(天主教聖樂的)一些問題

在現代社會中，音樂教育並非優先選項，這也影響了神父培育，固然可惜。神學院過去雖然是音樂製作的重地，但已今非昔比。現今的神父很多時沒有受過良好的音樂教育。

聖職主義(Clericalism)意味著神父濫用權力。我們會看到這樣的情況出現：他們部分人明顯缺乏對這門學科的知識，卻試圖在禮儀中強加錯誤的曲目。聖職主義的現象在梵蒂岡所在的意大利此等國家一定比較強，但這情況在其他地方也不是沒有發生。聖職主義也受到人本主義(anthropocentrism)的影響，也就是以人而非神作為本位的觀念。

因此，人們常覺得有權在禮儀中表演他們「喜歡」的音樂。不過，此等音樂與世俗事物緊密相連，確實不適合用於禮儀本身。而由於此等音樂的支持者往往缺乏音樂教育，他們很容易墮入商業音樂的陷阱，那是完全不配教會音樂應有的尊嚴。這種不配的關鍵因素之一，也是最危險的一個因素，就是使用惟情主義(sentimentalism)，通篇以低級情感來引人注意。它為商業音樂是一種上佳策略，特別是那些針對社會低下階層的音樂。這是傳達信息的一種廉價方式；在沒有教育和批判意識的情況下，往往很奏效。這一切都成了可能，因為社會存在著對音樂專業的強烈反對和對業餘主義的推動。

在過去，教會為自己選擇最好的音樂家：作曲家、歌手、管風琴師、樂器演奏家等。故此，她也是我們的音樂文化之母；所謂的「西方音樂」因著教會的禮儀，在教會內誕生。現在，這種非常強大的文化（和福傳）力量被摧毀了，因為禮儀的音樂交了給那些可能懷有善意和好心卻沒有能力擔任樂師的人。我們之前討論的所有流弊，源於對傳統的根本拒絕，這種態度認為過去的一切與今天的生活無關。無論什麼「新事物」都總被認為比舊事物為好。當然，這是對過去和對傳統的一種非常錯誤的觀念，但現在依然普遍。

龐保頤 （Aurelio Porfiri）:我要永遠歌頌上主 - 天主教聖樂簡史 (張小蘭、蔡菁怡 譯) pp. 201-202

Issues (about Catholic Sacred Music)

Unfortunately, in our modern societies music education is not a priority, and this also has affected the education of priests. While in the past seminaries were also places where music making was of the greatest importance, now this is not so. Priests today are often not very well musically educated. Clericalism means the abuse of power by the priests, and we can see this at work when trying to impose incorrect musical repertoires on the liturgy because of their evident lack of knowledge of this discipline. The phenomenon of clericalism is certainly stronger in countries like Italy, where the Vatican is located,, but it is not absent elsewhere. Clericalism is also affected by anthropocentrism, the idea that man, and not God, is at the center.

In this way, in the liturey, peopleoften feel authorized to perform music that they "like," but that is indeed not well adapted for the liturgy itself because of its strong connection with worldly things. Because music education is often lacking in the proponents of this kind of music, they fall very easily into the traps of commercial music, completely unworthy of the dignity that should belong to music for the Church. One of the key elements of this unworthiness, and one of the most dangerous, is the use of sentimentalism, the attempt to get people's attention throughout the use of a low-level emotionality. That indeed is one of the best strategies used in commercial music, especially in the music addressed to society's lower class. It is a very cheap way to communicate a message, but in the absence of education and critical sense, it is very effective. All of this has become possible because of the strong opposition to professionalism in music and a promotion of amateurism.

In the past the Church chose the best musicians for herself: composers, singers, organists, instrumentalists and so on. For this reason she was also the mother of our musical culture, the so-called "Western music" that was born, as we have seen previously, within the Church, thanks to the liturgy of the Church. Now this very powerful cultural (and evangelizing) power has been destroyed because the music in the liturgy has been given into the hands of people, who perhaps have good will and good intentions but not the capacity to act as music ministers. All the abuses we considered eariler come from the fundamental rejection of tradition, an attitude that sees everything in the past as no longer relevant for life today. "New things," whatever they are, are considered always better than the things of the past. Of course this is a very incorrect idea about the past, about tradition, but is very well and alive still in our days.

Aurelio Porfiri: Forever I Will Sing - A Short History of Catholic Sacred Music, August 2019
pp.222-223