Bishop stops ban on jazz in church
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton has intervened in the row over a Petworth Festival jazz concert held at a church in Duncton last Saturday.
Bishop Kieran Conry, who has just returned from a pilgrimage to Lourdes, said he had no intention of stopping the show going ahead, despite pleas from a Petworth parishioner, Christopher Savage, a worshipper at the parent church in Petworth, the Sacred Heart.
“There would be no difference between a Beethoven quartet and jazz. You cannot make a judgement on the style of the music,” the bishop said.
Bold part – discuss below.
The bishop must not be aware that concerts of secular music, of any style, are prohibited in churches.
No matter. Not all jazz is secular.
These are the kinds of comments that remind me that the bishops are truly the successors to the apostles — who were a bunch of blockheads.
I have no objection to jazz at church, so long as it’s not for worship, but of course you can make a judgment on the style of music. There is such a thing as sacred music, and there is that evil stuff called rap.