very ambiguous. Most of our parishioners don't use their hymnals during Communion, so they're hearing us sing, "Coming together for wine and for bread." See the problem?! Unfortunately, our music director doesn't. She thinks it's clear because of the last line, "Jesus, the Wine and the Bread." Of course, again, people can't HEAR capitals, can they? Do any of you know Haas's beliefs about the Eucharist?

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  6. I just scanned pretty far into his Facebook page (a couple years of posts) and didn't see anything heretical. Lots of icons, prayers, and updates on his musical activities. While he does seem to be a kind of 70's social liberal, none of the things he's passionate about are wrong. If he really does support the gay lifestyle and/or gay "marriage," there's no evidence of it in his current posts.

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    1. My post links to a number of them. Go to the third link in particular.

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  7. Quite Judgmental. I'm not sure what Gospel you adhere to, but my Savior hates the sin and not the sinner. I believe our Church says that all are welcome here, not just those with a spotless past.

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    1. Obviously Haas loves the mortal sin of sodomy. Do you? All are welcome as they come repentant of their sins for they do not determine the terms of their welcome; that is set forth in God's immutable laws. If that is not the "gospel" to which you adhere, you are worshipping a false idol.

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  8. I've noticed quite a few people throw out the "don't judge" comment, doing so quite errantly I may add. God only commanded us not to judge (condemn) one another, but He gave us direct examples do judge one another's actions. What do you think Jesus was doing each and every time He said, "Go and sin no more."? He judged the person's ACTIONS as SINFUL and then told the person not to do them anymore. David Haas' actions, like all of ours, should be judged. And, like the apostles did, when a follower of Christ is misleading others, we are to warn all Christian communities of this person and they are not to be followed or allowed in. It is also the reason we should NOT allow those who claim to be Catholic and are pro-gay rights, pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia to partake in the Eucharist. A bishop or priest doing so is saying that God didn't mean what He said in the Bible regarding these things. Mr. Haas clearly, in his posts, chastises bishops and priests for denying fake Catholics the Eucharist (first link above), thus he clearly demonstrates his own false Catholic beliefs.

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