THE MINISTERIAL ROLE OF CHOIRS IN THE LITURGY

Abstract

This essay reflects on the ministerial role and relevance of choristers within the Catholic liturgy. Fact is that in the contemporary explosion of charismatic/Pentecostal spirituality and worship––which, by the way, coincides with the era of inculturation and spontaneity of worship, and also, given the gradual decline of Latin liturgy––there is the tendency within the Catholic Church––and this can be verified in other non-Catholic confessions––to pose a fundamental question regarding the functionality of the choir. Indeed, there is the feeling or temptation of thinking that the advent of Vatican II era has abolished the role of the choir such that cultivation of church choirs should now be a matter of secondary importance. The author in this study (originally presented as paper at the conference of the National Catholic Liturgical Music Council of Nigeria, 2022) seeks to interrogate some of the post Vatican II assumptions by a systematic and analytic exposition of what the Council really taught in continuity with previous magisterial positions of the Church––not what someone thought the Council said––and concludes by indicating that the exigency of the choral function remains as fresh as it was, ever since the Church conceived of the liturgical duties of the schola cantorum, right from the middle ages. While the conclusions of this article are based on findings from Catholic Church documents, its thesis concerning the sempiternal exigency of the choral ministry within the liturgy has much relevance for the worship of other Christian communities.