Planning a memorial Mass or a concert to honor a beloved former pastor can be a good idea. But inserting a concert into the Mass can be a pretty bad idea.

Recently, musician friends invited me to a concert at a church; they were playing in the orchestra for the gorgeous Duruflé Requiem. Who could pass that up? The large loft was crammed with full orchestra, choir and conductor. I found a seat downstairs.

The concert program was actually a worship aid that combined the movements of the Duruflé and the post-Vatican II liturgy, with very peculiar results. The program was careful to point out that this would fulfill the Sunday obligation.

The intentions were laudable, but the rhythms of the ritual were wrenched out of context. The problem, of course, is that forcing a pre-Vatican II Mass setting, no matter how beautiful its music, into the framework of a post-Vatican II celebration produces awkwardness and incongruity.

Congregational participation was tokenized, although the assembly sang robustly when allowed to. Duruflé’s sublime music contrasted oddly with the other music chosen for the liturgy: a Gregorian chant Alleluia, a Memorial Acclamation by Owen Alstott, and the Danish Amen. In place of the Responsorial Psalm, a soloist sang the Requiem’s Pie Jesu, which appeared in the program as the “Meditation.” “Hail, Holy Queen” was sung after Communion, though it was not a Marian feast day. At the Dismissal, no one went forth; instead, the assembly stood uncertainly, waiting for the choir to finish singing In Paradisum. (The presiders and servers left the sanctuary before the music ended.)

Had the planners chosen to present the Duruflé as a concert, all would have been well: the music was well played, the choir had beautiful tone, and a lot of thought and effort had gone into the presentation. And had the Mass preceded the concert, the integrity of the liturgy would have been preserved.

It’s tempting to think that a Mass and concert can be combined into one splendid mashup; but like all temptations, it needs to be examined—and resisted.