[Question:]{.underline} Is it permissible to attend a concert where music is performed in a Catholic church?
[Answer:]{.underline} The answer to this question is immediately obvious to the Catholic who understands why a church is blessed or consecrated: “By the term church is understood a sacred structure devoted to divine worship for the principal purpose of being used by all the faithful for public divine worship” (Canon 1161 of the 1917 Code). This is precisely what Our Lord meant when he declared “My house shall be called the house of prayer (Mt 21:13)”. It is sacred, and must consequently be separated from all secular use, as from personal profit or advantage, under pain of becoming “a den of thieves”. The consequence of this is drawn in the Canon 1178 of the 1917 Code, which states that: “Business and trafficking, and in general whatever is out of harmony with the holiness of the place, should be excluded”. Canon 1220,§1 of the 1983 code says the same.
The question is, then, whether the performance of music in a church, which is not for the liturgy, takes away from its sacredness. The answer is given by Canon 1264, §1of the 1917 Code, which simply reproduces a decision of the Council of Trent, but which is, alas, not maintained in the 1983 Code. “Music, whether instrumental, from the organ or other instruments, or vocal, in which there is any tinge of the lascivious or impure, must be entirely excluded from churches”.
In order to understand this, a clear distinction has to be made between the different kinds of music. There is first of all sacred music, which is that used in the Sacred Liturgy, and which is primarily Gregorian Chant, but also on occasion Polyphonic music in the tradition of such composers as Palaestrina. Secondly, there is religious music, which is not composed or performed for the liturgy, but which has as its purpose to elevate the soul to the contemplation of divine truths. Finally, there is secular music, that has no rapport with religion at all.
Clearly, the performance of sacred music is possible within Catholic churches, even outside the liturgy. An instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of September 3, 1958 also indicated that it is permissible to perform religious music in churches outside the liturgy, under certain conditions:
“Religious music…that seeks to express and stir up pious and religious emotions…is to be greatly esteemed and opportunely promoted, because of its obvious benefits to religion. Religious music cannot be used in liturgical or other sacred functions, since it belongs properly to the music hall or theater, and not to the church dedicated to divine worship. Where no auditorium or hall is available, a concert of religious music may be given in a church, if such a concert can be expected to benefit the faithful spiritually.” (Quoted in Matters Liturgical, p. 49). Such religious music would include the singing of hymns, or the great Masses, and Oratorios of the Baroque period.
Clearly, this presumes that precautions are taken to avoid disrespect, such as the removal of the Blessed Sacrament, and the forbidding of applause. However, rarely will it be the case that a concert is of purely religious music, with such a spiritual objective in mind, and more rarely yet is it the case that no suitable auditorium is available.
Moreover, it is clearly not permitted to perform or attend a concert of secular music in a Catholic church, for secular music is appeals primarily to the senses. This would include all music written in the style from the romantic period down to the present time, and all popular and modern music, such as folk music or spirituals. To use a blessed or consecrated church as a concert hall for such music, without regard for its sacredness, would certainly be to steal the honor and glory owed to Almighty God. This is, alas, what is currently happening, and Catholics must refuse to perform at such concerts or attend them. It is no justification to say that Novus Ordo churches are desecrated by secular music in the liturgy itself, as if one person’s desecration of a church would justify another to do likewise. Clearly these prohibitions do not apply to protestant churches, which are in no way sacred, provided that in attending a concert there one does not, at the same time, partake in any religious ceremony (cf. Canon 1258 of the 1917 Code).
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.