Amy Welborn asks how many people heard "Here I Am, Lord" at Mass yesterday, and the number of people who did is rather staggering (222 comments at this writing). This comes in the same week that the diocesan newspaper reveals that, according to a poll by them, "Here I Am, Lord" is the second-favorite song in the diocese.

The most surprising thing about their survey results is that there are three Latin songs on the list ("Tantum Ergo," "Panis Angelicus," and "Pange Lingua"), making Thomas Aquinas more popular than Marty Haugen. Their explanation of the Latin on the list? From the article that accompanied the list: "Latin, as three of the top 25 songs suggest, is still prominent in liturgical music. 'A new generation might be inclined to sing Latin because they don’t have memories of [Mass in] Latin and because they are expected to sing in other languages,' Silhavy said."

And then, there was an editorial on the same topic, which noted the list's lack of anything written in the last 15 years, and offers a solution. "The next time you hear a new song at your church, try to learn it. Give it a chance. Thank your parish music leader for keeping alive those well-loved favorites, but thank them for trying something new, too." Certainly, if a song worthy of the Mass is introduced, I'll thank whoever introduced it, but it's been a verrrrry long time since I've heard anything new that didn't sound like it was written in a Burger King drive-through (scroll down to the second piece on the page).