SIR – As a life-long lover of my Catholic faith and practice, and of music and singing in general and hymns in particular, the letter headlined “Save us from the four-hymn sandwich” (November 13), which seeks to “do away with” the said item, upsets me greatly, In many places in the Scriptures we are exhorted to sing our praises to God. For nearly 18 years I have helped the children, aged from four to 11, at our local primary school to learn hymns for Mass, from “Love is something if you give it away” to The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came. (One child came to tell me that her favourite line was “his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame”.) Many of the children leave the hall singing the tunes as they go. I hope and pray that most of them will, as I did, remember those words throughout their lives, even if, sadly, the majority of them stop going to church. There are beautiful hymns with beautiful words and melodies, both old and new. They allow us, the “foot soldiers of the faith”, to participate in the Mass in a way that nothing else does. Why would anyone wish to take that away from us? If my family do not have Soul of my Saviour and Lord of All Hopefulness at my funeral, I’ll be back to haunt them! Yours faithfully, Janet Convey Kidsgrove, Staffordshire
2:30 PM
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