You might have trouble getting "Ave Maria" sung during Mass in some Catholic churches nowadays, particularly the Schubert and Bach/Gounod versions. Somebody got the cockamamie idea that music is supposed to be an integral part of worship that enhances and supports the meaning of the worship service. They have the gall to think that "Danny Boy" and these versions of "Ave Maria" just don't fit into worship - although they're often happy to do these pieces before or after the service. Positions like this have had a significantly negative effect on the well-being and popularity of church musicians, but I tend to think they may be right.

I do have to say I'm surprised an ELCA Lutheran would refuse to play an "Ave Maria." One of the more conservative synods like Missouri or Wisconsin might be offended but not ELCA. We just started to share a church owned by an ELCA congregation, and they asked us to feel free to put up Stations of the Cross.

I think I'd talk with the organist in a nonconfrontational way and find out what's behind the decision not to do the hymn - it may be a concern about offending some of the old-school Lutheran residents of the nursing home.

As a church musician, I find people are always second-guessing us and suspecting us of evil motives. They can't seem to believe that we may know what we're doing, and may have valid reasons for doing things the way we do. People seem to think that at a wedding or a funeral, the clergy and musicians are there to serve the whims of the people getting married or buried. The primary aim is to conduct a worship service - the other concerns are honored, but they should be secondary.

I once had to sing at the funeral Mass of a woman whos daughter wanted 14 hymns sung. Our choir director gave in to her pressure, but it certainly got tedious.

And yeah, I think we sang "Danny Boy."

-Joe Offer-