American diversity and the Genesis of Mass settings following the Second Vatican Council : a case study of Mary Lou’s Mass and La misa panamericana.

This thesis will examine how ethnic diversity in American Catholicism contributed to the development of vernacular Mass settings in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The case studies, Mary Lou’s Mass and La misa panamericana, represent two large ethnic groups within the American Catholic populace. Through examination of musical aesthetics from two cultural traditions, African-American and Mexican-American, and their integration into the Catholic Mass, the thesis will explore how the United States’ diverse Catholic population benefited from the changes of the Second Vatican Council.