Catholic musicians gathered to blog about liturgy and life
Saturday, October 8, 8:30am-5:00pm
Sponsored by Una Voce, Los Angeles
St. Victor’s Catholic Church
8634 Holloway Drive,
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310)652-6477
$25 fee includes Parish Book of Chant, all materials, lunch, and refreshments.
Please see the workshop webpage for schedule and registration details.
From the inbox:
I wanted to relate to you my experience this morning, directing a small schola of young people singing the Simple English Propers at Mass.
The schola consisted of a treble boy (age 12) and four female trebles (ages 16, 16, 17, and 21). The pastor of the parish recently suggested to me that we do something more for our daily Masses when they are feasts or solemnities. My mind immediately went to the Simple English Propers. Today we gathered at 7:15, rehearsed the propers, a psalm by Aristotle Esguerra, and an Alleluia by Fr. Samuel Weber. With five singers whose experience with plainsong is very limited, we prepared them to a satisfactory level in 25 minutes, and sang Mass at 8AM. It was quite lovely and a welcome switch from four hymns. We closed the Mass singing “Immaculate Mary”.
For those who are looking for a way to get started singing the propers, I can’t recommend SEP enough. I fully expect this little ensemble to improve in their ability to read and sing plainsong, and to be able to sing the propers from the Graduale Romanum for Solemnities, while singing the SEP for Feast Days.
Because we are so often told that Gregorian chant appeals to a narrow demographic due to its inherent Eurocentricity
Several weeks ago the USCCB released some Liturgical Considerations for September 11th, which is this Sunday, the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, which marks the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States.
The Bishops’ release states:
The assigned Lectionary readings for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (no. 130) are particularly poignant, but may provide a particular pastoral challenge for preachers, as they address questions of forgiveness, vengeance, and God’s mercy. The first reading (Sirach 27:30—28:7) states, “The vengeful will suffer the Lord’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor’s injustice…” In the Gospel (Mt 18:21-35), Jesus addresses the question of forgiveness (“[H]ow often must I forgive?”) with the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.
It also makes a suggestion regarding the music selections for the day:
…appropriate intercessions and chants or other liturgical songs [can be] chosen to mark the observance of Patriot Day.
If we look at the Mass propers for this Sunday, though, we see that the Church has supplied us with a perfect compliment to the readings which “address questions of forgiveness, vengeance, and God’s mercy”.
The first words of the liturgy this weekend are “Da pacem, Domine” (Grant peace, Lord). And this Entrance Chant can be sung this weekend by your parish if you wish, in a simple English setting:
Is there a better prayer to open the liturgy on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 than this compelling and beautiful scriptural text?
The new GIRM translation contains more than a thousand changes from the one that has been in force since 2002. Most notoriously, the word song is changed to chant – and chant clearly distinguished from hymn (see 86) – and new conditions are added for the option not to sing the actual proper of the Mass: Such a replacement chant must be “suited to the sacred action, the day, or the time of year.”
Paul Ford has very helpfully marked up a huge file to compare the versions side by side, and highlight the portions that apply to music in red. Here is the link.
The Liturgical Institute is hosting a special session of the Roman Missal implementation and catechesis program “Mystical Body Mystical Voice” on Saturday, October 12th, from 8:30AM to 4:30PM on the campus of St. Mary of the Lake University, the home of the institute.
The MBMV workshop is a training event for parish and diocesan trainers. The workshop presenters, Fr. Douglas Martis and Christopher Carstens have also authored a book by the same title, which is available as part of a formation package which includes catechetical DVD’s, a participant’s guide, sample homilies and bulletin inserts. It is a complete package for implementing the new translation in your parish this Fall.
The Institute has offered a 25% discount for registrations before September 12. Click here to register. For information about group discounts, overnight accommodations, or other questions, email psmith@usml.edu or phone 847.837.4540.
I strongly recommend Mystical Body Mystical Voice to parishes who wish to dig more deeply into the theological content of the new Mass text translations. Even reading the book alone will surely enrich and deepen your understanding of the liturgy, and help you and your parish participate more deeply in the sacred mysteries of the liturgy.
His reaction: “Anglican Catholics here have been chanting in English to Plainsong tunes for generations, every one of our Masses is chanted in English – the whole congregation chants the Introit Gradual Gloria Creed Agnus Dei, Kyrie, Our father etc etc etc. I have never heard a pop type tune in all the years I’ve been an Anglican Catholic. I had hoped that with the new translation of the English Novus Ordo Mass some efforts would be made. From what I have seen so far, the three Mass settings remind me of my 1980’s experience in the Pentecostal world.”
Music alone should never prevent conversion but there really are serious issues here. It is just a fact that millions stay away from Catholic parishes and have for many decades because they can’t stand the noise.
This is why the Missal chants offer such hope. If in doubt, sing the Missal chants!
