Dear Lily,
I couldn’t believe it! I thought I was at mass in a Catholic church. Someone actually sang Ave Maria in sacrament meeting. I thought we weren’t supposed to use latin in sacrament meetings. I could tell that everyone was uncomfortable. The singer should have known better. What do I do?
Lapsed Catholic Mormon
Dear Lapsed,
How wonderful that some real culture has come into your sacrament meeting! You don’t want to discourage that. Still, it’s important that the standards be maintained. There’s nothing wrong with the music. We need more music of that caliber in our services. Was it Schubert or Bach?
It’s the latin lyrics that I think might have you upset. Suggest that in the future when any latin song is sung, that alternative lyrics be supplied. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir did the Schubert music to alternate words once: “Heavenly Father”. You can hear a portion of it below. I, myself, have sung this in our sacrament meeting. It was very well-received.