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Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Politicizing the Papal Transition: A Retrospective

If I live to see another Papal transition, someone remind me to turn off the television set and not read any news on the topic for two weeks.

This last experience has convinced me that after a fortnight, the subject changes anyway. Just look around and notice that the dogs have been called off. Normalcy is restored. The news cycle is over. The Pope is teaching the faith. The liturgy continues as before. The Catholic Church lives.

In swearing off the press the next time, I also know that this is impossible. Catholics really care about the Pope. A papal transition is a wonderful time for Catholics because our friends who otherwise think nothing of our religion come up to us and say; “congratulations on your new Pope!” And we say “thanks” with an inner feeling of joy that someone noticed something that is really important to us.

We all feel a hint and pride in our faith, and that’s a nice thing every once in awhile.

And then there’s the mass media. They are populated by reporters who normally pay no attention to Catholicism. And they are looking for a story. They must populate their stories with content.

These people are extremely risk averse, and want nothing more than to fit in to the prevailing ethos. So they gravitate to the conventional wisdom.

Without hours Pope Francis’s election, the conventional media wisdom — the tableau they would paint a million times over a two-week period — was ridiculous in retrospect. The idea was that Pope Francis was the anti-Benedict, and, hence, everything the new Pope did was somehow designed to rebuke the previous Pope and maybe every previous Pope. Grab some popcorn and watch as the new Pope dismantles the old-time religion!

Everything was interpreted in this light. If he took the bus instead of the car reserved for him, the media would shout: oh look here, Pope Francis is showing the world that he is against all the Papal pomp that Benedict was throwing around. If Francis said he cares about the poor, the media would go nuts: oh look, unlike Benedict, this Pope is for the poor! If the Pope’s homily said good things about humility, the press would scream: oh look, it is certain death for the legacy of Benedict and the arrogance of the Papal court! If Pope Francis urged curial reform, the press would say: look how he is ridding the Church of the ghastly corruption of his predecessor!

So on it went. Every hour, every day. For a while, I’m sorry to say, I sort of bought into it all in a certain respect. I wondered if the Benedict legacy was coming under fire, if perhaps what he had done in so many areas would be undone by the successor. I worried that maybe not enough time had passed to entrench the shifts the Benedict had made.

The press reports kept coming in. And they grew ever more absurd. If you knew nothing else about the Catholic Church and just watched the television, you would have thought that the new Pope’s agenda was the overthrow of Catholicism as we know it. That was the story line. That was the crazy notion that most every big-media outlet kept pushing.

What was especially revealing — and this came as a shock to me — was how there was a faction of Catholic opinion that jumped on this whole thing and served as a kind of echo chamber for the regular press. Everything they reported about Pope Francis seemed to have the following subtext: “Pope Francis is giving the ‘what for’ to fans of Benedict and undoing everything from this last Papacy. The bad guys are out. We have taken back power, and now you will suffer for your reactionary ways.”

It was all quite disturbing. Maybe I’m naive but I had no idea that Benedict’s Papacy had apparently been a problem for so many of the Catholic pundit class for so long. It’s like had built up a long-running resentment against him and what he did. They were using the new Papacy as the moment to unleash pent up resentments. It was all pouring out with a fury.

It actually amazes me because in my own view that main legacy of the Benedict Papacy can be summarized in one word: liberalization. He freed the Catholic world of its entrenched bias against the past and opened up new opportunities to embrace our long tradition. He did it all not through imposition but through inspiration. He flung up the door that had been sealed in the mid sixties and invited everyone to explore the treasures and beauty. That is his legacy.

I can’t even imagine how such actions could engender resentment! But there it is. And the resentment was so intense that it actually gave rise to hallucinations. One normally savvy writer actually proclaimed that the new Pope was enacting a fast and furious “liturgical revolution” because he fumbled a few of the rubrics or used the Papal cross of John Paul II (before the following week when the new Pope shifted to using Benedict’s Papal cross). Another said that because the new Pope prefers Italian as the liturgical language, this represents a repudiation of the restoration of Latin.

You can tell so much about a mindset of a person by the things he thinks he sees that aren’t really there. It should be rather obvious by now that the Pope Francis has no interest whatsoever in enacting some kind of liturgical revolution. In fact, he doesn’t seem to have an intense interest in liturgy at all. And you know what? That’s perfectly. Every Pope has gifts that he brings to the Church. What Benedict brought was a particular interest of mine, and that’s great. But that doesn’t mean that Pope Francis’s emphasis on evangelism and service represents some kind of distraction.

The Benedict legacy on liturgy will survive and thrive. So will the Catholic faith and the Catholic Church. Sorry big media: your death wish for Catholicism and the legacy of Benedict XVI is not going to come true. Now that the world media has discovered this reality, they have moved on.

Posted on by Adam Wood

Chant and Unity

People with political opinions annoy me. There, I said it.

(No, this is not going to be a blog post about politics… so hang on for a minute.)

I have political opinions. Of course I do. If you don’t know what they are, and want to, you can friend me on Facebook and ask me. You might even be able to deduce a lot of them by reading through my old posts. I try not to post too much about my political opinions, but since they are an integrated part of personality, you could possibly piece them together if you knew much about me.

So I guess it isn’t people with political opinions that annoy me, because that would be almost everyone. (Almost everyone annoys me. QED. Okay, that might actually be accurate.) But what I really mean is people who define themselves and tribalize themselves based on their political ideology: We over here have the right opinions about [ insert controversial political opinion here ], and all of you who disagree are not just wrong, but grossly immoral and probably stupid, too.

Why am I talking about this?

Politics divides. Personally, I have deleted or hidden whole swaths of people from FaceBook because they just can’t stop rattling on about how some other group of people are “the enemy.” (And if any of you reading this are nodding your head in agreement, while at the same time thinking, “Yeah, those [people of a specific political party that isn’t my own] are so annoying…” – You’re part of the problem.) Even when politics seems to bring disparate groups of people together, it is only a marriage of convenience- a temporary alliance to defeat a common enemy. Do you really think that Fundamentalist Evangelicals and Traditionalist Roman Catholics are not going to go back to their centuries-long mutual hatred and distrust for each other if their current political goals are ever acheived?

At this point, you either have seen my next assertion coming from a mile away, or you are seriously wondering why I have been allowed to start posting at the Chant Café…

Music unites.

Now wait a minute. There are musical factions, too- aren’t there? There are the so-called “Style Wars.” There is the apparent divide between the Traddie Alliance (CMAA, Chant Café, NLM, CCW) and the Progressive Empire (NPM, PrayTell, GSGP, the Big 3).

Yeah, whatever- I don’t buy it. Those are disagreements among friends. Sure, they are heated sometimes (people around here really care about this stuff), but they are still more like the arguments and debates typical of an extended family gathering than they are the scorched-earth tactics of politicians and ideologues. In fact- the most heinous and divisive conflicts I’ve ever seen within the “religious music community” are the ones that are fueled by underlying (or perceived) political dispute. (“The only reason you advocate [type of music I don’t like] is that it supports [political idea I’m opposed to]!”)

No it isn’t some utopia, and no we don’t all agree on whatever. And maybe my perception is totally off here. But what I have noticed is that, with a few exceptions, people tend to like, or at least love, each other.

But this isn’t The Music Café, a blog about how Music Is The Universal Language, and Love Is The Key. This is the Chant Café.

Good. Because, though I believe that music generally has this ability- I have seen that Traditional Sacred Music (chant, and its associated idioms) has a special capacity for the type of unity I’m (doing a bad job of) describing.

For example… I have expressed, both on the forums here and at my own blogs, ideas and beliefs that I hold which are heterodox. People disagree with them, and don’t mind saying so (and I don’t mind that they do). But I have yet to have someone say anything like, “your opinion is not welcome here.” And when those same people who call me out on my “wrongness” find something that I say to be helpful or edifying, or find one of my own compositions or hymn texts to be worthwhile, they embrace the idea or the work on it’s own merits (and me, on our shared Christian identity) without any implication that even my good fruits are somehow tainted by my heresies.

How does one explain this? What is the root cause of this apparent agape?

Call me silly or naive, but – actually – I attribute it to the music itself. To the qualities of a body of music which is inherently Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal.

I wish I could attribute it directly to, say, the teachings of the Gospel. And I do believe, of course, that the ethos of Christ’s teaching and ministry underlie the music native to the Church He founded. But lots of people “love Jesus,” and still manage not to get along with each other.

So how or why does the music succeed where the direct teachings often don’t?

Or rather- how does the music manage to instill the essence of Christ’s teaching and the call for unity so evident in the New Testament?

Chiefly in this manner: God is the source of Peace, Unity, and Beauty. (Along with, you know, everything else). It is these three qualities of God (among the infinite range of qualities) that are best expressed by Gregorian Chant and Sacred Polyphony (among the almost infinite range of human creative endeavors).

Perhaps liberal folk music best expresses God’s Justice. Perhaps African-American spirituals best express God’s Freedom. Perhaps Praise & Worship music best expresses God’s Simplicity. Perhaps metrical hymns in the vernacular are the best way to instill doctrinal knowledge. Perhaps. Perhaps.

Who knows? I don’t know.

But I do know this: We live in an age notable especially for its strife, division, and ugliness. Of all the attributes and gifts of God which we can begin to describe- Peace, Unity, and Beauty are the ones most severely lacking expression and embodiment in modern Christianity.

The music that best expresses these truths must be allowed to flourish.

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

The Word of God in Song

The Archabbey St. Meinrad is holding some events on the subject of chant.

Bringing to Life the Word of God in Song – Beginner

Monday, July 1- Friday, July 5, 2013
Time: Mid-week Retreat

This is the beginner session; an advanced session will be held July 8-12, 2013. Learn how the practice of Gregorian chant brings to life the Word of God in song, and study the intimate relationship between the proclaimed Word of God and its melodic setting. Learn a new way to enhance your lectio, your spiritual reading. The workshop includes study of the original chant notations as the key to unlocking the spiritual and artistic qualities that have influenced later Western music. Practice singing both Latin and English settings in chant style will be included.

Bringing to Life the Word of God in Song – Advanced

Monday, July 8- Friday, July 12, 2013
Time: Mid-week Retreat

This is the advanced session; a beginner session will be held July 1-5, 2013. Learn how the practice of Gregorian chant brings to life the Word of God in song, and study the intimate relationship between the proclaimed Word of God and its melodic setting. In this advanced session, we will practice singing both Latin and English settings in chant style.

Posted on by Revd Fr Christopher Smith

Bringing the Campion Missal to our Parish


In theory, one of the most attractive things about the Extraordinary Form is that is the same everywhere.  Yet the liturgical culture that any particular place has, and all kinds of practicalities, dictate how it is celebrated.  There are places where Low Mass with one server in absolute silence is the standard practice.  There are places where the Dialogue Mass has caught on, or where Low Mass is buried under (shudder) hymns.  And there are those beautiful places in the vineyard of the Lord where there are Sung or even Solemn Masses where the propers and the ordinary are sung.  Even then, is there a schola, do the people sing, is there polyphony and/or chant, is it Rossini or the Graduale?
My parish, Prince of Peace (www.princeofpeacetaylors.net), is an interesting place.  We have consciously modeled the life of the parish and her liturgy on the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI.  We have both forms of the Roman Rite every day (except for the occasional practical reason when we go down to one English Mass).  On weekdays, we have Low Mass.  On most Sundays of the year, we have a Missa Cantata, where a schola sings the propers and a choir the Ordinary.  During the summer, we usually have an Organ Mass. 
The EF has had a stable presence in the life of the parish for about 10 years now.  Some of those who come regularly experienced the rite in a dizzying array of different ways (but, Father, in the 1950s in New Jersey we didn’t do that…).  The vast majority, however, have come to appreciate and love the EF here in our parish.  We have tried to make strides in getting the people to sing the Mass, but I confess that has been a hard sell.  Even though many of our people love the Sung Mass, they also love for the choir (we frequently have paid choral scholars) to sing their parts.
From time to time, we give a class in how to follow the Missal.  There are those who bring their hand missals with them to the Mass.  In the pews we have had the red Ecclesia Dei missalettes (Mary Kraychy be praised!) for years, and many people have remain glued to them, even as they fear the recent Angelus Press hand missals that we have been encouraging our people to buy.  For all sung Masses, we do a music sheet with the Latin and English texts for the Mass and the Ordinary in chant.
So we have experimented with a variety of ways to help people participate in the Tridentine Mass. 
I have been looking, however, for years, for something that we could put in the pews.  A sturdy, pew-ready book that had everything that you could possibly want to participate in the Latin Mass, which was also stunningly beautiful.  But who had ever seen such a thing as what I had in mind?
Well, apparently Jeff Ostrowski.  His knowledge of the liturgy and its music, his aesthetic sensibility, and his publishing know-how met right on with a keen sense of pastoral responsibility and what people need.  The St Edmund Campion Missal is the fruit of an amazing work which has been incredibly done.
But, even if such a beautiful thing had been made, how could we ever afford it?
I have a parish of some 2000 families, and we get around 200 at a Sunday EF Mass.  Many of those families are homeschooling families with many children. And, with a church that seats 1200, how could I ever make this work?
One Sunday, I put a sample copy of the Missal in the narthex for the people to view, and kept it out there for a couple of Sundays.  I was amazed at the response.  “It’s beautiful!”  “It’s just what we need in the pews!”  “Can I contribute towards the cost?”  And so, I launched out into the deep and asked for donations.  Within 72 hours we had not only covered the cost, but also had more donations than we could possibly use for that project. 
We have lived with the Campion Missals in the pews for a couple of months now.  The instructional video on how to use the Missal was posted on our website and Facebook pages, and people viewed it.  The response has been incredibly positive.  What’s more, parishioners who never frequent the EF, and who never picked up the red misalettes in the pews, are using it for their private prayers and meditation.  I had more than one person say, “I wish we had something this nice for the Novus Ordo Mass.”
In short, the adoption of this Missal in my pews, one book per rack, has been incredibly popular.  The people use them, and like them, and it has also brought the community together. It has also had the added benefit of introducing people to the EF who might have never known anything about the Mass at all if it weren’t for a book that was attractive they couldn’t help but obey that tiny voice saying, “Tolle, lege!”
Of course, now I am wondering what to do for the Ordinary Form Masses.  I hate disposable missalettes as a general rule, but they do have the advantage, being dated material, of being very user friendly.  Of course, none of them approach the beauty of the Campion Missal.  I also am facing the possibility of adding Spanish Masses to the schedule as well.  My original intent to also purchase the Lumen Christi Missal for the OF has been put into question by the need for bilingual materials.  I’m not sure how many parishes have EF and OF in English and Spanish, but we do, or will soon, and there is only so much space in a pew rack.  Maybe Jeff and his team at Corpus Christi Watershed can bring their brilliance to bear on that thorny pastoral problem, too.  In the meantime, however, the Campion Missal was one of the most successful projects our parish has undertaken.  Just watch how the people respond!