Friday, June 18, 2010


Do You Want a Moonroof and Satellite FM With That Hymnal?

More pragmatist than philosopher, I let an itinerant thought take root in m’ noodle and according to one’s POV, this thought is ovulating or metastasizing.
It’s likely that a vast majority of parishes either make the one time investment in a hardbound hymnal, or they subscribe to seasonal and yearly newsprint hymnal/missal products. The vast minority of parishes choose to self-publish weekly orders of music or “permanent parish hymnals” culled from various copyright-governed, common license or public domain sources. Some others make use of the “overhead projection” of power-pointed lyrics, licensed or, uh, otherwise.
So, let’s backtrack to the vast majority and focus upon the subscription-based parishes, such as mine. Here’s the germ idea: We are fortunate to live in a world where if you leave your 50 page, three color, glossy pictured proposal in the cab, you can use your smart phone and have one waiting for you by the time you arrive at the corporate reception desk, at least according to the advert I saw on the TV.
Okay, stay with me. For a modest surcharge, couldn’t the major RC American corporate publishers offer their core market parishes/dioceses a premium offer that allows the crafting of, essentially, boutique hymnals whose content is drawn from the publisher’s existing repertoire holdings, public domain sources and the creative commons sources that are sprouting like dandelions?
Still with me? Okay, let use our parish as a model and I’m the local editor. I’ll try to cut to the chase. First, I lose items in the ordinaries, psalter section (not from the missal section) and the hymnal that, after “pastoral consultation” among my peers and clergy, we concede to be dead-weight. We communicate those itemized decisions to the publisher’s agent and agree upon how many pages of content are now made vacant with a certain percentage of margin for error. Let’s say that I know that I want to include a number of additional chants from the publisher’s stand-alone product that contains such, ie. OCP’s “Laus et Tibi.” Let’s say that over the years the parish has purchased and maintained octavo versions of choral hymn concertatos, liturgical songs and ordinaries that once were included in former yearly editions of their missals, all of which have congregational version plates archived. Couldn’t they be accessed easily and added to the vacant pages? Let’s say that we still have a surplus of pages and we desire to include hymns, psalms, propers or whatever from either public domain sources such as the ICEL resource hymnbook, or the hymns found in the commons listed on the Musica Sacra website, or other sites similar to the Choral Public Domain Library (a wiki source) of works we find worthy of inclusion that the composers or license holders put “out there” gratis. Once content and layout are finalized, the publisher adds their surcharge to the amended yearly product, and the parish signs on the dotted line, and the publisher sends the master to their printer, and the custom hymnal shows up, bill gets paid, everybody happy!
I realize that all of this could simply be mounted at the parish level. But, I’ve been there. Once. One time. Back in the Seventies. I don’t care how accessible license permission can be obtained now, self-publishing is not in my future. But the Biggies have their protocols and printing companies already tooled-up. If I can order my Chevy Malibu with a heavenly host of options on Monday and it’s ready for delivery the next Monday, can’t the publishing market consider re-tooling for a still lucrative boutique hymnal market. I don’t see a downside for the publishing houses. Now, if I opt not to include Sebastian Temple’s “Take My Hands” in our boutique parish hymnal, maybe there will be a miniscule loss of royalty revenue to his heirs. If I take out all of one composers’ songs, such as that goofball Charles’s tunes, would the revenues lost by our parish subscription amount really affect Charles’ yearly income drastically. Doesn’t Charles have to churn out new product to keep building the profit pyramid? And if that’s good product, won’t my parish want that included in next year’s boutique hymnal?
I’ve been made aware by a publisher’s representative there are many complexities that seriously would apply specific problems to this proposed idea. The pioneer publisher Friends of the English Liturgy (FEL) once had a program wherein parishes could purchase loose-leaf versions of select songs culled from their library in large amounts that would constitute a “parish hymnal.” Also in the early 70’s. Can you say “Edsel?”
But if we cannot ever reach consensus that either a national hymnal (with its own set of issues) will supplant the free market publishers, or that the Graduale Romanum or Gregorian Missal will be mandated by the USCCB/FDLC/BCL – PTB’s, then cannot there be a reasonable, affordable and profitable (in many ways) alternative to the narrow monopoly of options with which we currently contend?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010





















THAT'S IMPROPER BEHAVIOR,
'CAUSE WE CAN'T SING THAT!

As Wendy and I are preparing to adjourn from our jobs and attend this year's CMAA Colloquium on Sacred Music in Pittsburgh next week, I've been meeting with some of my musical associates who will assume "leadership" roles for the next two Sundays. In casual conversation with one of our cantors/accompanists, it was mentioned that my associate had a friend who heard from another parishioner that when our schola choir sings the Introit and Communio Propers (generally in English), that in this parishioner's opinion "the choir's just showing off, and the people can't join in."
Now, in charity, I don't know if that's totally a true representation of what was said, and were it true, that doesn't bother me. But it provided me with a reason to post on our parish website the following memo:


Some of our parishioners who regularly attend the 4:00 P.M. Vigil Mass, 8:30 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. Sunday Masses at Saint M’s might have wondered over the last two years: “What are those chants that the choir or cantor sings just before Mass begins with the Entrance Song, and the one right before the Communion procession?”
It’s also just as probable there are folks who have figured out the answers to that question without having asked myself, or another music minister or priest, and found the answer lies right in the Missal and the Breaking Bread Hymnal.
Those chants are listed, in bold print, as-
1- The Entrance Antiphon
2- The Communion Antiphon
The latter group of folks are more likely to attend daily Masses at our parishes, wherein they recite, not sing, those antiphons in place of an Entrance or Communion Hymn. So, they are aware that those “antiphons” are, if nothing else, prescribed elements of each Mass. In other words, they’re meant to be there.
What I would be willing to wager is that most parishioners, if asked, would not be able to identify the source term for these “antiphons.” That term is known as the Mass Propers. And what exactly does that mean and where did they come from? Well, actually, they’ve been an integral element of the Mass, in one form or another, since the very foundation of the Mass at the Last Supper and when Christ designated St. Peter to lead His Church, and the birth of the Church formally at the Feast of Pentecost.
There are many authoritative and legislative documents that provide all priests and the Faithful all the formal canonical “rules,” or rubrics, that are necessary to the celebration of Mass and other liturgies. One of the most important is known as “The General Instruction of the Roman Missal” or the “GIRM” in short.
The following is a brief excerpt from that Curial (Official Roman) document pertaining to singing at Mass:

The Importance of Singing

39. The Christian faithful who gather together as one to await the Lord's coming are instructed by the Apostle Paul to sing together psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (cf. Col 3:16). Singing is the sign of the heart's joy (cf. Acts 2:46). Thus Saint Augustine says rightly, "Singing is for one who loves."48 There is also the ancient proverb: "One who sings well prays twice."

40. Great importance should therefore be attached to the use of singing in the celebration of the Mass, with due consideration for the culture of the people and abilities of each liturgical assembly. Although it is not always necessary (e.g., in weekday Masses) to sing all the texts that are of themselves meant to be sung, every care should be taken that singing by the ministers and the people is not absent in celebrations that occur on Sundays and on holy days of obligation.

In the choosing of the parts actually to be sung, however, preference should be given to those that are of greater importance and especially to those to be sung by the priest or the deacon or the lector, with the people responding, or by the priest and people together.49

41. All other things being equal, Gregorian chant holds pride of place because it is proper to the Roman Liturgy. Other types of sacred music, in particular polyphony, are in no way excluded, provided that they correspond to the spirit of the liturgical action and that they foster the participation of all the faithful.50

Since faithful from different countries come together ever more frequently, it is fitting that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, set to the simpler melodies.51


Those portions of the excerpts from the GIRM instruction (#39…) that I’ve highlighted provide a fundamental insight into how music directors, cantors and celebrants are provided options that can be applied to local situations and customs, but that are legally valid within other prescribed documents guiding our worship practices. The one aspect of which most parishioners remain unaware is that liturgical document options are listed using hierarchical priorities. In other words, in an ideal celebration of a Roman Catholic Mass, the first option of what should be sung when would always be chosen. For example, in the above excerpt #41, the GIRM states the Lord’s Prayer should be sung when we have Masses with a diverse ethnic/linguistic congregation. Where does that come from? Another document, “Musicam Sacram (On Sacred Music)” 1967 actually states that of the portions of the Mass that rightly should be sung (or owned) by the assembled congregation, first and foremost comes the Lord’s Prayer! Who would have thought that the case in most American Roman Catholic Churches over the last two generations?
But I’ve illustrated that point to get to the explanation of the term “Propers.” As the Holy Father has said and written hundreds of times in his lifetime, the “song” of the Church is found in the Book of Psalms, period. Most of the Proper Antiphons, the Introit (Entrance), the Offertorio (Offertory), and the Communio (Communion) are from the Psalter, or the musical “calendar” of liturgical Psalms. Think of them exactly as you do the two and three year cycles of scripture readings. There are actual psalm (or scriptural) texts that are assigned to each and every Mass celebrated throughout the year to be sung, or at least spoken at every Mass.
As I mentioned earlier, however, the Church does provide a prioritized hierarchy of options for those three processional moments in Mass. The first and most ideal is the singing of the assigned Proper texts for the day or the ferial celebration. Then come two other options that involve substituting other psalm texts (which cannot be paraphrased versions, by the way, but approved text versions.) And the last option is known as “Another suitable hymn or song.” (In Latin, “Alius cantus aptus,” a different, apt/appropriate song.)
This last option has been acknowledged over the period of time since the Second Vatican Council as the pre-eminent musical expression of the Church, not only here in the U.S., but virtually around the globe.
Back in the day, when bishops, pastors and parishes initiated the “big switch” from the so-called “Traditional Latin Mass,” more appropriately named 1962 Roman Missal of Bl. John XXIII, to the “Novus Ordo,” or vernacular Mass of Paul VI, 1970, the singing of congregational hymns that were common at devotions such as Benediction, Novenas and Rosaries, were the convenient vehicles to engage Catholics in “active participation” through singing. Of course, portions of the Mass Ordinary, the Kyrie to the Agnus Dei (Lord have mercy …. Lamb of God) were also to be sung by the congregation.
The main point of this blog post is to let parishioners know that when the Entrance and Communion Proper Antiphons are sung, this is the practice that is most in keeping with the directives of the Church documents on liturgy. They are not regarded by the choirs, their directors or cantors, as opportunities for musicians to display their musical skills and prowess in front of a captive “audience.” The Proper Antiphons, sung, is a realization of thinking with the “mind” of the Church. And the way they have been reinstated into use here at St. M’s is in combination with the Entrance and Communion hymns.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

H/T 2 Fr.Z
As if nothing else matters...
Jesus was just riffing when he upbraided Simon the Pharisee and his guests for failing to properly receive and recognize Him, and then contrasted their non-chalance with the antics of a "working girl" who crashed the shindig, maybe in a last ditch effort, to invest the last shred of any personal dignity, her desperate tears and whatever treasure she sequestered on perfumed oil to annoint the feet and hands of someone she knew to be her Savior. Yes, of course, Jesus counted a few beats and then guffawd "Just messin' wichyouse, fellahs. This girl is whack!" A hearty huzzah and a round of applause from the lounging sycophants ensues.
Seriously, in what way is it ever appropriate to applaud at Mass? After a choir renders a "Miserere mei"? When a parishioner publicly vows to pray for vocations? When converts, reverts and newbies are sacramentally initiated into the Great Commission of the Church?
"Sometime it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble."
Does anyone actually think that there's applause in between sets of the heavenly choirs' "Hosanna's"? Like "Wow, God, You did a great job with the whole creation, redemption thing! And let's hear it for Jesus and the Paraclete, too! Hey, and don't forget, Mary in da House, folks, give it up for the BVM, people...."

Will the Silly Season ever be OVER?!?

From George Weigel's GOD'S CHOICE (p.169)"Divine worship, (Ratzinger) wrote, is 'a matter of life and death' for the Church. 'If it is no longer possible to bring the faithful to worship God, and in such a way that they themselves perform this worship, then the Church has failed in its task and can no longer justify its existence.'"

Saturday, June 12, 2010



Order of Music
Saint Mary's Parish
June 13, 2010
11th Sunday, Ordinary Time


Introit Antiphon: S "Consider, O Lord, and hear me…." Anglican Use Gradual
Entrance: SE #551 STAND BY ME 500 (Kendzia)

Opening Rites: S Misa Oecumenica Kyrie /Gloria(Proulx)
E Kyrie (Sleeth Mass)/Dancing Day Gloria (P.Ford)

Responsorial: SE Respond & Acclaim

Gospel Accl.: S Mode VI Alleluia-chanted
E Alleluia (Sleeth Mass)

Offertory: S #532 HOLD ME IN LIFE 243 (Huijbers) cp
E #526 DWELLING PLACE 136 (Foley)

Eucharistic Accl.: S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Holy/Christ/ Amen /Lamb (Sleeth Mass)

Communion Procession: SE Antiphon: "One thing have I desired…" Anglican Use Gradual
SE #400 THIS ALONE 552 (Manion)

Communion Anthem: S GOD OF MERCY (Monteverdi)
E #567 SACRED SILENCE 449 (Booth/Pixler)

Recessional: S #705 HEALING RIVER OF THE SPIRIT 206 (Beach Spring)
E #611 IN THE DAY OF THE LORD 259 (Ridge)

Thursday, June 10, 2010























What can I do?
What should I do?
What will I do?


This last week Jeffrey Tucker posted a thread a the Musica Sacra Forum concerning an organization founded by a Jesuit priest some decades ago that offers parishes their evaluation and revitalization services. This post is not about that.
In the discussions that followed one of our colleagues typified what, only out of convenience and not literally, those folks who "dissent" from orthodoxy and orthopraxis in liturgy and other ecclesial concerns by this characterization: "aging hippies." That didn't settle well with me and I responded with my frustration over the issue of unnecessary stereotyping in this case, and in general. Of course, a major dustup followed. The thread went tangential and haywire. Other colleagues debated the merits of (as the original colleague named it) the "epithet" and its validity of use, and then aligned themselves in camps over the issue of what constitutes "true charity" in discourse. Though I remain steadfast in my objections to using course stereotypes to advance a point, I was saddened that I had a major hand in initiating diviseness among a body of people whom I so admire as faithful and dedicated Christian/Catholics. I apologized to my colleage for my part publicly on the thread, though neither of the two of us renounced our positions.
But of course, this happens to all of us daily. It is neither simple nor easy to avoid the sin of pride that orders us to castigate individuals and groups of people with convenient terms, names or phrases that ironically lowers our dignity, when in fact we falsely believe in dismissing the humanity of those we demean, we can feel superior or better that "I'm not like those people."
Another aspect of the dustup centered around generational issues. The "aging hippies" once were represented thematically by THE WHO, among other great bands of the sixties, specifically in the song "My Generation," inwhich the Daltry/Townsend lyric exclaims to the old fogies, "Why don't you all just....f-f-f-f-fade away?" (Of course we all knew then the "f" stutter was a ruse for another verb of the George Carlin variety. But it occured to me that this youthful hubris has always existed, see "Son, Prodigal." And ultimately, the frustration, resentment and conflict inherent is summed up by the great Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us!" Great truths in comic strips. But we are our own enemies because the real ENEMY knows that "free will" has been in our DNA since the Fall.

"Blessed is he who has become magnanimous and kindhearted and not enslaved himself to untamed vehemence or wicked wrath; he will be magnified by the Lord.
Blessed is he who has been exalted in love and stands like a city built on a mountaintop, from whom the enemy withdraws with terror when he sees him; for he fears a man who is firm in the Lord.
Blessed is he who has shone forth with faith in the Lord like a bright candle on a tall candlestick, and has illumined the souls of those in darkness who followeed the teaching of the faithless and the irreverent.
Blessed is he who ever loves truth and does not let his lips arm dishonor with lies, for he fears the commandment that forbids even idle talk.
Blessed is he who does not foolishly judge his neighbor, but rather, as befits a reasonable, spiritual man, tries first to cast our the beam from his own eye.
Blessed is he who has consciously exercised restraint, and who has never been seduced, neither in thought nor in his senses, by skin and flesh which soon pass and putrefy.
Blessed is he who keeps the day of his departure ever before his eyes, and has learned to hate arrogance before our inherent worthlessness is to be revealed by putrefaction in the grave.

St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373)

My wife offered that to me on our way down to meet CMAA friends in San Diego.
I will be ever grateful and in her debt, because these "beatitudes" speak to me most profoundly. I must memorize them, set them like a seal, and pray for St. Ephrem's intercession on my behalf, because he's talking to me! (You talkin' to me? YEAH, culbreth, I'M TALKIN' TO YOU!!!)

From this Sunday's Gospel-
"Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not annoint my head with oil, but she annointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."

Amen. Is that not liturgy at its finest hour?

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Spoiler Alert!


I've borrowed this image from THE CRESCAT, Lord knows where Kat found it.If you're at all familiar with that blog, Kat's gestalt stands alone in the universe. She'll populate her DennisMiller-esque rants with the gamut of artistic expressions-from the sublime to the....well.
One can easily imagine what commentary now crowds the combox of her post unveiling this image: LDS this, LSD that, SDA this, JDub that...etc. Others marvel over the quaintness of the image's style, the depiction of a bygone era, etc.

I wonder if the image provides us an opportunity for some self-examination? If we're personally secure within our Roman Catholic skins and accept that within that the organs of the Body cooperate with each other naturally and with total respect, then how come we so easily molt ourselves from that skin occasionally to make mirth and merry at others' expense? Does that affirm our internal comprehension of the tenets of the four pillars (One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic)? Or does it suggest we are just as susceptible to ridiculing others at a chaotic level not too dissimilar that cartoonists who need to draw images of Islam's Mohammed for no other reason than to demean the tenets of the religion? What was the second part of Christ's answers to the rabbis about the greatest of I AM's commandments again?
Okay, reverse roles when I say "go." Your best means of articulated communication is as a visual artist, but you're not particularly a brilliant artist. Your vision tends to be didactic at best, but you're okay with that. Your task: depict the dormition of the BVM, and then her assumption into heaven; depict the Immaculate Conception; depict the encounters of the BVM with Juan Diego or the children at Fatima and moments in those narratives- the roses falling from the Tilma or the spinning whirly gig Sun; depict the flying St. Joseph of Cupertino, or the bi-locating of St. Pio; depict the resolution of having three popes claim the ring of St.Peter simultaneously....
Now, let's switch gears and look for something nobler in the above image. Sure, there's no altar. But isn't there something very catholic, if erroneous (and it's not about heresy)about the central notion of a communion activized between heaven and earth in the moment of worship? Or did I read Scott Hahn's "THE LAMB'S SUPPER" insufficiently? (Don't answer that.) Isn't there something that still rings very true about the disposition of the congregation's posture and dress that calls our generation of worshipping catholics to repentance and reparations?
I'm not an aesthete, but I play one at cocktail parties. But if we can accept C.S. Lewis' Aslan and Screwtape as worthwhile depictions, or even just tolerate the lamest of catholic kitsch, what is there to gain by dissing other RELIGION's kitsch and then retreating back into our catholic skins?
On the other hand, should an innocent lamb of an LDS kid or JDub posse knock on my door with a picture of Bernini's magnificent sculpting of "The Ecstacy of St. Therese," I will be most happy to try to craft my verbal response to their puzzlement about that subject matter that disrespects neither of our predispositions.
Your mileage may vary. Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear.GO!

Saint Mary’s Parish
Order of Music-June 6, 2010
The Most Holy Body and Blood/Corpus Christi


The first number references the Breaking Bread hymnal; the next number is the accompaniment page; the last number references the Choral Praise hymnal.

Introit Antiphon:S “The Lord fed His people…” Simple Choral Gradual/Richard Rice
Entrance: S #315 WE GATHER HERE TO WORSHIP 923 (Joncas) new
E #307 COME TO THE FEAST/VEN AL BANQUETE 117 (Hurd)

Opening Rites: S Misa Oecumenica Kyrie /Gloria(Proulx)
E Kyrie (Sleeth Mass)/Dancing Day Gloria (P.Ford)

Responsorial: SE Respond & Acclaim

Gospel Accl.: S Mode VI Alleluia-chanted
E Alleluia (Sleeth Mass)

Offertory: SE #333 IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD/Cuando partimos 258 (Hurd)

Eucharistic Accl.:S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Holy/Christ/ Amen /Lamb (Sleeth Mass)

Communion Procession:SE Antiphon: “Whoever eats my flesh…” SCG/R.Rice
S #340 I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE/Yo soy… 235 (Toolan) cp
E #335 AMEN: EL CUERPO DE CRISTO 33 (Schiavone)

Communion Anthem:
S AVE VERUM CORPUS (WAM)
E THIS IS MY BODY (Culbreth)

Recessional: S #578 LAUDATE, LAUDATE DOMINUM 287 ( Walker )
E #602 WE ARE CALLED 589 (Haas)

Thursday, June 03, 2010

I normally don't do this sort of thing, but the Roc had this photograph posted at Whispers today:

Says It All!
Simply one of the most beautiful and reverent representation of our Cathoic faith I've ever encountered.
That's all. Don't need a backstory. Don't need to know much 'bout biology,
What I do know is that I love you....and if you love me too? Christianity!

Tuesday, June 01, 2010


WERE IT SO.....

A CMAA friend and colleague posted this question at the Musica Sacra Forum:

Let's just imagine a bishop is looking for ideas as to how to get the people of his diocese interested in Gregorian chant. He has one, maybe two very busy musicians working for him directly. Though amenable to such a broad project, it is unlikely that they'd be able to add any more to their workload.

This bishop- like several I imagine- desires authentic liturgical renewal and recognizes the beauty and primacy of Gregorian chant. He'd prefer the incremental approach, and he's working at ground zero in all but a handful of parishes.


As we privately communicated, she expressly wanted my $.57 worth of advice, so this is what I offered:

*Avail the DM/Organist of the cathedral (and his rector) with what others have called a mandate from bishop, along with timetables and benchmark assessment points that eventually culminate with the weekly Sunday scheduling of an Ordinary Form Mass wherein virtually everything, save the homily, is chanted, whether in English (or another vernacular) or Latin. I would not advocate within this “mandate” the goal of scheduling an EF Mass, as there are parishes in proximity that offer that form weekly. This articulated mandate, chronology and methodology must also be published in the diocesan newspaper, and all diocesan parish bulletins initially, with updates published over time in the same organs.

*Have diocesan personnel (HR, arggghhh) staff prepare a census of parishes within the diocese that have: 1. Full time DM’s and/or Directors of Liturgy; 2. PT Ministers of Music/Choir Directors; Pastors/Administrators; other interested clergy/laity with experience and interest in chant. Have the diocesan Director of Lit/Worship, or the chair of its Worship Commission (if that’s the case) prepare, review, print and mail/email a document that expresses the bishop’s will to establish an ad hoc commission in which he charges members to assess their own parish practices in relation to the curial legislation, the USCCB document STtL, the bishop’s rightful obligation and authority to lead the Faithful towards greater orthopraxis, the scholarship and catechesis provided in these concerns by the Holy Father in many published books and letters, and any/all pastoral concerns these reorientations would put into action at the parish level.

*If the diocese already has a number of highly experienced DMs/organists and pastors who are prominently known associates of CMAA, NPM and/or certain publishers. They could be convened to meet with the cathedral DM and the bishop himself, for a face to face sharing of their experiences with “re-forming” whole parish liturgical/musical practices, whether towards chant, other traditional forms, or contemporary/multicultural forms. The bishop, if an extremely gifted listener as is the Holy Father, would thus demonstrate his collegiality as a gateway towards engaging the likely diverse philosophies of these prominent DM’s to accept their responsibility to faithfully and completely serve the Church and her faithful through collaborative consultation and actions, rather than conflict and divisive disagreement.

*Have the DM of the cathedral and other DM’s where chant and polyphony is normatively employed at service cull an agreed-upon library of chant repertoires, in both vernacular (most likely English and Spanish) language(s) and Latin, and in both square-neume and modern, stem-less notehead typesets (ie. American Gradual) that will be used in the cathedral program, and eventually in parishes in deaneries that have the musical personnel resources to initiate the regular, systematic use of chanted Propers and ordinaries at Sunday Mass(es.)

*If the diocese engages in producing televised Masses for shut-ins, encourage the management of the production company invite more scholas or chant capable choirs to provide music for those. In a similar vein, cathedral and parishes that use podcasting their services should make concerted efforts to integrate heavily chanted Masses into their podcast rotations on the web.

*If the diocese has a strong tradition of celebrating “multiculturalism,” the bishop should make known his desire to integrate the native culture of chant into diocesan liturgical and devotional events. Orders of Worship should reflect this so that the bishop can exemplify the chant tradition in his cantillation of collects and prayers, in Latin or not.

*The bishop should also entreaty the advice of his fellow ordinaries in the metropolitan as to these efforts, so that he can be regarded by his brothers as leading by example, rather than a pastor who defers responsibility upward.