A good rule of thumb for church hymns is, "If you can imagine the hymn being sung by a Disney Princess (Pocahontas, Ariel, et al.) then it is not a good hymn." That about does away with the entire OCP selection, or at least anything which originates with that press. I find that the communion hymns are especially weep-worthy since music directors the world over claim that the people need something "easy" and "repetitive" to sing while in line. Meanwhile, nobody in the long line of people ever really looks interested in singing. I grant that not everyone is going to sing if we do one of Aquinas' hymns or "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," but I suspect that people will at least try to listen to these hymns. Speaking of simple and repetitive:
And this particular version was written for the secular purpose of being a part of a movie score. Nevertheless, it is more beautiful and frankly more prayerful than much of what passes for hymns in our parishes these days.
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