Joe Offer describes his beliefs as "progressive Catholicism"; he and I seem to agree on most spiritual and political matters, but I'm a progressive ex-Catholic and, more or less, a beatnik Buddhist. I do believe in an overabiding spiritual reality (like what the twelve-steppers call a "Higher Power"), but I am very skeptical about the detailed knowledge of God claimed by any of the established churches.

That said, I love gospel music as sung primarily in African-American Protestant churches (and in a very few predominantly Black Catholic parishes here in New Orleans). I have no problem jumping right in to sing along, and even to harmonize, with absolute enthusiasm.

I also love much of the very old and traditional liturgical singing I heard in the Catholic church during my childhood ~ not always so much for participation, but great listening. A lot of other religious-music traditions are pretty appealing to me, even those I don't yet know very well ~ for example, Sacred Harp.

The church music I like least is the faux-folk "guitar Mass" songs written for the post-Vatican-II Catholic liturgy. Very sappy stuff. (I'm pretty sure that White American Protestantism can also offer a lot of similarly distasteful material, but I have deliberately avoided learning much about it ~ I don't listen to it!)

I was a student at a Catholic university when all that liturgical reform was new and vibrant, a place where new liturgical experiemnts were encouraged, and at first I enjoyed the new style. Of course, I changed and became more skeptical, but the Church also changed shortly after the death of Pope John XXIII, retreating from most of the revolutionary changes that that just recently begun, and before long I lost interest in the Church and no longer accepted its authority.

One example of the Vatican's retreat from musical reform: one of my favorites among the new "folk" hymns of the early 60s was "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love," a nice minor-key melody with lyrics that celebrated true ecumenicism (i.e., unity between Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Coptics, etc.) As soon as the old school regained control of the Vatican, that song was phased out, as the hierarchy reclaimed its position of "we're right and they're wrong" as a cornerstone of approved belief.

However, I can still sing "His Eye Is On The Sparrow," "Ain't Gonna Study War No More," "The Hem of His Garment," etc., with complete enthusiasm. Of course, it's more likely to happen on the street, in the Gospel tent at JazzFest, or in an AME or Black Baptist church than in the typical Catholic parish.