Commander John Sharpe — The Church’s Answer to the Problem of Music: Contentions & Conclusions

Cutting to the chase early on in his presentation, Commander John Sharpe, retired Naval officer, publisher, and schola director, says with unabashed frankness, “Modern music is garbage — it’s not worth one’s time.” He builds up to a comprehensive definition of music: pitch-specific tunes that cover an amount of time, are ordered by a rational mind to pursue an end, and which give us delight not only in the end but in the process of getting there. He then shows that the post-World War II “music” produced by money-hungry industries that deliberately cater to the baser passions of a teen sub-culture clearly does not meet the requirements. Commander Sharpe proposes three the qualities that a Catholic should look for in music in order to be able to enjoy it with a clear conscience. That cultivating a more refined taste for truly beautiful music is worth the effort required is beyond question. That parents should be particularly interested in developing this love of the good, the true, and the beautiful in their children is a theme the speaker returns to constantly. “If we want our children to take salvation seriously — because saving one’s soul is serious business — we cannot be feeding them drivel.”

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