This weekend I am heading to the Franciscan University of Steubenville to give a talk and workshop for the 90-some student liturgical musicians on campus. I am very excited about this opportunity and very much look forward to spending time with any of you who will be in attendance.
The last time that I visited Franciscan, believe it or not, I was a teenager and was attending a youth conference! (this was many moons ago of course). I say confidently that Franciscan University has deeply affected my life and faith, and I am grateful for the model of fidelity to the Church’s lex credendi that they have been to Catholic education in America.
I will be speaking generally on liturgical music in light of the new translation of the Roman Missal and its newly translated General Instruction. I will begin with a purely subjective look at the question of sacred music, and engage many of the issues that are being discussed right now, and work into a more objective consideration of the music of the liturgy with a discussion of the sacramentality of liturgical music as given in Pope Benedict’s The Spirit of the Liturgy.
Perhaps most importantly, we will have a second session where I will give a workshop on the new chants found in the Roman Missal, and on singing the propers of the Mass in simple English settings. I am told that every one of the leaders of the various student music groups has been given a copy of the Simple English Propers and that many students on campus are very eager to begin implementing the sung propers of the Mass, perhaps even for the first time.
The retreat is sure to be a wonderful event, and I am very excited to return to campus after having been away for over a decade. I will also be returning in October to give a presentation at the Steubenville Liturgical Conference which will feature Bishop Serritelli, Denis McNamara and Scott Hahn. I will be most humbled to offer my meager thoughts amidst these giants in the liturgical world, but am incredibly honored to be invited to join them for this wonderful conference on the new translation of the Roman Missal. I will post more details as they appear. I believe that the conference will be open to the public.
As a Franciscan student, I am very excited to hear this! Hopefully it betters the music in place now. Want to come over and teach the Gaming campus too?