'Danny Boy' Discord Rings in Catholic Churches

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It's believed that the music for "Danny Boy" was composed in the 1600s, and the best-known lyrics written in 1913 by an Englishman, Frederick Edward Weatherly. The ballad speaks of Danny leaving, and then returning, from the war, to perhaps declare his love for his father, or mother, who is in the grave. There are many versions. One goes:

"If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me.

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me."

The song, explained a Pawtucket, R.I., man, "may be the one that Mom sang to us as a child while rocking us to sleep. Or, perhaps, it's the one Grampa hummed while we helped him tend the flowers in his garden."

"In any event," Vincent Coughlin wrote to The Visitor on May 31, "the song brings back comforting memories of happier times before death stood between us."

Father Andrews, the worship director for the diocese, said the controversy has gone on for years, just not so publicly.

Father Andrews said music selection is left up to the parishes, which are expected to follow Catholic guidelines. He doesn't want to police parishes, he said, just remind them what music at Mass, whether at a wedding, funeral, or on a Sunday, is supposed to represent--faith in God. It's not supposed to represent faith in Bette Midler. But for years, songs such as "Danny Boy," have "just been allowed to go on."

"Wind Beneath My Wings," and the "Theme from Ice Castles"--other popular requests--don't cut it either, he said.

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