{"id":35691,"date":"2017-02-17T20:10:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T02:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=35691"},"modified":"2020-03-02T12:24:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T18:24:26","slug":"flash-mob-catholic-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/17\/flash-mob-catholic-style\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFlash Mob – Catholic style!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue<\/em><\/p>\n

A few years ago Pray Tell reported a viral YouTube video<\/a> of an Irish priest singing a tribute to a newly married couple during their nuptial Mass to the music of Leonard Cohen\u2019s “Hallelujah.” Commenters seemed to be divided between those who thought it was a good way to engage the couple and meet people at the level of popular culture to bring them to God, and those who considered this to be an inexcusable breech of the liturgical rubrics and good taste in general.<\/p>\n

Now there is another video doing the rounds in Ireland.\u00a0 The video has been viewed over a million and a half times in the first three days it was on line. This is of a recent wedding where the niece\u2019s uncle is a famous Irish singer Daniel O\u2019Donnell<\/a>. As a surprise to the couple, O\u2019Donnell organized a rendition of the famous hymn “How Great Thou Art.<\/a>”\u00a0The priest sang the first line and other members of the congregation stood up and sung a line each (many of them were professional musicians). In contrast to the last video, this time the priest is not a soloist (the priest here only sings the first line) and the hymn is a traditional hymn and not an adaption of a piece of popular music.<\/p>\n