Great Response
'Ave Maria' places first in church music poll of CNY readers
By JULIANN DeMEO
Readers sang the praises of their favorite liturgical music songs in response to a poll of Catholic New York readers announced in the Feb. 16 issue. By the cutoff date, March 7, a total of 144 readers had sent in their selections.
And the winner is..."Ave Maria," which received 52 votes.
Reader Laurence Veras, who lives in Clearwater, Fla., was one of those who chose "Ave Maria" as his number one song. He wrote that it "is not only reverential and about the core of our religion-but perhaps a triple crossover from classical to popular to church music."
The second-, third- and fourth-place finishers are all contemporary songs. "On Eagle's Wings," which came in second with 48 votes in the CNY poll, was the winner of a recent online poll conducted by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. In third and fourth place in the CNY poll were "Here I Am, Lord," 41 votes, and "Be Not Afraid," 36 votes.
Reader Marion Schneider wrote that hearing "Here I Am, Lord" "at Funeral Masses brings me peace for loved ones deceased, finally and hopefully meeting our Lord."
Rounding out the top five was the hymn "How Great Thou Art," which received 32 votes.
In all, 230 songs were nominated by readers, who sent their replies in almost equal measure by e-mail and regular mail. The admittedly unscientific poll asked for each respondent's top five liturgical music songs; the responses were not weighted according to order.
John Woods, editor in chief of Catholic New York, said that he was "very pleased that our readers responded so enthusiastically" to the poll.
"It was something that created a lot of enthusiasm in the office each day as we watched the results come in," he said. "It shows that people are reading the paper and responding to what they see. They have definite opinions about the church music that they like."
Parishioners and priests alike all wrote in with their favorite liturgical songs. Choir members and directors as well as music ministers and directors of music also shared their preferences.
One music minister, Pat Bartkus, wrote, "In the end, our job as music ministers is not just to provide well-prepared, well-performed music that reflects the day's readings, but to encourage congregational participation so everyone goes away from Mass with the Spirit in their souls."
That seemed to be a common theme. People chose songs that consistently moved their spirits-for reasons that varied from rejoicing in the song at weddings, first Communions and graduations, to finding comfort in the songs at funeral liturgies.
Some reader responses and their choices stood out as unique, as is the case with one reader who wrote in, "I love the 'Salve Regina' because when I converted to the Church, after my first confession the priest told me to say the 'Hail, Holy Queen' every day for a week as penance. I learned the prayer in Latin and English, and every time I step into an empty church I sing it in Latin just to hear how beautiful it sounds."
St. Augustine said, "He who sings prays twice." The responses CNY received from readers show that they, too, believe that there is a close relationship between singing and praying. Gwen Peters from Manhattan wrote to say that her top five songs "truly touch my soul."
The other songs in the top ten are: "Prayer of St. Francis," 30 votes; "Panis Angelicus" and "Holy God We Praise Thy Name," each with 28 votes; "Amazing Grace," 23 votes; "Let There Be Peace on Earth," 17 votes and "You Are Mine," 15 votes.
Some readers also responded enthusiastically with more than five songs. Betty Knudsen of Yonkers wrote that there are "so many, many more inspiring, beautiful and powerful verses of our faith too numerous to list here."