As many of you may know, In a Catholic News Agency article, the liturgical composer, David Haas, has been accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. This has led to David Haas being dropped by his publisher G.I.A. Music, and the refusal of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis issuing a letter of recommendation for David Haas. Marty Haugen, a highly respected liturgical composer in his own right, who has often performed concerts with Haas, and Michael Joncas, wrote an observation about these allegations against Haas. I suggest that you go to Marty’s Facebook page to read what he wrote. This is my response to both the allegations that have been raised against David Haas, and to what Marty write in his response.
How am I feeling about these allegations of sexual misconduct against David Haas? I feel disappointment, grief, anger, sadness, to name a few. Am I shocked? No. I have never really been in close proximity of David (never traveling in his musical circle), so I can’t really say about much about David’s personal behavior. From the nightmare of clergy criminal sexual abuse from which my parish has emerged (two of the parish’s three sites had 15+ cases of clergy sexual abuse dating back to 1940’s and 1950’s, I have witnessed the disastrous impact that the power over relationships that the two priests in question had over the lives of the children they sexually abused and how it destroyed the lives of those they abused. In the ministerial positions I have had over the past 42 years, I recognized I had a “power over” relationship with those I served. People looked to me for support and guidance. In so much that I was a “director” of ministry, what I operated from was not a “power over” relationship but rather a “power with” relationship with my parishioners. When a sacred trust is violated with another person, great harm is done to the person. While these allegations have yet to be proved, the numerous allegations, and the fact that GIA Inc has dropped David, and the Archdiocese has refused to give David a recommendation (I am sure that the Archdiocese is treading very trepidatiously, especially after having been guilty of covering up the criminal sexual behavior of its clergy for close to a hundred years.), this does not bode well for David.
Why am I not shocked by the news? In my limited contact with David, I have observed that he has a great deal of charisma. David has a way of drawing people to himself. I observed this when Ruthie and I attended a National Pastoral Musician Conference in Davis, CA back in 1990. I had gone to hear the liturgical music composer, Tom Conry, speak. Both Marty Haugen and David Haas also spoke at the convention. This was during the heyday of what was known as the “St Paul Jesuits”, the music triumvirate of Michael Joncas, David Haas, and Marty Haugen. Tom Conry, who at the time resembled a very large and tall Mork from Ork, and Marty Haugen are very unassuming men. While very passionate about their music, and very skilled composers and musicians, they possess a humility about the gifts they have been given by God. I remember having lunch with Marty at the convention (Ruthie was busy soaking up the California sun and very adamant about not doing anything at the convention), and having a good heart to heart conversation with Marty about liturgical music in the parish setting. Marty said to me at that time that while he initially thought recording music in the studio was the best of musical experiences, he found that it was the playing of music with other liturgical musicians that was the greatest joy he experienced. I told him that the greatest high for me was when music and assembly connected in such a way that the liturgy was a seamless prayer filled experience.
Here I was sitting having a wonderful lunch with one of the greatest liturgical music composers of the time, who was very unassuming and down to earth. However, I observed that wherever David Haas went, he was surrounded by a mob of admiring fans, the majority of whom were women. David had certainly achieved “celebrity status” such as it is in Catholic liturgical music circles. I wondered if it would go to his head. This is why I am not entirely surprised at the news of allegations against David. David is a very gifted musician and composer, is very charismatic, and could easily have done that for which he has been accused.
The question that Marty raises in his response is should these allegations prove true, should the body of liturgical music that David Haas has composed be eliminated from public worship? Should such standard and powerful hymn such as “We Have Been Told” and “Blessed Are They” be eliminated from the canon of liturgical hymns? This is where Marty’s wisdom is important. The texts of these hymns come from sacred scripture. David may have fashioned sacred scripture into hymn text, but the words did not originate from David. The hymns, in spite of the behavior of the composer, still powerfully speak the Word of God. Chances are that the normal person in the assembly cannot name the composer of their favorite hymns, they just know that the hymn speaks powerfully to them. The hymn takes on a life beyond that of the composer who fashioned the melody and in the end belongs to the assembly.
This is why I have a great fondness for the hymns of Marty Haugen and Tom Conry. I don’t like the hymns they have composed because of the person who composed the hymn, I like the hymns they have composed because of the power of God expressed in the melodies and in the sacred text upon which the hymn is based. Listen to the text and melody of my favorite Haugen hymn “Eye Has Not Seen” or “Gather Us In”. Listen to the powerful text of Conry’s “I Will Not Die” or “I Will Lift Up My Eyes”. There is something other worldly in these hymns that goes beyond the text and melody (or in the case of some of Conry’s hymns, lack of melody). When I was a director of music and liturgy, I always sought music that would express the message of the scripture that was in the liturgy of the day. It mattered not whether it was a through composed hymn like “Holy, Holy, Holy” or “We Have Been Told”. It was my wish that the music I selected would build upon what the scriptures expressed and the message that was preached, hopefully making the liturgy a seamless expression of praise and prayer to God.
What will happen to David Haas? I don’t know. If there is truth to the allegations against him, then he must be held accountable for his actions. What will happen to the hymns he has composed? I hope they remain a powerful part of the musical canon of the Church. As Marty so well expresses in his hymn (and my favorite hymn of Mary’s “Eye Has Not Seen”), “We sing a mystery from the past in halls which saints have trod. Yet ever new the music rings to Jesus living Song of God.”
I understand and appreciate the importance of music that is familiar and beloved to a congregation; this encourages people to participate more fully in the Mass. I’ve been involved in church music for twenty years.
Critics of Haas’ music have panned it for years as musically saccharine, but more importantly, theologically shallow. I grew up with his (and Haugen’s) music in church, and it’s shocking how much the music is focused on ME. So much first-person, so much focus on my personal feelings. Hymnals like the St. Michael Hymnal give older hymns that are beautiful, their text far more profound, more firmly rooted in the gospel, treating God with reverence and humility in the face of eternal majesty. Haas’ music, by contrast, is bland and self-indulgent.
I will say this: Wagner was a disgusting anti-Semite, but he was also a musical genius. I can’t bring myself to say we should ban Haas’ music because of these allegations. But I’d be happy to jettison all his songs because they are self-centered works created by a self-centered predator.
Hi Sadie. Thanks for your response. From a friend who knows Haas, Haas has issued a statement about the whole thing. As my friend observed, Haas didn’t show any empathy for the harm that may have been caused the women who brought forth these allegations, but only bemoaned his lack of income stream. As Fr Richard Rohr points out in numerous of his writings, our egos are often comprised of the false myths we have built up around ourselves. The one advantage of being married to a strong, yet compassionate woman, is that my ego is kept in check when it gets out of hand.
I appreciate your observation about how the behavior of a composer should not get in the way of his/her music being performed. Richard Wagner, as you pointed out was a horrible anti-Semite, yet his Tristan and Isolde Prelude is a masterpiece. Beethoven was incredibly antisocial and could be abusive (something he learned from his father), yet he composed a canon of music to which few can aspire. Victor Borge humorously lampooned the idiosyncrasies and behaviors of many a beloved composer in his book, “May Favorite Intermissions”. Granted Mozart’s love of billiards and dirty jokes does not remotely compare to grooming vulnerable women for abuse, for which Haas is accused. Alas, many of the world’s finest poets, composers, artists, and authors have been extremely conflicted and complicated people. It is often out of their personal conflicts and hells that art was created.
I understand your critique of some of Haas’ music in contrast to the canon of liturgical music you prefer. While liturgical music should reflect the corporate worship of the assembly, there is liturgical music, primarily Psalmody, that most often never addresses the corporate worshipping assembly. Many of the psalms were composed about the psalmist’s relationship to God e.g. “thanks for defending me.” “Why have you abandoned me?” “Crush my enemies heads on the rocks.” “I flee to you when I am in trouble.” and so on. The one thing that the St Louis Jesuits, Marty Haugen, Mike Joncas, David Haas and others have done is capture the psalms in marvelous song and in so doing introduced the psalms to people in a way plain chant and through composed hymns cannot. These composers have also introduced into the liturgical canon the social justice teachings of scripture that many through composed hymns do not or would not do. The other thing that I have appreciated about the Catholic music revival, especially in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s from various composers is that the basis of the majority of their texts are derived directly from sacred scripture. This is something that hymns like “A Mighty Fortress Is My God” and “How Can I Keep From Singing” do so only indirectly. When I was a director of liturgy and music, I based the choice of the music in liturgy on three principles: 1) What kind of music e.g. traditional or contemporary, does this congregation respond to the best and lead to a deepening of their prayer at Mass; 2) Do the texts speak to the scriptures of the day; and, 3) is the hymn a singable text e.g. in the normal range of A below middle C to D an octave above middle C. Anything keyed higher or lower (though an Eb an octave above middle C is doable, a high D is right where the human voice breaks and is difficult to sustain repeatedly), will discourage many people not to sing because it is beyond their comfortable vocal range. My biggest critique of many through composed hymns is that they are keyed far too high for the normal voice in the pew. When possible I would key it down, unless I had other instrumentalists accompanying the hymn). You are correct in your observation that much of Haas’ music is self-indulgent, however, not all his music is that way, e.g. the two hymns I mention in my response, along with “You Are Mine” and others. I prefer Marty Haugen’s music over that of Haas. Good melodies, good text and composed in a singable range (Marty is a good ELCA Lutheran who has combined the best of two Christian music traditions). Tom Conry has always been a disciple of the Dutch school of Huub Oosterhuis, in which the text is more important than the melody. Conry’s best known hymns are “Ashes” and “Anthem”, though I prefer some of his more radical hymns. Conry’s hymns makes you think and are solidly based on scripture scholarship. Conry used an unusual metaphor of expressing this. At a conference in which he and Mike Joncas co-presented, Conry stated that liturgical music should be constipative. That got our attention. He went on to explain that when one is constipated, one HAS to do something about the situation. Liturgical music should prompt and motivate people to go out and build the Reign of God in the world. As an unusual and creative that metaphor was, it has stuck with me all these years.
Well, I have bored you enough. Blessings to you and your ministry.
Bob Wagner
Thank you, Deacon Bob for your very articulate writing and thoughts on the subject of David Haas. The priest at my Canadian Anglican church in Vancouver, has opted to remove Haas’s songs from our liturgy. I felt uncomfortable with this decision but couldn’t articulate why, and you have given me much food for thought on the subject. I hope it’s okay that I share your blog with her.
Sincerely,
Jan Mitchell
Dear Jan,
Forgive my tardiness in responding to you. Thank you for your response. The personal actions of David Haas are reprehensible and cannot be dismissed. However, the psalm settings and hymns he composed, I believe were divinely inspired and filtered through him. Michelangelo was a broken man, and I believe would acknowledge it, but we revere his sculptures nonetheless, seeing those carved blocks of stone God working through the artist. The same can be said for many composers of music. Beethoven, one of my favorite classical composers was an extremely broken, irascible man, yet every time I hear the 7th symphony, or the majestic choral 4th movement of the 9th symphony, I hear God composing through the man. The bottom line is we are all broken people who are in need of healing. Jesus was correct in John’s account of the woman caught in adultery, that only those who were without sin were worthy to cast a stone. Alas, I would not even be capable of lifting a pebble from the ground to cast. I am thankful that God is able to work through us, just as we are, broken and sinful as we may be. I am thankful that God was able to work through David Haas, and hope and pray that David heals from the brokenness that has shattered his life.
Wish you peace during this Holy Week.
Deacon Bob
Interesting and thoughtful conversation – thank you. Having enjoyed much (not all) of Haas’ music for many years, I appreciate the point about an artist’s work transcending their personal flaws. However, there’s a world of difference between performing and using the work of a long-dead composer and that of a living person who has done nothing to address the harm he has caused. The reason we have removed Haas’ music from our use (a congregation in the United Church of Canada) is primarily out of respect and concern for those who were directly harmed by his abuse of power, and all those who where similarly harmed by other religious leaders. Continuing to use Haas’ music means both paying him and giving him credit for this work, and that action, however passive it may seem, impacts the women who have experienced abuse and, in some cases, can retraumatize them or exacerbate the harm. In good conscience, I cannot contribute to the income and standing of an unrepentant abuser, nor disrespect those who have experienced abuse.
Hi Bruce,
I apologize for the delay in responding to you. I have been busy working on some musical compositions that are meant to accompany a retreat being written by Dick Rice, retreat master and spiritual director, on the Four Servant Songs of Isaiah. The composing has occupied a good portion of my time since Easter.
I appreciate what you have to say on the music of Haas. And, I cannot argue against your sentiments on the subject. I know full well the incredible harm that those in religious authority, ordained or not ordained, have caused others. Prior to my retirement from active ministry, I was deeply involved in 18 documented cases of criminal sexual abuse by former priests of my parish back in the 1940’s and 1950’s. We suspect that there were probably at least 15 more cases of sexual abuse by the priest in the 1940’s, but those abused, mostly now around 80 years of age did not want to come forward with their cases.
I condemn the damage Haas has caused in the lives of the young women upon whom he preyed. I also am very well aware after 42 years of ministry in a very flawed and sinful church institution, that God still manages to break through the darkness in human life, even among the hierarchy of the Church. In the Gospels, Jesus somehow finds within himself love for a very fragile and broken humanity. What I find incredibly fascinating is that it is not marginalized, broken humanity comprised of prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves, and murderers that reject Jesus, but rather, the self-righteous religious authorities who eventually plot the torture and execution of Jesus. I take comfort that in spite of my failings, Jesus still loves me. It is in this in which I place my hope for salvation, and shows to me that for one like David Haas there is hope, also. Or as was stated on a bumper sticker on a car I got behind many years ago, “Jesus loves you. And, it’s a good thing. Everyone else thinks your an A-hole.” I was laughing so hard, I nearly drove off the road.
Peace,
Bob