The Turk and he’s back!

Scott Turkington channeling his inner liturgical dancer

So, we’re about to start second day chant session after a traditionally long (looooonnnnnnnggggg) first night and Scott Turkington walks up to me and my bunkmate and sez, “Do you think we ought to re-arrange the seating, it seemed like some of you guys only had a view of my backside?” Scott’s back!
And he’s, as one would expect, at the top of his form! We’ve got a mighty experienced men’s schola with folks from the UK to Uganda taking in not only the thoroughly founded, but humorously grounded expertise of one of the finest chant pedagogues and practicioners on the planet.
I don’t really have to tell Cafe folk about Scott’s breadth of wisdom and knowledge. But there was an very interesting and telliing little anecdote I’ll share from later in the morning. Among the assigned texts to us was one that employs “mihi.” So as we were sight-reading through the whole proper, those of us who’ve trained with Turkington naturally sang “MEE-kee” as many of us had that conversation years ago. But, of course, its phoneme was challenged. Scott really doesn’t seem to want to have to reiterate the pronunciation again, and the inestimable Fr. Christopher Smith chimes in. Scott asks Fr. Smith upon whose instruction does he cite when his choristers in South Carolina challenge the Hebraic/Germanic “ch” as “that’s how we learnt it!” Fr. Smith didn’t miss a beat, he answers, “I have it on authority of SCOTT TURKINGTON.” Hearty laughter ensues!
But, it really is a joy to have him return to colloquium, he compliments the same generosity and levity as well as true devotion to the cause and the faith that folks like Buchholz, Cole, Morse, Donelson, Treacy, (even Meloche!), bring to the sacred treasury table of tunedom.
And while we on other faculty, Scott and many others (myself included) have been truly inspired by the absolute beauty of the advanced women’s schola under Jonathan Ryan.
There were so many new hands raised at Monday’s gala dinner of first time attendees who have no idea what monumental strides colloquium has made in seven years!
And as a brief follow up to my first report from Indy, in talking to the millenial priests, deacons and seminarians who are here in force, these young men to a person absolutely believe what Fr. Smith foretold of his vision of RotR et cetera: pervasive change for the better will be achieved in this country, if not the world, within this century. Amen, young brothers!

St. Michael Prayer – New Chant Setting

I’m always interested by chant settings of common prayers such as the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen), Ave Maria (Hail Mary). Recently I was alerted to a new composition with the text of the St. Michael Prayer! I have to say, I really like it. At first glance, I noticed the nice word painting of the higher notes over “hosts of heaven” and the lower notes for “evil spirits.” I may end up using this.

What do you think about it? Check out the PDF here, or the original source here.

HT Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

Colloquium Vlog – Day 2

Day two has come and gone! Day two is the first full day of the colloquium, and as a first timer, I had a blast meeting all kinds of people including Jeffrey Morse and Charles Cole, as well as many whom I have known online through the CMAA Forum and some new friends as well.

Stay tuned for more this week!

Questions from Fr. Smith’s wonderful plenum address

In order to verify Scelata (G’s) beatific review of a hamburger heaven two blocks down on Ohio St.,

“Punch,” I decided to set out early in search of the perfect burger (I’m really not a burger guy!) *       I thought I could fisk out some thoughts and concerns on the Cafe that Fr. could take or leave and answer here, if he chooses.

Concerning ambivilence-
*Why did Father Smith demur that Sacrosanctum Concillium could have been the crowning achievement of liturgical legislation from 1903 through Mediator Dei to that watershed document?
*That Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI articulated  his opinion that the “doings” of those crafting further documents (ie. MS and the Pauline Missal) was the provenance of a “virtual” council (a Bizarro  Council?) and that the real, true council had started to emerge in the wake of decades of disastrous results in ecclesia, that inference seems to subtlely challenge the licety of the process and misapplication of SC in real praxis, doesn’t it?
*And roughly around the same time as Joseph Gelineau made his infamous quote of the death knell for the Vetus Ordo, saying it was essentially dead, buried and forgotten, the equally famed “Agatha Christie Indult” provided an abrogation of the constitutional integrity that progressives such as Gelineau and others championed. Why were there no bells, whistles and sirens going off then as we were “slipping into darkness?”

Juridical pressure-
*The Millenial generation may be forecasting and projecting fearless audacity since Summorum Pontificum. But even prior to HHFrancis’ ascendency, innumerable individual bishops and conferences have inculcated suppressive atmospheres towards the faithful priesthood of all Christ’s people, locally and globally. And recent, newsworthy sanctions reported in Catholic Blogdom have mitigated an even more subdued sense of a burgeoning grass roots movement.

*What the heck happened in seminaries between 1966-75 with the Boomer generation of clergy besides the Baltimore guys strumming new tunes out for Mass in the crypt churches? Roger Cardinal Mahony wasn’t the only prelate (nor Weakland) who influenced my generation’s clergy to be so openly disdainful for chant, Latin, ars celebrandi and their trappings in so uniform a mindset that I’ve encounter for over three decades. Were the “Greatest Generation” of priests who murmered thousands of Low Masses from the Depression forward form the Boomers to embrace the cult of the NO and make it their (and THE PEOPLE’S) own? I know plenty of now-deceased SJ priests who not only helped open the windows, but almost were iconoclast-happy to break the stained glass with bricks we’re now picking up and recycling.

Lastly, Fr. made no mention of the current crop of bishops nor the USCCB’s seemingly AWOL effect upon the national sensus fidelium regarding worship. What is up with that do you think, Father?

Thank you for a most stimulating and challenging address.

*PS, I had the Thai Peanut Butter Ground DUCK (well done) with pepper jack. Oh my.

Mystery object in Indy

As readers will see from Ben’s last post, the Colloquium is well and truly underway in Indy. We look forward to our first Mass this afternoon and photos will follow over at NLM. The object in the photograph below was used this morning in a class by Jeffrey Morse. Who knows what it is and what it’s for? (In case you are wondering, nobody was injured.)

Colloquium Vlog – Day 1

We are going to try something a little bit different this year: every day I’ll be posting a quick video with a small sample of the events going on at the colloquium so that all of you not able to make it can live a little vicariously through us 🙂

Enjoy, and check back later this week for more!