Weekly School Mass at CTK, CC, TX

I wrote a note to Paula, who had responded to my last post. Our Cathedral hosted its annual Catholic school Mass yesterday (Wednesday). It was a pathetic venture into the banal, and my kids knew it. - Read the response/beef to see the entire diatribe.....

Tomorrow, we celebrate the memorial of St. Augustine. The kids are excited, because today was the memorial of St. Monica. It's rare - if ever, that we have Mom-son memorial masses!

Our music lineup is similar to Sunday, sans the singing of the psalm, gloria and credo. (Oops, we don't sing the creed...)

Kyrie, Sanctus, Mortem tuam, Agnus Dei - Jubilate Deo collection (Masses 16, 3, 18)
Entrance: O God, Beyond All Praising - Thaxted (three stanzas, St. Michael Hymnal)
Introit: Tone 8
Alleluia: Exultate Jubilate/Alleluia - Mozart
Communion: O God, You Search Me - Bernadette Farrell (the only one by her that I do)
Communion - Tone 8
After the Blessing: Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament -
Cantemos al Amor
Recessional: The Eternal Gifts of Christ the King - Deo Gracias (Agincourt Carol, sans alleluias)

Next Friday, the kids will have their first music exam from me - it's part of my instituting the RSCM scheme on a RC level. Much of the exam will deal with hymns, the tunes we've sung, the composers, authors, metre, tune names, and the centuries involved in those tunes and texts.

I've come up with a quick discipline tactic: At the beginning of every class, I write the words Bel Canto on the board. The goal is to keep all the letters up there. If there's misbehavior, lack of attention, unruliness, etc., a letter is erased....if there's bellyaching about a letter being erased, another one gets erased. That gets things quieted down right forth. Now, if all the letters were to disappear, it means that the entire class would have a 500 word essay due by the following week. If this happens on Friday, God help them, because it's due on Monday. They know that I will rarely, if ever, give out a homework assignment, other than to listen to a piece of music (heck, I don't want to spend my evenings grading papers!), so behavior is not a huge issue with me.

More later. Tally ho, everyone. Tomorrow's the end of the week.... for some people. I still have five Masses to get ready for!

SteveO