McKnight has now opted for a “synodal process” that will include more lay persons following an October 24 announcement that a dozen hymns as well as songs by three composers were not suitable for Masses.
McKnight’s initial announcement came after several years of research and consultations with priests and ministers within the diocese carried out by Fr. Daniel Merz, a pastor who also serves as chairman of the diocese’s liturgical commission.
“A small number of hymns have been determined … to be insufficient in sound doctrine,” McKnight’s original press statement reads.
Among the songs that were banned are the popular “All Are Welcome” and “Table of Plenty” hymns by ex-Jesuit Dan Schutte, the former often being used at pro-LGBT Masses across the United States.
All hymns composed by David Haas, Cesareo Gabarain, and Ed Conlin have also been banned by McKnight due to “credible accusations of abuse” against these men. Most of the prohibited songs were released in the 1980s or 1990s.
McKnight based his original decision on the USCCB’s 2020 guide for liturgical hymns. That document lays out six criteria for determining whether a song is suitable for Mass.
They include:
1) Deficiencies in the Presentation of Eucharistic Doctrine
2) Deficiencies in the Presentation of Trinitarian Doctrine
3) Hymns with Deficiencies in the Doctrine of God and His Relation to Humans
4) Hymns with a View of the Church that Sees Her as Essentially a Human Construction
5) Hymns with Doctrinally Incorrect Views of the Jewish People, and
6) Hymns with Incorrect Christian Anthropology.
McKnight was reportedly on the receiving end of blowback following his original decree, causing him to change course so that a “a more comprehensive consultation with the relevant parties within the diocese” could occur.
McKnight has since rescinded his decree and approved a new document for the coming year on an experimental basis titled “Promoting Active Participation in the Liturgy Through Sacred Music.”
As previously reported by LifeSite’s Emily Mangiaracina, despite the fact that the USCCB has named specific hymns as doctrinally problematic, at least a portion of them are still included in hymnals widely used across the U.S., such as the most recent (4th) edition of the Gather hymnal, which includes “All Are Welcome,” and several other hymns that had been banned by McKnight, including “Covenant Hymn,” “For the Healing of the Nations,” “God has Chosen Me,” “Halleluya! We Sing Your Praises,” and “Many and Great.”
In 2021, McKnight signed a letter urging the USCCB to halt discussion of prohibiting Holy Communion to pro-abortion self-identified Catholic politicians.
That year, McKnight also falsely claimed that Catholics have a “moral responsibility” to get the experimental, abortion-tainted COVID shots and directed priests not to grant religious exemption requests for the jabs, which have been linked to numerous serious injuries and deaths.