Liturgical pioneers bring music to Frankenmuth

Sue White
Michigan Live
Sept. 30, 2012

FRANKENMUTH, MI -- As Martin Luther King Jr. led the fight for civil rights, protesters called for an end to the war in Vietnam and students stormed the universities, the Catholic church started a revolution of its own 50 years ago with the Second Vatican Council.

And contemporary composers Michael Joncas, Marty Haugen and Bridgeport native David Haas, who will perform again in Michigan for the first time in 27 years on Friday, Oct. 5, at the Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Frankenmuth, rocked the Catholic liturgy with their controversial departure from the traditional Gregorian chants and choir-sung hymns.

“Up until then, music was directed at the people rather than inviting them to participate,” Haas said, calling from his home in Minnesota. “We’d play Peter, Paul and Mary and Simon and Garfunkel at first because we didn’t have music of our own to play yet, but everything we did invited everyone to sing along.

“The church was redefining its identity and the Catholic experience; it was an interesting time.”

The music was controversial – “Was?” Haas said, giving a short laugh – but for millions of people, the songs that came out of that period are now mainstays of the church. Joncas, who entered the priesthood, penned “On Eagle’s Wings” and Haas was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1991 for “I Shall See God.”

Haugen, raised as a Lutheran and now active in the United Church of Christ, has a vast category of music used in Protestant services as well as the Catholic liturgy. His “Mass of Creation” is the most widely sung Mass in the English-speaking world, Haas said.

The three met in Minnesota in the ‘70s, when Haas headed there to study for the priesthood. While he did not become a priest, Haas soon put his degrees in music and theology to good use. While the musicians never formed a group, they performed together throughout the world and recorded a pair of albums.

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And the controversy continues – “It’s been reignited,” Haas said, comparing it to a political debate.

“You have people on both sides very intolerant of those who don’t agree with them, and they’re all very emotional about it,” he said. “One side wants the so-called contemporary folk music and the others, who love the organ, consider that music the anti-Christ.

“The truth is that we’re all classically trained and we use that in our contemporary work. We appreciate all music.”

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