What I’ve found ironic and interesting is that both here and on the MS Forum we’ve engaged in a fair amount of chatter about……what? Chant? Polyphony? Orchestral Masses? Nope, the ironic part is that due to the “FIRST THINGS” Casey Kasem Top Ten article, we’ve bandied about a large amount of discussion about so-called “Contemporary Worship Music.” As regards that specific article, I’ve said my peace.
However, in light of continued discussion in other threads, I’d like to offer some suggestions for DM’s who must wrestle with the yearly concerns of subscription missal/hymnal publications, and also who are charged with overseeing the programming responsibilities of subordinate musical personnel, such as organists,cantors, ensembles and choirs, to whom license is provided to make their own weekly decisions as to repertoire.
First of all, as a relatively still new member of CMAA, (with four decades of service under a very oversized belt) I absolutely recommend those obvious strategies outlined by Dr. Mahrt, Fr. Keyes, Jeffrey Tucker, Mary Jane Ballou and others have addressed at colloquia, intensives and in “Sacred Music” articles. Namely, hold sessions for musicians and other interested parties (like PRIESTS) that clarify the necessity of familiarization with liturgical legislative documents; prioritize and disseminate information about the role of the proper processional antiphons; clarify the variety of roles that the constituent parties engage in at Mass, such as the responsibility of celebrants to sing their orations versus recitation whenever possible, or which portions of the liturgies have options as to who, what, where, why and how a choir or cantor should be the primary performer of select “movements” and which demand total active participation by the whole congregation. This is Liturgy 101. We can all think of other aspects that must be in place prior to engaging your colleagues with your expertise and direction as advice worthy of their consideration to put into practice.
In another thread I mused that there’s another dimension in the universe where we DM’s could dial in our hymnal content to THE BIG THREE and they would obligingly, gleefully print our boutique annual hymnals. Well, that’s likely not going to happen soon. So, if you are a DM or responsible for choosing repertoire from a subscription or seasonal newsprint hymnal I suggest you get used to this notion: You must plow through that book with a fine toothed comb not only when the first perusal copy hits your mailbox, but virtually each week. Much that I’ve garnered through anecdotal and direct observation is that second-tier music leadership relies upon- A. a personal stable of favorites that they simply trust will always be in each year’s issue; and B. the publishers’ shill periodicals that enable the musician to do the Chinese Restaurant menu choice method of programming. Neither of those strategies benefits a parish’s growth towards enhanced music that is sacred, beautiful and universal.
So, in my case, two years ago, when our parish merged with three others, I created a basic informational tool for my musical corps- a spreadsheet review of literally every enumerated musical item in the OCP Breaking Bread Hymnal. In addition to the fields of title, composer/hymn tune, seasonal/general assignment, etc., I applied MY own overall grade of worthiness to each selection using the A to F curricular adjudication. I then had another field in the spreadsheet if I felt a need to explain the grade. If I wanted to push a tune with an A grade, I would give short phrase reasons, the same for poorly graded pieces. This is a fair amount of work, but it accomplishes a few obvious goals, and some others that are oblique. Obviously, such a document provides your crew with benchmarks that clearly state how the DM values or regards the hymnal content, piece by piece and in toto. If I grade “Blest Be the Lord” as a “D” with a small mention that its genre is dated or simply hokey, a cantor at least knows that if s/he employs it, it is not in concert with what I consider ideal. A more subtle benefit is that by providing a comprehensive, simple review, a DM is communicating to all, “I know this book and this publisher backwards, forwards and in my sleep. Elaine R. McQueeny and Fred Moleck have their tents in Portland and Chicago. Charles’ office is next to the church.” All the CD/Itunes recordings done in studio or cathedral environments for demonstration purposes have all sorts of lipstick and façade product slathered within that won’t be there with the lonely guitar player or lead-sheet pianist looks at a cantor’s choice and says “How does this go?” Your musical staff must know that you know your stuff and are willing to place a tangible value upon some of their “favorites” that will discomfort them, or more hopefully encourage them to expand their “stable.”

Another strategy is scheduling parish reading sessions open to musical staff and parishioners in general. Scheduling is a real problematic issue, not just because of personal issues, but seasonal demands. But, OCP (for example) ships in annual hymnals well in advance of Advent I. Even if you have tremendous rehearsal or administrative demands preparing for Advent/Christmas/Epiphany, I believe the DM review process can be accomplished as soon as perusal copies come in advance of the shipment. And then try to schedule the public reading session for items in the mid-autumn with about an hour and a half of selections that are new to the yearly issue and most worthy of consideration; it doesn’t matter what genre of style. Worthiness (sacred, universal and beautiful) is the highest priority. If this cannot be accomplished in autumn, then it must happen in the first weeks of Ordered Time prior to Lent. I also recommend that you use the most basic of accompaniment instruments, no frills in the exposition. Personally, I never listen to demo recordings. I don’t ever read the keyboard accompaniment scores. I make my decisions after simply auditioning text and melody alone, period. So, the DM can then determine whether it is most appropriate for a piece to be accompanied solely by an organ, a piano, a guitar or combination of those three.
Then, after you’ve premiered these, your selections, poll your musical personnel as to which selections of their preference they would like “demonstrated” at a subsequent reading session. And have another session, perhaps post Pentecost through Trinity Sundays into summer ordinary time.
In both types of reading sessions, it is of paramount necessity for the DM to articulate in much more detail the aspects of each selection that make it either worthy or unsuitable for common usage. If you are diplomatic, no one will huff and puff at these sessions over your pronouncements because time is at a premium. They want to get through reading all the items on your program. And, of course, within your explanations, there must be the constant and consistent threads of how each selection adheres to “the paradigm” in terms of theological orthodoxy, relationship to the psalter and to propers, aesthetic issues inherent in both text (“Yeah, Your Grace IS ENOUGH, yeah…) and music (Somos el Cuerpo de Cristo, Oob la dee, Oob la da, life goes on…..br*, oh nevermind, let’s not go there.)
I’ll be doing my summer session soon, and one thing I will do is measure my own enthusiasm with my comportment. I will likely strive to deliver the direction of the session more with the quiet surety of Professor Mahrt, rather than the blowhard “Vince, the ShamWow Guy- You Gotta Hear Dis Great Song, You can’t live wit’out it!”
And remember rule number one: don’t talk too much. Keep them singing 95% of the time.
In the next installment of this article, I’ll demonstrate my approach to selecting pieces for reading sessions.

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?

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.

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.'"

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)

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?

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)

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!

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.

Hey, She's at least not Solicitor General Kagan!

Short of ordaining HELEN MIRREN or FRANCESCA ANNIS as a prelate,
the C of E could have done a lot worse on the PR front. Of course, I'm a sucker for women with nice smiles and glasses.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

He reminded me of Fr. Solanus Casey. It seemed everytime I saw George Cooke he was entering the church side door as I was leaving from the prior Mass; memory says he, therefore, was always surrounded in light when we encountered each other. His smile would put those of the Cheshire Cat, Sarah Palin and Louie Armstrong in hiding.
George, I've heard, left the Church for a significant period of his life. But when I met him years ago, he was back in her arms as a loving child. He eventually entered the Third Order Franciscans, and with some of his younger, much younger confreres founded a garage schola (Gregorian Schola of St. Francis) long before the movement really got moving. George always said he couldn't really sing, but he would don the cassock and surplice over his brown habit and lip sync or sotto voce the chants in earnest with his fellows. He could always be found at food giveaways with friends of our service organziations. And at our last seasonal concert (Christmastide) he read the translations of the 4th Sunday Advent, Christmas Day and Epiphany Introits before the schola guys chanted them masterfully.
His passing was a surprise, though he'd been in ICU on a ventilator for a while, gradually being weaned from it and we all thought he'd walk with us for a while more. But God smiles, too. And smiled upon his good and faithful servant George at about 6:30pm last evening. A saint (in waiting?) God knows. In my heart, no doubt.
God bless you, George, with eternal Light, Peace and Joy in His Presence. Now sing with a glorious voice.

What Does This Image Mean to You?
First Impression.....

Sweetly benign, set apart?
Its wearer called beyond the banalities of the world? Its wearer sacramentally mandated to be both and at once the human presence of Christ's authority and His (and God's) "mandatum" to be a servant to God's disciples and faithful, putting at odds every man's longing for humility and his need to dominate?

Is there a tension that necessary requires its wearer to lean towards God as an unyielding arbiter of total subserviance to unwavering principles and values of behavior, not to mention obedience and cowering love, and who demands such under penalty and promise of purely black and white eternal judgment?




Is there an unavoidable inclination in our post-modern world that while our BIG BROTHER accessibility to information about anything and anyone informs our regard for those who wear the "collar," that such men cannot integrate the spectrum of expections of their public and personal world-views without resorting to natural fall-back behaviors of denial, egotism, clericalism or denial, naivite and accomodation for its own sake, and such?

For myself, I am convicted that humanity needs the eternal surety of leadership that best represents both the God of justice and mercy. I am likewise convinced that humanity can no longer afford to be passive if that leadership transgresses or deifies either of those qualities via a personification of either that portrays the priests as a sole arbiter.

Simply stated, for none of us, lay or cleric, can it ever be "ALL ABOUT ME."


No, that is NOT "The Way." Look at this man's eyes! When he was ordained and endowed with the privilege and poverty of donning the collar, pride and power were removed by more than the number of dimensions of the universe, so that he could reflect both justice and mercy to all who knocked upon his door.

av·a·tar   /ˈævəˌtɑr, ˌævəˈtɑr/ –noun
1.Hindu Mythology. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.
2.an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life.
3.Computers. a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet. (courtesy "Dictionary.com

As a soul, I suppose the film pantocrator wouldn't hesitate to drop me into the bin labeled "Terry Gilliam." There's way too much detritus (and isn't everything of this world detritus?) floating about within my cranium that I've always gotten Gilliam and his fellow travelers. Were I really to catch Judge R. Bean on a good day, I might be consigned to the "Coen Brothers" aggregate, though, of late, that might not be much more, uh, comforting.
I've enjoyed most of James Cameron's career. But this little missive ain't about da "king of the world," though he's obviously on top of his and THE game. It's not about revisionist history, ala Tarantino's masterwork "Inglorious Basterds" shares that common factor with "Avatar." Nor is it about theology, ecology, CGI mating with "Ferngully" or mythology and science fiction.
I hope that someone noticed that Cameron wrote at perhaps the most pivotal moment in the saga that "the people" gathered ritually to efficate a "resurrection," so to speak, employed what could rightly be described as "pristine chant." Nevermind the rest of the story; we had crusades with dubious objectives and outcomes too, ya know?
I also hope that it was obvious that the people congregated had to have acquired the chant (words and music NOT EQUAL to the sum of their parts) from oral/aural traditions, that notion backed up by the plot's forthright insistence of their cosmological unity and memory.
I don't know if Mr. Cameron and his associates meant to unite the affects of liturgy with the metaphysics of his cosmos in a way that endorses sensient beings yielding to communion to the higher power, one that barely crosses the malevolent, gluttonous hordes that had become the viking and vandal human demons of various choirs (military and industrial) that choose to serve evil in the name of a perceived good.
But I'm going to give Cameron props for taking that significant amount of time to pay homage to the attributes we celebrate as "the chant." Namely, that it is "timeless, universal and beautiful" and therein lies its meaning as a gift to receive and give as generations remember into the future.

They’ ll know we are Christians by our
DEMILITARIZED ZONES?

I’ve glanced, just glanced, over a recent article posted by the eminent chant scholar and director Edward Schaefer, DMus., at PRAY TELL. I really must take it in thoroughly, with due attention, as his testament is as valuable to a liturgical practitioner as Fr. Ruff’s tome is to a historian and philosopher.
What of it that seized my attention was his confession that he has apparently made the decision to “vote,” I mean worship with his feet by traveling each Sunday to attend an Extraordinary Form Mass, even though that requires traveling over a hundred miles away from home, and presumably his “home parish.”
His is a real saga to be sure. He has paid serious dues for a long time, perhaps rendering to Caesars within the Church that which was not theirs to demand. His decision cannot possibly be associated with those that advocate that church to be “smaller and purer.”
But, for the immediate future, that is precisely to what he has opted to enjoin his soul and his talents.
But this post isn’t really about Dr. Schaefer and his laudable, life-long efforts to ensure that the music he directed at service to God was ever “sacred, universal and beautiful.”

In his story, mine, and those of most folks I know in our particular trawlers on the fickle seas, there has always been constant and varied tensions that make us literally “world weary.” I mean, of course, all that which we curse as “The Liturgy Wars.” But whether the turf we’re attacking or defending is the object of mere skirmishes or full-on frontal assaults as in the Bulge in Belgium, the siege of Leningrad or the protracted insanity of global terrorism, our “war” is really a civil dispute between family members, more akin to the Korean Conflict than a world war, God help us.
Simply because why, having access to more data about “wha’ happened” and to “what should happen” do we, who call ourselves fellows, find ourselves more disabled in the realms of worship than we do in the world itself, to which we are dismissed to both witness to Christ’s Kingship and to recognize Him among the least and most lost of our and His own kind and kin?
We proclaim the Kingdom of God daily in the prayer Jesus offered in response to the most human of questions: “Lord, how should we pray?” We crown Christ as being wholly that King on the last Lord’s Day of each liturgical year as tradition led us to acknowledge. This is not open to semantically nuanced contention by query over gender- specific or antiquated, militaristic revisionist agendas.
We talk a great deal about being fundamentally “anti-cultural” as Christians, both in word, deed and ritual, in contrast to the predominant, contemporaneous social cultures that hold sway over much of our daily lives. We tend to build up some extreme entity to be a hallmark of culture, and then systematically begin to dismantle it and discredit it as its novelty becomes passé. How Christian is that? Sounds more like a wandering, meandering, mistrustful tribe fashioning a new variation on the ol’ local deity theme: “Ooh, we gotta have THIS Golden Calf” before “he” returns from the mountain with the “SOSDD” dictums from “AM.” Rejecting kings is in all of our bloodlines. Only we Americans put a smarmy, sneering spin on it, thinking only as far back as King George or Huey Long. (And how perverse is it that we re-coronate the legacies of truly troubled souls such as Elvis or Michael Jackson after we air out the dirty laundry of their lives upon their deaths?)
We must, as Catholics, remember and honor with equanimity the three legs upon which our Church stands: Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. Like it or not, we adhere to an infrastructure founded upon hierarchies, both in our rituals and our administrations. If we accept the notion of the Church Militant, we are obliged to recognize, nee salute its hierarchy, its chain of command. To me, it seems as Hoyle as “natural law.”
But what does it portend when we break ranks with each other because we don’t like or respect or recognize the office of our local “Captain, my Captain?” And we convince ourselves that we can no longer fulfill our sacramental needs among our own neighbors and family (whom we are to un-categorically recognize as “Christ at our door”) if the attributes of the Captain’s leadership, style and those of his crew we find empty or wanting?

to be....

Whatsoever You Do:
Don't "bookend" viewings of A SERIOUS MAN and THE HURT LOCKER back to back in any proximity. In an increasingly shorter span of time I have gone from having to deliberate the existential implications of sociopaths Anton Shigur and Daniel Plainview to the all-too-imminent chaos theory portrayed by the random, achingly meaningless, inconsequential and unfathomable "stories" of these two "Best Film" nominees.
Neither of them has jack squat to do with RC Liturgical Music. Though I must say that there were a couple of ritual oasis moments in "A Serious Man" relevant to reconcilation and sacramental initiation that could give an aware catholic pause.
But, taking these two in at one sitting could prove detrimental to those among us who really believe that there is no world worth considering outside of a sanctuary replete with ritual and its accoutrements.
For me and mine, we need these "shake and bake" moments to remind humanity that to be in the presence of God could prove both dangerous to one's faith, but interminably and excrutiatingly tortuous, with not even a "meaningful" outcome guaranteed.
So, I will be most happy tomorrow to recognize love, which cannot but grow, in the unity that is both unison and in harmony.

Transgressions.

It is beyond my comprehension why so many of us, while traversing the highway of our lives on this earth in these, our eternal souls, cannot resist the billboards lining the way enticing us to exit to see the reptile farm, the cadillac ranch, the house-sized ball of yarn, the Winchester Mystery House, any garish freak show coming up on the next exit.
So, we cannot look at the beggars at our prominent city intersections, even if we drop them a fiver. We cannot bear to see the good heart that may actually beat under the torn and worn clothing of the homeless, so we look away or even cross the street to avoid encounter.
But we will, dollars to donuts, slow down to rubberneck the fiery car crash. We will spend hours looking for "dirt," whether for mere entertainment or for sinister or sinful purposes.
So, now the world's at attention as the infinitesmal looking glass tries to fry open the life, the soul, the integrity of a King that was presumed, nee even ordained, to have been the epitome of a champion. Tiger as Aslan. "Say it ain't so, Joe," is the legendary quote from the kid/fan to Shoeless Joe at the culmination of the Black Sox scandal.
Well, Christ be with Mr. Woods, his wife, his children and those closest to his heart.
Memo to all Talking Heads: All our houses are made of glass in this veil of tears. Try to remember that before you circle your next kill and enter the feeding frenzy. Remember that; Christ will remember.
Then look in the mirror.

From Fr. Anthony de Mello, SJ-"The Heart of the Enlightened"
"A former inmate of a Nazi concentration camp was visiting a friend who had shared an ordeal with him.
'Have you forgiven the Nazis' he asked his friend.
'Yes.'
'Well, I haven't. I'm still consumed with hatred for them.'
'In that case,' said his friend gently, 'they still have you in prison.'"

...(our enemies are not those who hate us but those whom we hate)...

"We will not negotiate with terrorists"
This quote is so ubiquitous that to ascribe an original source is not worth the time to research, in my opinion. But it has been so oft misappropriated and uttered by blustery pols and demigogues that it is cliche in Hollywood scripts.
Try thinking about the quote if it were uttered by St. Francis of Assissi. What if by living the prayer we realized the truth of the impotence of terrorism?

It is posited the original publication of the prayer of St. Francis was submitted anonymously to the French publication La Clochette in 1912.

Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l'amour.
Là où il y a l'offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l'union.
Là où il y a l'erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l'espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu'à consoler,
à être compris qu'à comprendre,
à être aimé qu'à aimer,
car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit,
c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve, c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné,
c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie.


Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

I did not come to bury OCP...

After the last post, it occured to me that I might be counted among those that are fully encamped in the "OCP is THE LITURGICAL/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX" wing of musical directors. That's not the case.
So, in a possibly insufficient, but earnest effort at "restorative justice" I'd like to mention that in the same issue of TODAY'S LITURGY, Angela Westhoff-Johnson, OCP's octavo reviewer and editorial staffer (as well as Portland Cathedral's DM) reviews one composition by a very talented, under the radar, composer. The piece is an "O Magnum Mysterium" by Douglas Kingsley. I completely agree with the compact praise for this work by Mrs. Westhoff-Johnson, and likely would have added more.
(She also offers a larger review of Michael Joncas' "Rorate caeli" that directors with solid choirs should audition, absolutely!)
I briefly met Mr. Kingsley in the Spring of this year. He happened to have attended our Schola Mass inwhich we generally sing the Rice Choral Propers, a couple of chant ordinary movements, chant at Communion and a motet. He introduced himself after the Mass as a chorister from the DC/Baltimore area, we chatted, I think I gave him a copy of a Gloria that is based upon Proulx's "Misa Oecumenica." He was so gentlemanly, kind and unpretentious. He never once mentioned he was a composer with many pieces published by Trinitas, OCP's more challenging choral series. Then I received in the Summer a post with about three of his pieces, including the reviewed work. Sublime stuff. Check Mr. Kingsley's work out by all means. Mrs. Westhoff-Johnson thought his piece was a humble gem to keep in folders for quick access, if needed. I think there's more depth to his noble simplicity than that, but she was very positive. So am I about Mr. Doug Kingsley.

Saturday meandering. That means I'm wandering aimlessly. Which means I'm kind of going sideways to sideways.

This post is likely to take some time to process, both for myself as I lay it out, and for anyone who takes up the task of reading and following a possible tenuous thread.
In the latest volume of the OCP periodical, TODAY'S LITURGY (Advent-Epiphany 09-10) Dr. Elaine Renler-McQueeny offers the following commentary for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Music Selections (the word emphases are mine, without explanation):

"Our liturgy overflows with the news that our God loves us, and that he has prepared a human body for his Son. Almost everyone is familiar with the scriptural text of the Magnificat. Kudos to musicians for teaching it in song. For a change of pace, here's a contemporary poetic rendering of Mary's Canticle for your Advent reflection. Sometimes we use this version...before meals during this graced season. Teachers often have enjoyed using it with youth at retreats and non-liturgical gatherings. May you and your musicians (and even your liturgy committees) enjoy Mary's Song from The Message.

I'm bursting with God-news;
I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.>

God took one good look at me, and look what happened-
I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
The God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
On those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
Scattered the bluffing braggarts,
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
Pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
The callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
He remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It's exactly what he promised,
Beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

Luke 1:46-55, The Message. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004

When I first read this yesterday I was struck dumb by a number of reactions. What would prompt a reasonably respected Liturgist/Musician to proffer such an impoverished and pretentiously modest translation of a perfect singularity among all of scriptural and liturgical hymntexts ever transcribed and uttered for human edification? Even though Dr. Rendler qualifies its usage as devotional or inspirational, for personal not liturgical assignment, that she would determine that this mixture of pre-adolescent prose in a soup that also contains bodice-ripper images of God's arms that would make Michelangelo blush, and which is a blatantly pale surrogate for the metaphors in the Song of Solomon, as well as a hubris on Mary's part that contradicts (in my estimation) the overall ethos of supreme humility and trust in God explcitly evident in the scripture passage, (pause for breath) confounds me. And I was literally surprised that her source was Zondervan. No more to say on that.

Where I'm going with this is that it might be reasonable to conclude that Dr. Rendler and Archbishop Trautman are philosophical pals if the issue of literacy and understanding of our ritual texts was on their table. Maybe that's a stretch of an assumption, and I know what "assume" can lead to, but....
Abp. Trautman has fired his official salvo across the bow regarding the "intelligibility" with this recent quote: "“The vast majority of God’s people in the assembly are not familiar with words of the new missal like ‘ineffable,’ ‘consubstantial,’ ‘incarnate,’ ‘inviolate,’ ‘oblation,’ ‘ignominy,’ ‘precursor,’ ‘suffused’ and ‘unvanquished.’ The vocabulary is not readily understandable by the average Catholic,”

The standard rendition of the Magnificat:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Returning to Dr. Rendler's endorsed version, is Mary bursting after receiving "God-news" literally (like Mr. Creasote in "The Meaning of Life") or is she acting like she just received a full-access pass backstage at a Josh Groban concert?
She dances. Is that magnifying God, and rejoicing? You make the call.
And his mercy "flows wave after wave." I get the generation analogy, but I'm a bit distracted more by an ironic image from the film "From here to eternity." My bad.
I need to wind this down. Obviously I realize that "bluffing braggarts" might be more accessible a term than "ignominy" and that teenagers may get it that "callous" might mean something other than hardened crusty fingertip tissue after a 48 hour "Guitar Hero" marathon.
But the thing that so msytifies me (and truthfully, offends me as a teacher) is that such efforts to make all vocabularies relevant and user-friendly literally insults the noble philosophical goal for all humans to savor the subtleties and treasures gifted to us by God with language. Is there no deeper meaning to transformative power when St. John writes "In the beginning was the Word."? And to think that those nuances become even more precious when they are transformed into many languages other than Latin to English!
When I think of mercies bestowed, I rather tend to think of a helping hand, a fresh breath and a new start and a rising attitude. Heck, I might even break out into singing with Josh- "You raise me UPPPPPPPP..."
But being piled upon, hmmmmmm. And piled on again? You don't want to know what that image could evoke.

Home at All Souls

As I mentioned in the last entry, my schedule has been erratic, my attention span more than erratic. So much so that this morning I'd not only forgotten that the school's second grade "All Saints Pageant" was TODAY, but I looked at watches that I'd not set back an hour on Saturday, called the school in a panic only to realize the time frame was still good! The kids were precious.
But somewhere in all the mix I didn't learn until verbal announcements yesterday that for the first time an ALL SOUL'S Mass would be held at our civic cemetery. So, I emailed the pastor and asked if he would like music ministry. Some of you might say, "Well, that's expected, C., why would you have to ask?" We have a lot of Masses among four parishes now, Christmas (and the school play doth approach as does the choral seasonal concert) and I'm bushed! How's that?
Anyway, the pastor was kind enough to reply in the affirmative. And he indicated one of our resident associates would be presiding at the cemetery.
So this morning, after the second grade, I hop to putting together THE ORDER OF MUSIC! I figured that a reasonable crowd of 50 folks would show; they're used to some Latin- heck, we're going for the whole enchilada!
So I use MS Pub and master up "Requiem aeternam" (Introit), provide the translation for the Offertorio, the Sanctus and Agnus Dei from "Jubilate Deo" (which conveniently are from the Requiem, the "Lux aeterna" for the Communio and "In paradisum" for the dismissal. We run off 100 copies and I figure we're locked and loaded. Then Father Dan comes in as we're running the second page of the back to back, and mentioned he'd envisioned a Spanish/English bi-lingual service with some "familiar" songs, title's unspecified.
The really cool thing is that we COLLABORATED; he got my thrust, I got his.
When Mass time began in the midst of the mausoleum at 12:15pm there were at least 150 people. The sun was brutal on the north half of the atrium, but the 40-50 seats somehow shifted to the shade and everyone found their, ahem, comfortable niche.
One of the speakers of the PA provided was in the corner of the mausoleum where my grandparents are interred, so I set up my stand there next to them. I can't describe the feeling I had throughout the Mass singing the chants and hymns with my namesake's remains within touching distance. And my crypt is a diagonal stone's throw across from their little cremation niches. The karma, the karma!
My Franciscan schola buddy, Ralph, joined me for a duo schola.
And off we go! The Mass has joined the ranks of those where purpose, intent, participation, spirituality, mystery and liturgy have locus together. Father Dan even went tri-lingual. His collects, prayers, homily and blessings flowed flawlessly from English to Spanish and, gasp, LATIN! It only reaffirmed to me a maxim that I posted here some time ago: when people mean to be there for the right reasons, they are engaged. And that doesn't just mean vocally.
We've been concluding funeral Masses with "In paradisum" consistently for a number of years now, but we've always had just a cantor or a small schola render the chant. What a moment to have the folk make their best attempts at joining in that beautiful commendation.
And as Father Dan said, this "new" tradition for us in this town simply is a natural grafting upon those primitive gatherings in the burial catacombs of our forebears millenia ago.
God bless the souls in Purgatory. Pray for them as the Saints pray for us. If we forbear, our reservation to finally see our Heavenly Host and His hosts will always be honored.

Rembrandt von Rijn,
THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON.


The Muse among the mongering...

I haven't been inattentive to posting purposely; there's been a significant amount of distraction and duties that have impacted my schedule over the last month. But, moreso than those, I've had reservations about "putting myself out there" amidst so much "noise" from all corners of "my" world.
I've been truly shocked by the incessant, indefensible and wholly incoherent series of bombings of "strategic" targets, aka "non-combatant" civilians in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan this week. I've been troubled by an apparently equally incoherent inability on the part of our national government leadership to actually govern, whether the issue is health care, the pandemic, the deployment of troops in the Middle East, the economy and banking, or whatever else is rendered unto Caesar.
I've been flummoxed at the sheer volume and shrill harping over the efforts of our Holy Father to reconcile with Christian denominations, the Orthodox, and our own divergent and perhaps schismatic Church's membership over issues, large and small, that he entreaties with charity, and is responded to with calumny and derision.
These last Sundays of the liturgical year do have, as our pastor rightly mentioned in a recent homily, a sense of urgency found in the scripture readings. That urgency reaffirms that we followers of Christ's Way have to make an ultimate decision that arbitrates nearly every thought we have and utter, and every decision and action we choose to take: are we about "power" and all that implies, or are we about "love" and all that implies? And there's nothing conditional about either of those maxims; we either live under one umbrella or the other. And the tempests and flurries of real life will yet and still try our fortitude to hold onto that umbrella, moment by moment, day by day, year by year.
To those who would think I'm an enemy- I offer you my love. To those who have loved me and I've offended that love- I offer my apology, sorrow and regret and repent of that sin in order to receive your love again. To my God, my Creator; His Son, my Redeemer and Lord; and the Spirit who counsels and comforts me- I love You with an undying, unyielding faith. And because of that, I will yield my self, my "power," and whatever other trappings of this earthly existence, as an offering in kind, substance and unity with Christ's redemptive sacrifice. And I will likely fail in holiness and truth. But I still choose "love."

Anima Christi, sanctifica me.
Corpus Christi, salva me.
Sanguis Christi, inebria me.
Aqua lateris Christi, lava me.
Passio Christi, conforta me.
O bone Jesu, exaudi me.
Intra tua vulnera absconde me.
Ne permittas me separari a te.
Ab hoste maligno defende me.
In hora mortis meae voca me.
Et iube me venire ad te,
Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te.
In saecula saeculorum.
Amen

Saint Mary’s Parish, California
Order of Music-Sept. 6, 2009
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time


Introit Antiphon:S Lord, You are just… (Simple Choral Gradual/R.Rice)

Entrance: S O GOD, BEYOND ALL PRAISING 366 (Thaxted)
E READY THE WAY 435 (B.Hurd) cp

Opening Rites: S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Kyrie/Glory to God (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Responsorial:SE Respond & Acclaim

Gospel Accl.:S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Alleluia (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Offertory:S HEALING RIVER OF THE SPIRIT (Beach spring)
E YOU ARE THE HEALING (Soper)

Eucharistic Accl.:S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Holy/Christ/ Amen /Lamb (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Communion Procession: SE Antiphon: JUST AS THE DEER (Sicut cervus-Palestrina)
SE PS. 42: AS THE DEER LONGS (B.Hurd)

Communion Anthem:S organ solo (if necessary)
E I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD 236 (Hayakawa)

Recessional:S NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD (Nun danket)
E YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH (Maher)

Twenty-second Sunday, Ordinary
Order of Music

Saint Mary’s Parish, California
Order of Music-Aug.30, 2009
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time



S=8:30/E=10am
Introit Antiphon: S “I call to You…” (Simple Choral Gradual/R.Rice)
Entrance:S NOW THAT THE MORNING HAS BROKEN (Brown)
E SPEAK, LORD (Uszler)

Opening Rites: S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Kyrie/Glory to God (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Responsorial:SE Respond & Acclaim

Gospel Accl.: S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Alleluia (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Offertory:S ALL GOOD GIFTS (Keil) from Epistle reading
E PRAISE TO YOU, O CHRIST OUR SAVIOR (B.Farrell)

Eucharistic Accl.:S Misa Oecumenica (Proulx)
E Holy/Christ/ Amen /Lamb (New Danish Amen Mass-Culbreth)

Communion Procession: Antiphon: “O Lord, how great is the depth…”(Simple Choral Gradual/R.Rice)
SE BLEST ARE THEY (Haas)

Communion Anthem:S IF YE LOVE ME (Tallis)
E YOUR WORDS ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE (B.Farrell)

Recessional:S Organ postlude
E IN THE DAY OF THE LORD (Ridge)

Sacre Bleu!
Le Cantique de Stephan Janco. I have more than a passing acquaintance with Steven Janco's much heralded "Mass of Angels and Saints." It's almost unbelievable how long it has been around, this heavyweight "contenda" destined to succeed MoC, according to their own publisher's initial publicity campaign of yore.

I have no doubt that the object d'art that hooked me when I first read the Mass setting was that its nose wafted with the aromas of truffles, anise, zitroen and most notably Michel Legrand. Legrand's Mancini (only French) penchant for the lilting melodic hook fascinated me from the day I first heard the music from "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg." Heck, Wendy and I had "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" sung during the Offertory at our wedding Mass. (It WAS 1974, whadidwe know?)
We even went to a few of Legrand's concerts when he'd blow through Concord.
Janco doesn't quote Legrand in MoAaS, but the motive that he repeatedly quotes (think of the Hosanna from the Sanctus) has that Franco-Euro soundtrack lilt that seems to only invoke "zat zounds zo luffly." And lovely it truly is.
I do remember, upon that first blush, noticing that this lovely tune was, however, less delicately supported by its choral arrangement. In point of fact, the SATB wasn't just inadequate, it was clumsy. I might have scribbled some alternative versions of movements that had the melody in the tenor and/or bass voices, with parallel harmonies assigned to altos and perhaps some contrapuntal descants whose rhythms alternated with those of the motive (think soprano versus alto lines in "Angels we have heard on high refrain")
Like MoC, MoAaS was supposed to be a hybrid; available to modernists and traddie choirs alike. But what was clear is that its metier was clearly geared for the ensemble, a Parisian quartet of piano, archtop guitar, bass and accordian. If you go to its publisher's order page today, you'll see about a dozen items you can order to augment this humble and singable Mass, including the ubiquitous Brass Quintet and Tympani parts! Mon Dieu!
We here in CenCA have infused it into rotation once in a bleu moon, but it doesn't hold our interest for more than a couple of months each go 'round. But, it is still fresh when not encumbered by too much accompaniment hoopla. Less is more, I believe, with this setting. Using a Django quartet and some light voices in the right mix, perhaps a soft soprano or alto sax lightly (not wailing like Jan Garbarek sometimes) improvising, has a nice finish.

Oh, and they used it in New Orleans this afternoon. I couldn't see clearly, but I think it was either Manny Ramirez or Big Papi on tympani.
A little Legrand goes a long way. Oh, and a little Faure to compliment the spiritual would relieve the palate as well. Au revoir.

Pretty much sums it up for me.


Coming SOON:
LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUTTA
THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
Liturgy and Music: Marines-Strong!
HT to Creative Minority Report

For those who are confused as to what this is about.
CREATIVE MINORITY REPORT is an orthodox blog that approaches the practice of Catholic living from the perspective of humor. They self-attribute their collective blog name from the following quote:
""Believing Christians should look upon themselves as such a creative minority and ... espouse once again the best of its heritage, thereby being at the service of humankind at large." --Joseph Ratzinger
The accompanying and borrowed graphic is from one of their author/artists who meant to capitalize (for better or worse) the then prevailing U.S. Government policy of "Cash for Clunkers" in the auto industry, which was promulgated to incentivize people towards both trading in older, inefficient cars for more idyllic technology in certain companies' catalogues. The analogy spoofed the whole project by the common, comical notion of the car salesman. But underlying the whole notion of both the graphic as well as the blog is that our Holy Father is decidedly NOT, unlike his or other public figures' caricatures, "crazy."
By satirizing the transient (sorry for the hapless, hirsute cleric) for the ideal, the faux-ad declares unabashedly a longing for real reform, real benefit, real human dignity that has been contravened for four generations of gadgetry.
Holy Father Benedict XVI, Papa and Bishop of Rome, is only "crazy" like a fox. He has the Light of Christ pointed for us to show us the way: lex orandi, lex credendi.

I am generally amused by the CREATIVE MINORITY folks' living up to their nominal adjective. I am generally not amused by those who miss the big point in order to demonize such free-thinking that works with and for the Church and the Holy Spirit. But, I digress. Such now have their explanation for the post. In such hubris, they betray the humility of their faith, their spiritual leader and the tenets of Christ's second answer to the Pharisees' semantical trap: "What is the greatest commandment?"