Why Catholics Can't Sing: The Culture of Catholicism and the Triumph of Bad Taste

In this informative and entertaining critique of music in the Catholic Church, Thomas Day outlines a stinging indictment of the influence of popular culture on American Catholicism, particularly as expressed in church music. Taking aim at the Irish-American repertoire of songs that overwhelms Catholic music in America, Day assails the secularization of liturgical practices that began, in the author’s view, with the Second Vatican Council in 1962. And while targeting the demise of services, Day remains optimistic, offering several key solutions to revitalize and nurture the latent vitality that remains among the parishioners of the American Catholic Church.