on the contemptible mutilation of hymns

Lots of good thinking in this Touchstone article by Anthony Esolen of Providence College. It's written regarding recent revisions in a Catholic hymnal, Worship III.

Apparently the spirit of the age is ecumenically-inclined.

Here's a clip:

In verse three [of "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven"], the editors of Worship III broaden the hymn’s metaphorical reach:

Father-like he tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hand he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Widely yet his mercy flows.

REVISED:

Father-like, God tends and spares us,
Well our feeble frame he knows;
Mother-like, God gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Widely yet God’s mercy flows.

The revisers (informed by an undisclosed Fourth Person of the Quaternity) know that it is just as valid to refer to God as Mother as it is to refer to him as Father, regardless of the quaint poetry of some Jewish carpenter.

Well said, Bro. Esolen.

And here's Touchstone on trends in evangelical music.