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Why I Set Out to Understand Catholic Hymnody
After decades singing at St. Mary’s Parish in Akron, Ohio I found myself asking a question I had somehow never needed to ask before: What makes a hymn truly Catholic? That question became the spark for two projects I never expected to write.
The first, What Is a Catholic Hymn?, is a short pastoral guide — available as a downloadable PDF — that helps parish musicians recognize the doctrinal, liturgical, and devotional qualities that give Catholic hymnody its identity.
The second, The Parish Hymnody Study, also offered as a PDF, grew from a year‑long analysis of every hymn sung at St. Mary’s. What emerged was a portrait of a parish shaped by Marian devotion, Eucharistic love, and a treasury of older hymns that quietly formed generations of faith.
When I began sharing this work, musicians asked whether the story behind it could be shared more widely. This brief reflection is my answer. If you’ve ever wondered what gives Catholic hymnody its distinctive voice, I invite you to explore these two documents and carry the tradition forward in your own parish.
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Catholic Hymnody
Thank you for your exploration of the characteristics of Catholic hymnody. Traditional liturgical music is an integral part of this website.
Your statement "every parish has a musical memory" holds true for many parishes, except those that go through a transformation via a pastoral change, a change in liturgy committee consensus, and/or a change of demographics among the parish members. Loss of musical memory happened in the parish I grew up in.
One can also say that "every individual has a musical memory". I cherish the old Latin and traditional English hymns I sang in grade school and high school.
Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com
Honoring the Musical Traditions We Remember
Thank you for your thoughtful reflection. Your insight about parish musical memory is so important. Many communities carry their musical identity forward across generations, but others do experience a real rupture — through pastoral changes, shifts in liturgy committees, or demographic transitions. When that happens, something precious can be lost, and your own experience gives voice to that reality.
I also appreciated what you said about individual musical memory. Those Latin hymns and the traditional English repertoire you learned in school are part of a shared Catholic inheritance, and it’s moving to hear how those pieces have stayed with you. In many ways, the personal memory each of us carries becomes the thread that keeps the tradition alive, even when parish practice changes around us.
This post is actually part of a larger project I’m unfolding. Two additional pieces — Understanding Chant, Antiphons, and Hymns and When Our Hymns Faced God — will be coming soon. Together they explore how the Church’s own musical structure, parish experience, and personal memory all interact.
Thank you again for engaging so deeply with the topic and for the work this site does to preserve and celebrate our Catholic musical heritage.
www.howefamily.com