 |
| Rt. Rev. Salutaris Libena Bishop of Ifakara Diocese and Chairman of the Liturgy Department Tanzania Episcopal Conference |
In an effort to contain the challenges facing sacred music in the Catholic Church of Tanzania, the National Sacred Music Committee has presented a draft constitution that was deliberated during a meeting held in Dar es Salaam to be adopted by all the Choirs according to the Roman Catholic Traditions.
According to Bernadin Mukasa, one of the members who participated in drafting; the noble work was necessitated by challenges and concerns that have been observed for decades related to the Catholic music.
Rt. Rev. Salutaris Libena of the Catholic Diocese of Ifakara and the TEC Chairman of the Liturgy Department led the meeting and pointed out some challenges the Sacred Music in Tanzania is facing and indicated that most of choir members misunderstand the mission, and view that they are called to entertain the audience rather than evangelizing.
"Our music must be holy because it is part of the liturgy. Since ancient times many teachings have been set and preserved in music. We therefore must reckon that we are called and sent to evangelize and sanctify. Unfortunately the scenario is not the same anymore, Sacred music has been tainted by many things, we must fight back to preserve our sacred music according to the tradition of the Church" said Bishop Salutaris Libena.
The document draft also suggests the creation of Board of Teachers skilled in Church Music who will coordinate issues related to the sacred music. The Board will also be responsible for coordinating and preparing the Sacred Music classes according to the syllabus of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference.
The process of drafting the constitution begun in 2016, when a special committee including researchers, experts in Church music, Canonists, Priests and Religious was formed.