IN THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF iSNARK! MEDIA...

Three podcast episodes in a two-week span!


Pep talk just before the full implementation of the Roman Missal, Third Typical Edition!


Music special for the Last Week of Ordinary Time (Christ the King and Thanksgiving Day)


Do we really have to "gloat in song" about our actions?

You'll find these ONLY on


Liturgy, music, and fun, in a way only iSNARK! can provide!
Peace,
BMP

MORE FUN AT MY NEW DIGS!

On this episode, we have a traffic report, a fraternal correction, music by Johnny Proctor, music written by Picchi, Remondi, et al, a brand-spankin-new Top Ten List, and much more!

Direct listen link
Complete show notes
Subscribe at iTunes
Fans of the iSNARK! at Facebook

Enjoy!
Peace,
BMP

HE'S BAAAAAAAAACK!

Clips like Feasts for the Week and Don't Do This at Church are back. Here we talk about my new job, play a bunch of music, mainly for Holy Week and the April First Friday Mass. Charlie Crowe spreads his "Joy" and Shamus O'Reilly (yup, he's back too!) inflates "Ye Sons and Daughters".

Brace yourselves!

Direct listen link
Complete show notes
Subscribe at iTunes
Fans of the iSNARK! at Facebook

Enjoy!
Peace,
BMP

COMING SOON...

iSNARK!

Taking over where Christus Vincit ANYWHERE! abandoned you.

Check out the audio preview below. (Buckle up before doing so!)
Peace,
BMP

A COLLABORATION ON ONE OF DAMIAN'S POSTS

Damian Thompson has posted a liturgy video - pretty much the UK version of those liturgies at the infamous Los Ahn-ga-leeze Religious Mis-edu-ma-cation Congress (aka "MahonyFest" - btw, the 2009 version should be coming to Anaheim pretty soon - brace yourselves!).

In the same post, Damian mentioned that Bobbie Mickens expressed his tears of disappointment when he learned that Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI nearly four years ago. He's now crying foul at the Holy Father's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, something he predicted at the beginning of Pope Benedict's papacy.

Similarly, when Summorum Pontificum was released, you might remember than an Italian prelate also shed tears of sadness, saying that all of Abp. Bunigni's work is "cancelled". In light of that, as part of CVA #88 (for you rookies, that's episode 88 of Christus Vincit ANYWHERE!, posted on July 13, 2007), I had included a three-minute clip called Liturgy 911, where our distinguished liturgy cops Papa Joe Ratzi and Frank A. Rinze cheer up the distraught bishop.

Listen to that three-minute clip here!

Peace,
BMP

2008 CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

Merry and blessed Christmas to all readers, listeners, viewers, etc.
I'll be doing my next CVA episode just after the New Year. I've just been busier than a one-legged monkey in a buttkicking contest - 60 hours a week, Christmas shopping, and trying my hand at writing some stand-up comic monologues.

Peace,
BMP

CONTEST EXTENSION ON...

I'm still working on CVA #149. I should have it done within the next couple of days. This is what happens when you're on 60-hour work weeks.

Anyhoo, the contest I've been announcing had a deadline of November 1. I will extend it to November 10. For details, please listen to CVA #148 or CVA #147. The winner will be announced on CVA #150.

Peace,
BMP

150TH EPISODE CONTEST

In honor of our forthcoming 150th episode of

we'll be holding a hymn parody contest!

The requirement:
Write a parody about Krakowska Kielbasa, the official deli meat of Christus Vincit ANYWHERE! You can talk it up or down, whatever you like, as long as it's funny. The catch: you must set it to a standard hymn tune (yes, a REAL hymn tune), and the words must fit (no irregularities). Send your entries to bpage69 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

The deadline:
November 1, 2008 (All Saints Day) at 11:59 PM. (one minute later is 11/2/08 - All Souls)

The prize:
Two pounds of Krakowska Kielbasa from my local Polish deli (I'll even send a Schwan's ice pack to keep it cold in transit to the winner's address), plus proper credit, as well as mention of the winner's blog and/or podcast.

If you're hungry for a good Polish deli meat, start writing!
Peace,
BMP

A MICROSOFT AD THAT DOESN'T SUCK

Here's a video created by the Curt Jester himself and later played on Fr. Roderick's podcast, The Daily Breakfast. Also, click here for a screenshot of Fr. Roderick playing Jeff's video (Jeff got it by watching Fr. Roderick record via UStream).

Enjoy!
Peace,
BMP

LAST NIGHT...

...was the first time this week I got home from the new job BEFORE 10 PM (not counting Monday, which was a three-hour paperwork/video watching day). And my day starts at the depot at 9:30 AM. How's that for short mornings and short evenings, eh?

CVA #143 is in the works and should be up over the weekend - probably by Sunday night if all goes right. Feature topic: singing from the organ console. Stay tuned!

Peace,
BMP

FINALLY!

Some good freakin' news!

Everything (the podcast host, my internet connection) is back up and running! The Internet was restored at about 8:30 this morning, just before leaving for 9:30 Mass. The podcast hosting services were restored at about suppertime tonight.

Tomorrow I start work on our 140th episode of


On this show, we will continue our series on the lost treasure, Worship I, GIA's pioneer hymnal. Also, my son Brian has been working on a couple of top ten lists of his own. I doubt these will make it to CVA #140, as he is out with my daughter Jessica and won't be back till sometime tomorrow. Possibly for CVA #141?

So, what have you been doing in the interim?

In my spare time, reading and writing.

Reading: Well, while in the library using the Internet there every chance I get, I figured "why not pull out a couple of books?" So I picked up Thomas Day's Why Catholics Can't Sing, which I haven't read in about 15 years, to refresh myself on it. I also grabbed (for the first time) Where Have You Gone, Michelangelo? Professor Day's writing, I just recently realized, reminds me a lot of Jason's style of writing (that's a good thing, btw!). BTW, for those who already read the book, I just finished the sub-chapter on the "horse's ass".

Writing: I just finished re-working Psalm settings for the Advent and Christmas season. In fact, I have completed settings for the Sundays of Advent and all of the Christmas season.

Let us go rejoicing - 6/8 refrain with an original chant-style Psalm tone, written in the F-sharp Phrygian mode. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Advent 1A and Christ the King C)
Lord, make us turn to you - 4/4 refrain with an original chant-style Psalm tone, written in E major. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Advent 1B and 4C)
To you, O Lord - 4/4 refrain with an original chant-style Psalm tone. The refrain is in A minor, while the verses are in A major, yet offer a smooth transition back to the minor-key refrain. Congregation, cantor, SATB, organ. (Advent 1C)
Justice shall flourish in his time - 4/4 refrain with an original chant-style Psalm tone, written in A major. Congregation, cantor, unison, organ. (Advent 2A)
Lord, let us see your kindness - 3/2 refrain with an original chant-style Psalm tone, written in G major. In fact, for those who have heard my own Rejoice in the Lord Always on earlier CVA podcasts, the tone is exactly the same. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Advent 2B, Ordinary Time 15B and 19A)
The Lord has done great things for us - 4/4 refrain with the same Psalm tone as the one for Let Us Go Rejoicing. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Advent 2C, Lent 5C, and Ordinary Time 30B)
Lord, come and save us - An arrangement of Psalm Tone 8G that utilizes a choral refrain. Congregation, cantor, SATB, organ. (Advent 3A)
My soul rejoices/Magnificat - An original musical setting completely in a chant style. The refrain is in English (My soul rejoices in my God) and in Latin (Magnificat anima mea Dominum). Congregation, cantor, unison, organ. (Advent 3B)
Cry out with joy and gladness - An original setting that is completely metrical (4/4), written in a style that resembles a cross between Richard Proulx and John Rutter. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Advent 3C)
Let the Lord enter - A festive arrangement of Psalm Tone 8G. The verses can be rendered by a cantor, or a choir (especially in verse 2). Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Advent 4A)
For ever I will sing - 4/4 refrain with the same Psalm tone as the one used for Justice Shall Flourish in His Time. Congregation, cantor, SATB, organ. (Advent 4B and Christmas Vigil - seperate verse sets. Chrism Mass and Ordinary Time 13A verses will follow.)
Today is born our Savior - 6/8 refrain with a chant-style Psalm tone. This tone is the same as another piece that I've played on podcasts before, Laetentur Caeli, which is partly original (the refrain music in Laetentur Caeli is from In Der Ist Freude - you may recognize the English title, In Thee Is Gladness - by Giovanni Gastoli). Congregation, cantor, descant, 2 trumpets, timpani, handbells, organ. Individual instrumental parts included. (Christmas Midnight Mass)
A light will shine on us this day - 4/4 refrain with a Gelineau-style Psalm tone. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Christmas Mass at Dawn)
All the ends of the earth - 6/8 refrain with a chant-style Psalm tone. Congregation, cantor, descant, handbells, organ. Individual instrumental parts included. (Christmas Mass during the Day)
Blessed are those who fear the Lord - 6/8 refrain with a chant-style Psalm tone. Congregation, cantor, descant, handbells, organ. (Holy Family ABC)
The Lord remembers his covenant - A completely chant-style piece, with a chant melody in unison for the refrain, and verses that can be rendered by a cantor or in SATB. The second half of the verse is a faux-bourdon of the first half. (Holy Family Optional B)
Blessed are they who dwell - 6/8 refrain with the verses sung to Psalm Tone 8G. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Holy Family Optional C)
May God bless us in his mercy - 4/4 refrain with verses sung to Psalm Tone 7a. Congregation, cantor, unison, organ. (Mary, Mother of God)
Lord, every nation on earth - 3/4 refrain with the verses sung to the Justice shall flourish Psalm Tone (after all, they're both Psalm 72). Congregation, cantor, unison, organ. (Epiphany)
The Lord will bless his people with peace - Another modern (yet suitable for Mass) setting, completely in 4/4. Congregation, cantor, descant, glockenspiel or handbells, organ. Individual instrumental parts included. (Baptism of the Lord ABC)
You will draw water joyfully - The only difference between this and Cry out with joy and gladness is the refrain. Congregation, cantor, descant, organ. (Baptism of the Lord Optional B, Easter Vigil following Reading 5, Sacred Heart B)
O bless the Lord, my soul - Psalm tone 8G, with my own organ arrangement. Congregation, cantor, unison, organ. (Baptism of the Lord Optional C)

I have set a price for most of these titles at $7.95 and $8.95. The price includes a pew edition (melody and text, refrain only), a cantor edition (melody and text, with the verses), and a score edition (organ, any and all instrumental and choral parts), as well as a license to make as many copies needed for your parish. I'm simply dubbing this The Lectionary Project. I'll also soon be working on The Graduale Project. ;)

Peace,
BMP

ATTENTION CVA LISTENERS/CVTV VIEWERS

If you see christusvincit.com (the podcast site) go down over the weekend, it's because I owe the hosting service some $$. Nothing to fret, as it's going to be paid this Monday and service should be restored by then. Further, we may have our internet back in the upcoming week if all goes right. I will then begin work on CVA #140.

Thank you in advance for bearing with me.
Peace,
BMP

HOW TO BUILD A MUSIC PROGRAM

by Fr. Frank Phillips, CR

Fr. Phillips, as many may know, is pastor and restorer of many good things at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago. Here he talks about building a music program. I'll be listening very soon, once I get my cast up. This coming from Fr. Phillips, I'm optimistic that this will be VERY good!

Listen here

RSCT to Aristotle

Peace,
BMP

SURVEY: A TALE OF TWO GATHER COMPREHENSIVES

Ba-da-BING! OUR TWO-THOUSANDTH POST!!!

I'm putting together a new survey here. You can post your answers in the combox.

The survey is in light of the forthcoming CVA episode "Christus Vincit ANYWHERE!" called "A Tale of Two Gather Comprehensives". The survey question is:

WHICH OF THE TWO EDITIONS OF GATHER COMPREHENSIVE IS BETTER (OR THE LESSER OF THE TWO EVILS)?
A. First Edition (1994 - Dark Green Cover)
B. Second Edition (2004 - Maroon Cover)

Since "A Tale of Two Gather Comprehensives" may be done as a series of two or more episodes, I will keep this survey open for at least two weeks, possibly more.

Peace,
BMP

I GOT TO HEAR A REALLY NICE LOST 45

This one may be the topic of a future Catholic Lost 45's episode for Christus Vincit ANYWHERE!

The Communion hymn at St. John the Baptist Church in Pawtucket today was Spirit Seeking Light and Beauty (text: Janet Stuart, d. 1914; tune: DOHMNACH TRIONOIDE). I only know of two books who carry this text: Pius X Hymnal, and Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles.

The only other church in all of Rhode Island that I've ever heard play this hymn is at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Providence, at my daughter Jessica's Confirmation.

The hymn is absolutely gorgeous! I wish more hymnals would grab this hymn. OCP, GIA, WLP, and LitPress please take note, and even the publishers of the St. Michael and Adoremus Hymnals!

Peace,
BMP

ATTENTION ALL POLISH DELI CUSTOMERS

Would you like to see your neighborhood Polish deli or market promoted by Christus Vincit ANYWHERE!? All you have to do is e-mail me at bpage69 {shift+2} yahoo {period} com and let me know if they sell Krakowska Kielbasa and I will gladly send them a letter-size image just like the one you see above, but with the actual store name and its complete address. The store owner can then take the liberty of framing it up and hanging it in a prominent place in the store (next to the store license, or just above the Berkel slicer, or even above "der Kol"), or even making copies and passing them out to their neighbors or hang on a billboard, or whatever. Said store(s) will also get mentioned on the next CVA podcast.

This is a great way to promote a great podcast AND great food from a great deli!

Peace,
BMP

PS: The first flyer just got hand delivered to POLONIA MARKET, 736 Broadway, Pawtucket, RI. All things Polish and then some! :)

THIS MONDAY ON...

$1.25

Stay tuned!
Peace,
BMP

A FLATTERING REVIEW OF CVA

Paula at As We Wait in Joyful Hope, a parishioner at Jason's old stomping grounds, wrote a very flattering review of...



What was so fun was listening to Brian talk! He accent is so different from I normally hear around here and he has such a nice singing voice. He has a wonderful tone to his voice (just call me Paula Abdul!). Not only that, but it was fun listening to some of the different chants that can be used at Mass. Thanks for giving me something nice and informative to listen to while doing that darn ole exercise! I use any excuse to get out of it, but with the podcast, I just kept walking the track till it was over...30 minutes and done!

WOW! A wonderful tone to my voice??? Not bad considering it's the SAME voice that supposedly pissed off a lot of people in my last parish. HA! (just kidding)

Thanks much for your kind words.
Peace,
BMP

SNEAK PREVIEW: THIS WEEK'S CVA TOP TEN LIST

Top Ten Euphamisms for Liturgical Dance



...from the home office in Quahog, Rhode Island, where even Peter Griffin is smarter than the average liturgeist...

CLICK HERE!

The rest of CVA #121 should be up and running late Sunday or sometime on Monday.
Peace,
BMP

What does the typical Hypergeek download?

Recently I learned that I was a hypergeek. I like that word. A friend of mine called recently and related that among various magazines that regular people read, she also hides professional journals that she really finds more interesting. I thought that was funny, since shuffled among my Southern Livings and Tastes of Home, there are The Diapason, The American Organist, and the Phi Beta Kappa Reporter. After checking out the write-up’s on Florida’s grooviest vacation beaches in SL and tasty new recipes in ToH when company’s comin’, I become easily and willingly engrossed in a multi-part article on Helmut Walcha, repertoire discussions, registration suggestions, stylistic interpretation discussions and the like, not to mention updates on fellow Phi Beta Kappans and excellent book reviews. Meat and potatoes to the hypergeek, that. Lately, I’ve been enjoying walking the track at the local city park. Instead of watching re-runs of Crossing Jordan and sending out resumes, I set aside a bit of time for walking before I go off to play voice lessons. Recently I discovered a whole world of podcasts – yes indeed, Christus Vincit offers such programming hosted by my colleague Brian, but I never actually realized what a wide variety of podcasts existed. As a hypergeek, I prefer to hunt down interesting lecture podcasts. Nothing like a bit of continuing education while shedding the pounds. I have discovered a whole world of German-language podcasts that last about as long as half of my walking time. Perfect! Two lectures, and it’s time to drive home (and catch up on Crossing Jordan). Yesterday I listened to part two of a very interesting lecture broadcast on the German Southwest Radio (SWR2) delivered by Professor Hubert Wolf on “Archeology in the Vatican: Catholic Book Censorship”. Fascinating! The famous “Index of banned books” was finally made public by John Paul II who allowed researchers a first-time look into what actually was on this list and gave a pretty good idea regarding how books and authors came to be included in it, since the transcripts of the cases were also opened to researchers. The reason there was a list, so Prof. Wolf, was because, with the invention of the printing press, a machine considered by the Church to be able both to do God’s work and the Devil’s work, there no longer was a controllable monopoly on knowledge. Previously, books were very costly and had to be copied by hand, usually by religious, who then meticulously shelved their copies in monastery libraries. The printing press made books available to everyone, or at least to a broader audience of people at relatively low cost. With knowledge now a commodity, the Church was spooked. Enter book censorship and enter Inquisition. Also, enter Martin Luther and big problems for Mater Ecclesia. You see, 1517 wasn’t such a good year for Rome, poor Leo X. Wolf indicates that the Pope and his advisors were hoping that Chuck V, a nasty Hapsburg, wouldn’t become the Holy Roman Emperor. He would be distracted by goings on elsewhere, and even worse, this would mean that the eternal city would be surrounded by rude German-speaking Hapsburgs, who controlled just about everything, or at least almost everything. At any rate, Charles assumed the throne and all hell broke loose. The German nobles all made their own rules whether to reform or not, and Rome fumbled the ball. Oops. So much part one of Wolf’s lecture. Part two was even groovier. Why did certain books make the hit parade, yet others didn’t? Why did Galileo’s writings not make it, yet Copernicus’ did? Why wasn’t Darwin on the list, but Uncle Tom’s Cabin was? Why didn’t Hitler’s Mein Kampf make the list? Fascinating politics. We learn that Galileo found himself in hot water because he claimed that through empirical means, he had determined that planet Earth rotated around the sun. That wasn’t kosher to the red hats on the peninsula. So, he was called in to recant. We would have thought that such a heresy was a shoe-in for the list. Not so. A bit of quick talking got big G. out of a crispy end. It was explained to him that if he would claim his writings were an actual thesis, that is, fact, he’d be dipped in tar and set ablaze to light a Papal cocktail party. But, mincing words and saving the third degree burns, if he’d claim his writings were just hypothesis, that is, conjecture, then he’d be safe and could use the flames just to roast smores. So, Galileo’s writings were just hypothesis, not actual fact. Good thing. Copernicus on the other hand, presented thesis, and ergo, the black list. There was also that passage in the Old Testament about the sun standing still in the sky that left the red hats baffled how some upstart astronomer could be so bold as to postulate the earth had an orbit. Galileo’s findings would upset the Catholic world construct, but since they were merely deemed hypothesis, the scientist was safe. One of my personal favorites is the case of author Heinrich Heine, a German-speaking writer from the 19th century. He commented in one of his books that he found Catholicism to be a good summertime religion, since one can rest and cool off really well in large Catholic cathedrals. Good enough. But then, he went on to notice the confession box over in the corner and called it the “outhouse of the conscience”. A fabulously humorous observation, and a very earthy one at that. I personally don’t have a problem with that name, it is, actually, where Romans dump their sins. Then, on the other hand, neo-traditionalists call confession “giving your sins to Jesus”, so in that sense, I suppose the term could be seen as questionable, since by association in Heine’s metaphor, Jesus could be considered either the toilet seat or the honey bucket underneath it. Heine got listed, poor sot. BUT, he was listed not because he called the confession box the soul’s shit house, but because the text in question had been translated into French, and all good Catholics speak Romance languages and not the barbarian languages like German and English. You see, other German-language writers (all of whom were turned in by Metternich) were tattled on at the same time, none of whom were listed, since their work was never translated into a Romance language. So, learn a lesson: say what you will about the Papa and the Ecclesia, as long as you use a barbaric tongue! So what about Darwin? Darwin’s work was hypothesis and as a scientific hypothesis could be seen to coexist with Creationism. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was on the list for a while. Then it was taken off. The first red hat to read to the book and to list it found it to be socially revolutionary, and he feared that it carried a latent message to Europeans that it would be groovy and swell to overthrow the authority of the Church and the Pope. Slaves in the American South storming Rome to steal the triple tiara. Sheesh! That’s what some fellow red hats also said: “Sheesh!” (Or a good Latin “Eheu!” or its Italian equivalent). A few of the inquisitors stood up and announced they had also read the book and substantiated that it indeed was about the abolition of slavery in the U.S., and that was ok, since slavery isn’t a good thing. Ok, fine. So what of Hitler and Mein Kampf? Not on the list. There was great crying and gnashing of teeth in the Vatican when it came to Hitler’s magnum opus. A whole lot of arguing and postulating and talking and more discussion and more argument. Wolf reports that there is a large file on the book, but that the book never was listed. Why? Get this: because, since all civil authority comes from God, and Hitler was then the German civil authority, it was really beyond the purview of the Church really to say anything against the book as a whole. Nifty syllogism, there, fellas: Power comes from God. Hitler has power. Hitler comes from God. That opens up a big can of worms. At any rate, the Papal encyclical of 1937 “Mit brennender Sorge” (“with burning concern”) dealt with the issue of Hitler and his mess. So indirectly, the Church tried to ban the ideas, but, according the Epistle to the Romans, she (the Church) couldn’t actually ban the book. My thought: way to go, Hitler. Convince the red hats the final solution was just a hypothesis. Neat how we learn from history! Prof Wolf indicated that more research of course would be necessary regarding the Hitler question, since the Vatican opened its censorship files only up to 1939. This means the Pius XII documents are still secret. Wolf hopes that the actions between 1939 and 1958 might be revealed soon so that researchers and historians might soon be able to find out what the outcome of the whole Hitler mess really was, as far as the Church is concerned. John Paul II did much to try to reveal secrets and work for reconciliation. Opening up the Vatican archives on book censorship has given historians a glimpse into composition of the Index and has helped shed light on issues whose facts could heretofore only be guessed. So there you have it: loose weight and learn about esoteric things. Download groovy podcasts and they can make an hour’s walk seem like only 5 minutes. By the way, the program is on SWR2 and is called “Aula”, new each Sunday. It’s worth a download, even if you’re not a hypergeek.