The Archdiocese of Los Angeles says it will investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against noted liturgical musician and composer David Haas, who has performed over the years at the archdiocese’s Religious Education Congress.
Haas, 63, has been accused of using his position of professional and spiritual authority to manipulate and abuse women sexually. According to Into Account, an abuse survivor support group, allegedly “targeted multiple women using techniques that abuse prevention experts identify as grooming, to create conditions in which women felt obligated to perform sexual favors in exchange for professional opportunities.”
In a June 30 statement, the archdiocese said it will also review GIA Publications’ recent announcement that it is suspending its relationship with Haas as his sponsor and publisher. Pending outcome of its investigation, Haas is forbidden from performing in the archdiocese, according to its statement.
In a May 29 letter sent to Catholic organizations and media outlets, Into Account said it received reports from nearly a dozen women. Haas has denied the allegations as “false, reckless and offensive.”
The Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where Haas lives and works, also stated that in 2018 it stopped issuing letters of sustainability for Haas, which confirm that an individual has no allegations against him or her.
Haas is the composer of several songs in the “Gather” hymnal, including “You are Mine,” “We are Called,” and “Blest are They.”
The full statement from the Archdiocese can be read here.
The above comes from a July 6 story in Angelus News.
Hope it’s not true, but….if it somehow mercifully results in a purge of that awful music (my opinion) including but not limited to Schutte et al, I won’t complain.
How long will this investigation last? Justice delayed is justice denied for either side.
About as long as the investigation of McCarrick by the Vatican. In other words, do not hold your breath.
Does the Vatican think everyone forgot about McCarrick? In December, the world was told the McCarrick report would be released “soon.” Did they intend that in an epochal Biblical sense? The Lord is returning soon and has been for more than 2,000 years. What have they been doing in the Vatican for the past seven months, especially with not a lot of sacraments? How long does it take to redact a report? And, in 2015, Pope Francis pledged a Vatican with “absolute transparency.” Maybe their short-term goal should be “mostly transparent?” “Soon and very soon…” Well, at least David Haas didn’t write that one, so we can still sing it while we wait for justice in both cases.
The investigation is, for all practical purposes, over among those who matter. All publishers of Catholic music have made the decision to pull Haas’ music from their websites and future hymnals. He’s finished in the Church as a musician, and his music is going to die out.
Out of the abundance of the heart the music is produced. I have always been struck by the great divide between the “new” hymns, generally speaking those written by a crop of musicians born in the 1940s, some like Haas in the 1950s, and those from earlier generations. Those from the 1940s+ generation of musicians are me-me-me and we-we-we all the way home. They are stuck in a rut of self-congratulation and utter boredom, whether in melody or in lyrics. Their songs are often far less singable than the God-centered hymns of previous times. Some of the “hymns” seem to be melodic refugees from a failed broadway production, nice but extremely forgettable show-off pieces for a cantor who got his start in high school musicals, but check the congregation! They aren’t even trying to sing, and most haven’t even opened their missalettes or hymnals to give it a try.
Did he become Catholic? Wasn’t that one of the knocks against him and his music– that he wasn’t even Catholic yet he was prominently used for liturgical music?