HOLY MASS AND THE SECULAR MEDIA

...do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go hand-in-hand!

Thanks to a couple of blogger friends via Facebook, I stumbled onto a couple of reports (one via a Milwaukee TV channel, the other via Time Magazine) that will turn the stomach of any Catholic in his/her right mind.

First, the Milwaukee TV channel (RSCT to Aristotle). This reporter is just clueless. Though it seems positive, there are a lot of things he just didn't get right.

Then there is the Time Ragazine article (RSCT to Fr. Keyes) which is more of an arrogant, spiteful op-ed piece than anything that resembles reporting. The piece doesn't say whether it's a report or opinion.

You be the judge!
Peace,
BMP

SACRO-POP = LITURGICAL KARAOKE

Never heard it that way till I read this report yesterday.
RSCT to Aristotle (via Facebook).

Let us join in singing our gathering song, "All Are Welcome".
Just follow the bouncing ball above the table altar.

Peace,
BMP

WEDDING MUSIC

Q: What does a polygamist sing at his wedding?
A: The Anne Murray classic, of course: Can I have this dance with the rest of my wives?

Now, now, did I say this discussion was going to be serious?????!!!!!
Peace,
BMP

THE TOP 25 (give or take some a's and b's) LITURGICAL MYTHS

...exposed by Jeffrey Tucker (RSCT to Aristotle Esguerra via Facebook) - right here!

Enjoy!

Peace,
BMP

GOOD CREATIVITY / BAD CREATIVITY

I'm taking the liberty of stealing this material from one of the message boards that I frequent. I won't mention the poster's name here. While some of the "bad creativity" points listed here may be an exaggeration in a good number of parishes, some of it, sadly, is accurate. There is a small number of parishes that have exercised the "good creativity" points as well - some occasionally (high feasts), some regularly (even Sundays of Ordinary Time).

Here goes... (with snarky remarks in blue)

Holy Mother Church gives us all we need to do the music at Mass.

She gives us a book of Gospels for the Deacon to chant from.
She gives us a Missal for the Priest to chant from.
She gives us the Graduale Romanum for the choir to chant from.
She gives us the Kyriale for the congregation to chant from.

If we all just chanted our parts, we'd be doing so well.

But then we need to get creative.

Good Creativity:
Oh I see CHANT X is the proper for the Offertory this weekend. I think I shall use the setting by Byrd rather than the setting from the Graduale at MASS X, since we have such a competent choir at MASS X. The chant from the Graduale will be used at MASSES Y, Z and A since there is no choir.

Bad Creativity:
I don't know what a Graduale Romanum is, or I just don't care about propers. I think we'll do a song about how we're all bread and we all eat each other during the Offertory this weekend.
(While we don't need cannibalism at Mass, we certainly don't need Hawaiian nose-humming songs, e.g., "Song of the Body of Christ" and similar ilk, either. The proper chants can be sung to a simpler form if need be - maybe a Psalm Tone for starters, work your way up to the Tozer or Koch and Green books as a primer - then wean in some Graduale stuff.)

Good Creativity:
During the Veneration of the Cross, we'll chant the proper Improperia, but then we'll have more time, so we'll do a motet by Palestrina - because after all, Sacrosanctum Concilium tells us we should use polyphony.
(Adoramus Te, Christe, et benedicimus Tibi, quia per Sanctam Crucem Tuam redemisti mundum - sounds really nice. Let's do it! Oh, many readers of CV I'm sure know this, but for those who don't, the "Improperia", or "Reproaches", begins with the words "My people, what have I done to you? Or in what have I offended you? Answer me!")

Bad Creativity:
The Improperia are anti-Semitic. Instead, we're going to sing a song about crosses to the tune of Gilligan's Island. After that, we'll get out our steel drum and sing O Sacred Head Surrounded with bongos.
(Bongos???!!! Arrrrrgh!!! An effect similar to this thrashing of the Exsultet???)

Good Creativity:
Why would we need to have anything sung or played during the Passion? We're already doing the ideal and chanting the Passion, so there's nothing else musical that needs to be done.

Bad Creativity:
The Passion is long and boring. If I don't ring bells or sing hymns during it, the congregation will likely fall asleep. Especially since Father SoandSo is such a boring reader. We could never sing the Passion because that would make it too long. And boring. Now where are those butterflies...?

Good Creativity:
We've been chanting the same "Thanks be to God" / "Deo gratias" response to "Christ our Light," / "Lumen Christi" for years and everyone knows it. Let's add an organum in the choir singing down a 5th to add some spice to the chant.

Bad Creativity:
Chant is boring. We should sing Farrell's Christ Be our Light instead of the chant. In fact, we should just use Farrell's Christ Be Our Light instead of the Exsultet. It's in the Missalette. And everyone knows everything in the Missalette is good and holy and the best option available.
(Oh yes. Why is all this missalette material good? Because GIA, OCP, and NaPalM all say so, and they hold pride of place over Holy Mother Church! Oh, and never mind "Christ Be Our Light" either. Let's do the bongo-laden, Survivor-motifed Exsultet instead - the one I mentioned earlier!)

Good Creativity:
Let's elongate the Offertory proper at the Offertory during the Easter Vigil by having an organ toccata on its melody first. This way Father will have plenty of time to incense the altar and gifts.
(I'm actually partial to full-organ fanfare after the singing. I'm a sucker for plein jeu during incensing!)

Bad Creativity:
Incense makes people cough. We shouldn't use it and instead we'll have dancing girls in the aisles.
(But they carry bowls of smoke too. Have you ever seen those Masses at the Los Angaleez Sacreligious Mis-Edu-ma-cation Congress? Truthfully I'd rather cough incense from the priest's thurible than barf over liturgical prancing?)

Good Creativity:
Of course we're singing the Sequence to the traditional chant mode. We'll be adding in some organum chant to add some variety.
(Click here for a top-notch example of what the poster means!)

Bad Creativity:
Sequences are long and boring. Instead we're just going to sing the Celtic Alleluia many, many times.
(Grab ye beer mugs and rock ye barstools and raise your bloody drunken voices in song!)

Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS (Round 3)

OK - not exactly Mass this time...

Good Friday - Commemoration of the Lord's Passion and Death
7 PM - Sacred Heart Church, West Warwick, Rhode Island

Father, I put my life in your hands / Alstott
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ / Alstott
Adoramus Te, Christe / Dubois
Parce, Domine / Rossini
Jesu, Salvator noster / Rossini
O sacred Head / "Passion Chorale"
Tantum Ergo / Rossini
Ave Verum / L. Perosi
Panis Angelicus / Lambillotte
Abide with me / "Eventide"

Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS

Holy Thursday
Sacred Heart Church, West Warwick, Rhode Island

Mass at 7 PM

Lift high the Cross / "Crucifer"
Kyrie from "Messa Laus Tibi Christe" / F. Caudana
Gloria from "Mass in Honor of Pope Paul VI" / Connor
Our blessing cup / Alstott
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ / Alstott
At that first Eucharist / "Unde et Memores"
Mass XVIII
Ecce Panis Angelorum / XVIIth c., arr. Rossini
Pange lingua / C. Rossini

Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS

Palm Sunday
Sacred Heart Church, West Warwick, RI

Masses at 5 PM on Saturday / 7:30, 9, and 11:15 AM on Sunday

Pueri Hebraeorum / Schubert
All glory, laud, and honor / "St. Theodulph"
My God, my God / Alstott
Praise to you, Lord, Jesus Christ / Alstott
Adoramus Te, Christe / Dubois
O sacred Head / "Passion Chorale"
Mass XVIII
The Palms / Faure
To Jesus Christ, our sov'reign King / "Ich Glaub an Gott"

Peace,
BMP

AT LONG LAST!!!!!

ANNUNTIO VOBIS GAUDIUM MAGNUM:

HABEO POSITUM!!!!!

For those who haven't gotten their Latin intact yet, that's:
I ANNOUNCE TO YOU A GREAT JOY: I HAVE A JOB!!!!!

And to boot, it's a steady PARISH position!

Yes, at long last, I have been offered my first steady parish position in nearly 3-1/2 years, and I accepted. I am the new organist/choirmaster of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, Rhode Island, effective this coming Saturday, April 16, 2011.

You may scratch your head thinking, "Why would you start right with Holy Week?" Let's just say that Dave Sylvester, my good friend and now also predecessor, and I have worked on this transition for a couple of months. I purposely waited till today to announce this out of respect for Dave. After all, he has served Sacred Heart for ten years and has been an organist overall for 41 years, and has felt it was his time to retire. For that reason, I felt the need to wait until the official announcement was made from the parish.

Here is said announcement, by the pastor, Fr. Richard Bucci, in today's parish bulletin:

Farewell & Welcome
This weekend will be the last for our organist, David Sylvester. As you already know, David came to Sacred Heart as I did ten years ago and was previously with me at SS. Peter and Paul (on the other side of the mountain).
I thank him for his commitment to the musical heritage and tradition of the Church which allows the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be celebrated with proper dignity and solemnity.
I also welcome Brian Page as a fitting replacement. Brian was formerly the organist at Holy Name Parish in Providence and also has a commitment to the musical traditions of Christ's Church.
While we are sorry to lose David, we are blessed in having Brian replace him.

As for music selections: the pastor picks the hymns (trust me, he keeps it traditional!) for the Entrance, Offertory, Meditation (after Communion), and Recessional. I get to pick the anthem/motet during Communion, and the Mass (Psalms/Ordinary, etc.) with feedback from the pastor. Again, you may scratch your head, "why would you want to let someone else pick the hymns?" Again, Father keeps it traditional. He is very much into restoration of the sacred. You can be guaranteed NOT to hear City of God or Massive Cremation or Gather Us In, or similar ilk. I trust his judgement, thus, I have no problem with this situation.

Choir right now is a duet (trio when my bass voice is added). I will be looking to build on that.

So, special thanks to Dave Sylvester and Fr. Bucci for helping restore the sacred at Sacred Heart Parish, and for offering me the chance to keep it going. It should be known that when Dave gave his retirement notice to Fr. Bucci, he gave Father my name as a possible replacement. The interview that week was the easiest interview I had since my interview with Holy Name twelve years ago.

Holy Week music will be posted shortly. Thank you all for your prayers past, present, and future!

Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS (and an 18th birthday)

First Friday (using votive Sacred Heart Mass) - Extraordinary Form
April 1, 2011
Sacred Heart Church, West Warwick, RI

Music by Schola Viri Duorum ("Two Guys Schola" - Dave Sylvester at the organ, and yours truly)
We did pretty damn good for very little rehearsal time, I gotta tell ya!

Mass propers were from "The Proper of the Mass" by A. Edmonds Tozer

Entrance procession: O sacred heart, O love divine
Kyrie from "Missa Laus Tibi Christe" by Federico Caudana
Offertory (after the proper): Parce Domine by Carlo Rossini
Sanctus and Agnus XVIII (in Ferii Adventi et Quadragesimae)
Communion: Panis Angelicus (Lambillotte, slightly altered) (followed by proper)
Recessional: To Jesus' Heart all-burning

The pastor's homily was a teaching on shifting the focus on Mass toward the Lord instead of toward ourselves. It was great to hear a priest defend AGAINST the Dan Schutte ditty known as "City of God". After all, we don't "build the city of God". GOD builds his city.

Once I got home, I got to watch my son Brian get tattooed (yesterday was his 18th birthday - trust me, we don't allow tattoos on the kids till their 18), then enjoy some cake with him and his buddies (plus my wife and daughter). The tattoo was a memorial of my late father-in-law (1932-1999), so at least it was a thoughtful gesture on his part.

Happy bithday Brian!

Now that marks three-quarters of our offspring reaching the age of "adulthood". Ann and I are suddenly becoming old farts (growing old together, the way we're supposed to)!

Peace,
BMP