My Senior Music Recital

I just thought I would share the fact that my Senior music recital is less than two months away now! I am very excited for it, it really encapsulates so much of my college experience. It is longer than most as well, but i wanted it that way. All my pieces are vocal, with two each in German, French, and Italian, and multiple in English and Latin. I will be singing twelve songs for voice and piano that I have learned in my voice lessons over the course of the past 4 years, as well as 8 other pieces. Four will be Gregorian chants from the season of Lent, and 3 Renaissance polyphony pieces (2 by Palestrina, one by Guerrero) and one homophonic choral piece by William Croft. So total, i have 20 selections in my recital, which will be about an hour and a half with an intermission. I could not imagine having done a senior recital without singing chant and polyphony, especially considering the place i will be singing in, which is probably the best part of it all. Below are some pictures of the Sanctuary of St. Malachy's Parish in Philadelphia, probably the oldest Irish Catholic church in the city. It is mainly a poor black congregation that attends there now. The Sanctuary is absolutely gorgeous as you can see and the whole church just begs to have chant and polyphony sung in it, the acoustics were built for it. The rest of the Church is not enormous, which makes it ideal for my recital, so it is a little more intimate. I very much look forward to singing for all my family and friends, but primarily for God, in such a magnificent place of Catholic worship that probably has not heard such music in its walls for many years. My recital is planned for February 9th, and will be recorded by a friend from my parish, Mater Ecclesiae.

The Immaculate Conception

It was really great for the first time to sing polyphony that I myself picked for the choral mass, and to have it go well. It was a really satisfying feeling. We sang a wonderful choral mass of the settings of the ordinary by Palestrina and a motet by Hassler for the feast of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception today, as well as hymns for the congregation: Daily daily sing to Mary, O Sanctissima, and Immaculate Mary. I certainly hope the high mass at the cathedral in Burlington went beautifully well last night.
I got to spend some time with my good friend Anja today since she came to sing alto for the mass with us. We got to talk alot about liturgy and the music in different places, and just views on things liturgical, which was nice.
I was thinking today, that i honestly believe that, if you planned a choral mass for a feast day in the church, and did it welll, i think you would have few if any complaints about it. instead, i think it would open many people's hearts and minds to beauty in the liturgy and let them have a glimpse of how beautiful and sacred and reverent their worship can be, especially with the right music. I just can't see how people could complain after hearing Palestrina, it's so beautiful and can seem to lift you right into heaven. Once getting a chance to just experience an immensely beautiful liturgy, I think it could change a lot of hearts and minds about it. Just my thought. Maybe i'm naive and too hopeful.

Thanksgiving in Vermont

I know it's been a while since i've posted, but i know very few people read this blog anyway. I went home to Vermont for Thanksgiving break, which was nice. my allergies kicked in of course, but that's alright. Thanksgiving is quite different for my family now that it used to be. I miss our whole Depatie family getting together at my Aunt Therese's and i especially miss her famous bread rolls! But our family is growing too big, so meals together just doesn't work, no one's house is big enough for a sit down meal with all of us. So we are starting to just have our family and sometimes my mom's sister and her family, or we go to their house. and this year we have a new member of the family! I am now an aunt, and my new niece Pheobe Marie is only 2-3 weeks old. She's so cute!

Besides seeing her, I also got to see the new shrine for the tabernacle that Fr. Ben has had completed, and it is beautiful. I'm very hopeful about the prospect of going back to Vermont. I see a lot of good reforms in my home parishes, and there has definitely been receptivity to changes in music, but they need help in that department for it to be more consistent. My grandmother actually wants to try to teach the choir a latin gloria and other mass parts. both parish now sing the Agnus Dei strongly, so it is time to start doing another part of the mass in latin as well. One piece at a time... My home parishes also seems like the ideal place to start in Vermont since the parishes already have organists, so i wouldn't be desparately needed to play, although i am learning organ, and getting better at it.
I got to introduce myself to the bishop as well, and express my interest in music for the diocese, so we'll see what happens. I think it is safe for me to say now that there ARE opportunities in Vermont for me, now i just need to discern if that is where God wants me to go. So prayers for that please.

All Soul's Requiem Mass

I wish i could record all the masses i sing for at my church. In some way this would help me to preserve memories of the two beautiful years i am spending here, and do not know what will happen after that. For All Souls last night, we had a solemn high mass in the extraordinary form complete with a fake casket (catafaulk?) and we sang Victoria's 6 voice "Officium defunctorum": the introit, kyrie, santus, agnus dei, and communion antiphon. The rest of the antiphons and chants were sung to the regular chant by the 7 men present. We had a 11 people to sing it! Words can't even come close to describing the experience of a requiem high mass in the EF. My mind cannot comprehend how such a beautiful, exquisite expression of mourning for the deceased, praying for them, and the constant hope underlying all of it could just be forgotten by the majority of the Catholic Church. I would not want to be buried to anything else. I would want to know that people are going to the mass to pray for my soul, not "celebrate my life". I'll need all the prayers i can get! And a requiem mass with out the chants just seems so incomplete. I have heard a requiem low and high mass in the EF, and the high mass is just so much more uplifting and... i don't even know how to describe it.
May many priests take the initiative to bring back the solemnity of a requiem mass and the understanding of praying for the deceased and supporting those who are grieving in the most appropriate manner, by mourning with them, but also providing them with hope through Christ. I have read many accounts of priests who have started to return to purple or black vestments for all souls and funeral masses, and have not received any negative comments from anyone. May the chant of the texts also return, for without it, the requiem mass has lost SO much.

I have changed a lot in the past year as regards my knowledge and opinions on liturgy, and i would like to share some of that journey here. When i discovered the extraordinary form of the mass and was immediately attracted to it, i will admit that i struggle for quite a long time with traditionalist tendencies both in a couple matters of faith and liturgy (the faith issues being more because of an association with another traditionalist). And i cannot say for sure that i am not past those tendencies at times, but i would like to think i have found balance and value in the two forms of the Roman rite of the mass. I would like to share what is in my own opinion, some or the pros and cons of both forms. ( i will abbreviate to ex. form)
In the ex. form of the mass, you have the prayers at the foot of the altar before the priest even truly enters the sanctuary. At my parish, we do have an english entrance hymn and then the introit is chanted at the same time the priest is saying the prayers with the server quietly at the foot of the altar. Then the kyrie is started, during which father is incensing the altar, and then goes to the epistle side of the altar to read quietly the introit and the kyrie. Then he intones the Gloria and reads it quietly while we are chanting it, after which follows the collect, or opening prayer. in the new order of the mass, the prayers at the foot of the altar have been removed, but an incensing of the altar can be done, then the confession of sins, and the priest does not read quietly those parts that are sung, instead he joins in the singing with the people. However, often the introit is not sung because there doesn't seem to be a place for it.
In my opinion, i do find in the ex. form that having the introit chanted while the priest is saying the prayers at the foot of the altar (which includes the "I confess") IS confusing and hard to follow everything going on at once. I can understand the simplification in the new order of the mass both on practical grounds and also historically, knowing that the prayers at the foot of the altar were originally said in the sacristy and are a Middle Ages addition to the liturgy. However, i think incensing of the altar should be done regularly in the New order of the mass to allow for the chanting of the introit after an entrance hymn is done (although the introit's proper place is during the procession). I also like having the confiteor said aloud together in the new order of the mass, which is basically in place of the prayers at the foot of the altar, although a more close english translation from the latin confiteor would be better. I also understand the simplification to the rite in the sense that the priest does not now say quietly the parts that are sung by the choir/people. Understandably, they are read if they are not sung, but i don't see any harm done to the new order of the mass by having the priest not say the sung texts, instead he joins the people.
I think that if done more elaborately, the opening rite of mass in the new form is very beautiful and focused and would allow for all the proper music to be sung without taking away an entrance hymn for the people to sing.
As regards the liturgy of the word, i do think chanting the readings in the vernacular is a good choice, because they do not have to be repeated later in english before the sermon (like in the ex. form) and the chanting provides a sacred sense of God's word.
The responsorial psalm or the gradual? I am inclined to say that i prefer the gradual because of how meditative it is and gives beauty to the liturgy, but i also would not have a problem with the resp. psalm if more reverent musical settings were provided for them. I can understand somewhat their historical reasoning for going back to a resp. psalm, but not completely. i won't get into the history of the gradual here. But let's just say that i think a more modal refrain melody for the psalm and singing the verses of the psalm to psalm tones like in monasteries/convents would be much more appropriate and meditative for this part of the liturgy in the new form of the mass.
I definitely prefer the offertory prayers in the ex. form of the mass and pray that they will someday be restored to the new order of mass. I also do not understand why 3 new "canons" were created. In my experience, having the one canon in the ex. form has helped me to internalize the mass more fruitfully; it does not have to become boring to people, that really is their choice whether to let it become boring to them or not. At the start of the Sanctus, here i do not mind that the priest says the sanctus quietly while it is being sung in the ex. form(and bells are rung) b/c it serves the purpose of him continuing into the canon, recited quietly, while the sanctus is still being sung. I think this overlap is exquisitely beautiful and appropriate and find that in the new order of the mass, it is too mechanical for the priest to "wait" for the heaven host w/ us to stop singing before he starts the canon, the most mystical part of the mass. I think a good option in the new order of the mass would be for the priest to start the canon quietly and return to saying it audibly (though still in a low voice) once the santus is done being sung. I have seen this done by a priest and makes almost as much sense as a silent canon. But i know a silent canon would be difficult for a congregation to get used to, and you would need to have one, stable, canon that you use in the new order of the mass, and it should be Eucharistic prayer I. I also find it ridiculous that we remain standing for the sanctus and the agnus dei in the new mass.
I think we need a more reverent sign of peace (if any at all) in the new order of the mass (like a bow to each other or something) and a return to the threefold " O lord i am not worthy to..." like in the ex. form for symbolic emphasis.
And of course, in the new mass, the off. and comm. chants could be done followed by a hymn. my church does this in the ex. form. ( and the altar should be incensed in the new mass during the off.) the new response of the people during the canon i find a bit odd, but i think it can be done reverently, and we should use the set latin form of it that is already set to chant, or adapt the chant to fit an english translation of it.
As for reception of communion, i am not alone among people my age who desire to see a return of the communion rail and reception kneeling and on the tongue (standing for those people who can't kneel is fine). There is no rule that says you HAVE to offer communion under both species and I think in the ex. form there were practical reasons for NOT offering both species, such as the spread of germs from a communal chalice being drunk from. I also hav found that i understand better that ALL of Christ is present in the host because of receiving just one species, whereas before it was hard not to think of Christ as some how divided up between his body and his blood because of the reception of both species (this is just my own personal experience).
I also think the collects should be chanted in the new mass like in the ex. form, but could be done in the vernacular.
And lastly, why is it that benediction is never done at the conclusion of mass in the new order of the mass? Is it even still allowed anymore? I find it such a beautiful expression of adoration of Christ whom we have just received and a powerful way of expressing thanksgiving for mass and our beliefs in the True Presence. It helps to end mass with a greater sense of reverence as well. Then follow it with a recessional hymn.
Oh, lastly, i forgot to mention, that i do think having announcements done right before the sermon is probably a better place than at the end of mass because that way you don't lose focus at the end of mass. However, i don't know if that is ok to do in the new mass b/c the homily is now considered part of the mass, whereas in the ex. form it is not.

I welcome any comments about my observance of the differences between the forms of mass. I have seen the new order of the mass celebrated beautifully and if it were done in that way all the time, would be fine with attending it on a regular basis, although i still think much of the texts need to be fixed/reinstated in its liturgy. Whereas with the ex. form of the mass, it has spots that are hard to follow and that do seem redundant(as stated above) but overall I find it expresses the fulness of the Catholic faith more effectively and think much should be drawn from it to reform the new mass.

I'm Back

It has been quite some time since i have posted, due to school work, although i have been wanting to post. It probably doesn't matter too much anyway since i know this is not viewed very much. However, there were a couple things i have wanted to post about. I shall discuss the first one here.
I have seen it posted by another catholic church musician i very much respect about the topic of parishoners lamenting the horrible music in most of our churches nowadays. I have heard it stated from him and other Catholic musicians, that if the parishoners really gave their honest opinion of the music in most places, most would tell you they find it horrible. And it may have even driven some Catholics away from the church (although i don't agree that that is a legitimate excuse to abandon your faith). I am wary of this presumption though. My first question would be: how many ARE there, really, who would say this?
I would hope there are quite a few myself, but i have never heard anyone say this, and so i am wary that to make such a claim about the thoughts of people in the pews on music is a blanket statement. I would be more inclined to think that most people in the pews are indifferent about the choice of music, maybe because they have even learned to close their ears to mediocre or bad music they have heard often in church.
I would also like to comment on when you try to change music in a parish though, to conform it more to the directives from Sacrosanctum Concilium and other music documents from the Vatican following that. If truly many people either dislike the mediocre music currently in use or just ignore it, why does just one or two complaints from parishoners very often tend to discourage continuation of the change in music? In my experience when i have seen complaints of such changes, it usually is coming from those in the parish who are known to be more partial to the changes of the church in the 1960s and 70s or just to folk music in general and would like us to stay in that time era as regards to music as well. But why should those few voices be allowed to dictate the music that is done, against the directives from holy Mother Church? Also to be taken into account is that such people who do not want music from the church's history to return are never going to change in that opinion and so reveal themselves as being stuck in a certain time era which no longer connects with our society.
Changes to music should still be done slowly and with education to the faithful, but deliberately, so that the parish knows there is a sense of direction, purpose, and goal to the changes.

My place

I know it's been a week since my last post and have wanted to post lately but have not had time! i still do not have time to say much tonight, since some of my family came to visit me at college for four days, so i have homework to catch up on now!
I hope to be able to post soon, more on sacred music in the church, but in the meantime, if anyone checks this blog, pray for me as i continue to struggle with discerning my place in the church and its musical heritage, wondering if in the future i would even be capable of "working in the trenches" as Jeffrey Tucker puts it, in the normal Catholic parish setting. Or am I meant to just help the spread of the extraordinary form and by my knowledge of chant and polyphony and make high masses possible? I have no clue, and it's so frustrating because I lack the trust I desire to have a deep trust in God's will for me and when He chooses to reveal it.

Vocation

Well, i finally bought the plane ticket this past week to go to Missouri in January and spend a week with the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. $500 was a big chunk of change, but i know that the spiritual worth of such a trip will be more valuable the monetary amount i had to pay. I hope the Lord gives me some further direction from this coming trip, because if they are not the religious order i am eventually to join, i don't know where else to look. There are only a couple of really traditional women religious orders in the U.S. (sigh) may God give me guidance and teach me not to worry.

Mater Ecclesiae

I know i'm a little late in putting this here, but this is the first i've known about it. After the release of the Motu Propio in July, my parish here in NJ had a wonderful mass of celebration and much festivities in the hall after (which unfortunately i could not be a part of since i was in Vermont), and the Philadelphia Inquirer was invited to do a story and videotape the Mass. So i wanted to share with you the video that is online! Click here.
My parish is one that knows how to sing hymns! :-)
Just thought you all might like to see how we celebrate mass here.

what does the future hold?

I again had a wonderful day at my parish and sang a choral mass for the closing of our forty hours' devotion, which included mass celebrated with the blessed sacrament exposed (only allowed in the extraordinary form i think) and the chanting of the litany of the saints followed by a procession outside the church. oh, how i LOVE my church!!! There was of course, much socializing after, as usual.
That however, is not the topic of my post. I am a frequent visitor of the NLM blog and particularly like to read stuff by Jeffrey Tucker, and have read a few things by him and some other people about how to start a schola in your own parish. The article is here and gave me much to think about. I know i will forever be learning about the music and liturgy of the church, but even more feel like there is still so much for me to learn to be able to serve a parish in bringing about musical reform. I wonder, will I have the patience for such a thing? will i be a good example of Christian charity? will i know how to discuss with those who may disagree about the direction the music heads in? With Jeffrey making reference to the fact that a new schola in essence has to prove themselves, what happens when you do make a mistake in how things are done? What if it then all falls apart? In some ways, i fear of making those types of mistakes, of not having the patience of not know how to correctly deal with parishoners when confronted, of not even knowing where exactly to start! Especially if i do end up in a situation where it's two parishes trying to unite as one with only one mass at one church and two at the other? how do you go about such reform in such a condition?
I know my fear probably mainly comes from a lack of trust in God to prepare me for what he has in store for me, and the best answer would be to pray more. But it so often is hard not to think about the future and where you might end up and how you would handle it, etc.
Such a tough year this is already proving to be in the areas of discernment and trust in God's will, and patience. I hope that is because those are precisely the areas God will help me to grow in.

Cabrini College Gone Traditional??

Probably not, sorry to say. However, upon going to their chapel on campus this year, i was met with a pleasant surprise: the sanctuary has been quite extensively remodeled, and it's beautiful! It would be a wonderful place to celebrate the TLM or the Novus Ordo ad orientem. Despite this beautiful sanctuary now(it is also bigger because of the renovation), they still don't use it to say mass, which is unfortunate. But, at least an intimate place to adore the blessed sacrament is now provided. I don't have before pictures, but here is the sanctuary and the chapel as it is now:

As you can see, it is set up so that mass is said from the middle of the chapel, which is just ridiculous, and does not follow the norms laid down by the church. What is new to the sanctuary is all the woodwork along the walls and coming out toward the center, and the tall windows and the layered look to the back wall. I think it is simple and beautiful. It reminds me of a choir for monks because you can sit all along the inside now against the wall. Before, there was just a small step up and just the altar in the middle, and a couple of those chairs placed in front to be able to adore the Eucharist when it was in the tabernacle. I was told that the renovation was donated by someone, and otherwise, they wouldn't have done such a thing. I remember last year when i wrote to the school (for lack of knowing who to address) about the inappropriateness of the setup of their sanctuary and missing elements according to Vat. II documents, and was made to feel like some sort of criminal, like i had done something wrong for addressing the issue. the school or chaplain (who is a franciscan priest from Villanova) didn't even talk to me about it, instead they had Eastern's chaplain talk to me about my concerns about Cabrini! It was pretty odd. And the only thing told to me by the Franciscan priest was: "we aren't going to change the chapel to fit your tastes" and it was not in a very nice tone either.

So needless to say, i hadn't gone back there till now and i still won't for mass, but i think i'll go more often to adore Christ, who desperately needs it there since this past Wednesday i was the only one to adore the Sacrament that was exposed except for the priest.

Obviously, there liberal liturgy and soft catechesis isn't drawing any of the students to the faith....(or the drums and piano music).

But maybe, just maybe, this renovation will be a first step to something better... and a new chaplain in the future.

Parish prayer for vocations

I thought i would share with all of you a prayer that my parish says before the sermon at every mass. I think it is a good practice in our day to start having parishes say a prayer for vocations together because they are so desperately needed, and maybe by hearing the prayer every week, it will get families to foster religious vocations in their children. Here it is:

O God, we earnestly beseech thee, to bless the church with many priests, brothers, and sisters, who will love thee with their whole strength, be faithful to their vocation, and gladly spend their entirely lives to teach thy truth, serve thy church, and to make thee known and loved.
V. Bless our families, bless our children
R. Choose from our homes those who are needed for thy work.
V. O Mary, Queen of the clergy
R. Pray for our priests, seminarians, and religious; obtain for us many more. Amen.

I hope that some of you priests can introduce this prayer or something similar in your parishes, and send it to other priests. V. is led by the priest, then the parish responds.
Our parish also says an Our Father after for and end to terrorism and the conversion of the Muslims and all people to Christ, but that's a different mattter.

Is the Church to fall apart in Holland?!

I ran across an extremely disturbing and distressing article on the NLM blog about the state of mass in Holland being led by the Dominican order. They essentially are trying to turn the Catholic church protestant from what i can tell! And they are trying to spread it through the whole country by their recent booklet they are putting out. mind you, this same group already came under scrutiny by the doctrine of the faith earlier. Why hasn't this been stopped by now? To give you an understanding of how distressing a situation this is, go to http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/170066?eng=y .
Things like this continue to remind how much i should sacrifice more for the church because it needs saints! It needs more of us really willing to sacrifice for the faith and live it heroically. The article also makes me upset though, because i wonder why such a situation as this has not provoked immediate action by the church, even the bishop or the rest of the Dominican order!!! isn't anyone willing to stand up and condemn this for what it is? Will we just let so many people get led astray while it is all carefully looked into? If the situation is really as bad as it sounds, i would think immediate action should be the reaction!
pray for the church in Holland and pray for us young Catholics that God may form us into heroic saints.

The Kiss of Peace

I would like to encourage people and priests especially to check out a post today on the NLM blog about the kiss of peace. Most of us are familiar with how it tends to disrupt the sacred action in the mass with a moment of generic greetings. Instead of saying more i shall refer you here. It's a wonderful article by a Cistercian monk and if other things get posted ahead of it just search for the title: "NLM Guest Article: The Liturgical Kiss of Peace". Make sure to read the comments especially! there are a lot of good suggestions in there for ways to do the kiss of peace in a more dignified way that more clearly expresses the peace of Christ rather than a time to say hi to our neighbors. I think the first two comments would be my favorite options for the sign of peace. Definitely check it out! Although, getting a parish to change how they give the sign of peace might be a little challenging, i'm not sure. I would think if the change was explained, it would be better recieved? Education i at least know, would be key.
Well, i should get to my homework. Keep my friend Shawn in your prayers. He is studying abroad this semester in Oxford and has a tutorial with Fr. Aiden Nichols! His tutorial is on "the liturgical theology of Pope Benedict XVI! i hope he learns a lot. then he can come back and know what i'm talking about when i try to talk to him about liturgy :-)

A festive day... and other suggestions

Today was a wonderful day at my church. I got to sit and listen to a choral mass for once instead of singing it, which is really nice to do once in a while, to just enjoy the mass, although i love to sing for it too. It was a very festive day at Mater Ecclesiae and a PACKED church, because our guest of honor was Fr. Benedict Groeschel! He is good friends with Fr. Pasley, our priest, and finally made it down to visit Father's parish. He gave a riveting and engaging sermon that dealt with a number of topics, including the importance of the extraordinary form of the mass (as well as telling us even that was celebrated poorly before the council, that the priest's didn't speak lating, they spoke "jibberish" because they said it so fast, lol), and so the liturgical movement today in either form is characterized by it's importance on reverence, awe and beauty. He also talked much about the importance of a correct understanding of Christ, especially in our time when Christ's divinity is continually minimized or challenged by the "historical Jesus" brought about by rationalism/modernism. He was very adament about encouraging us to read Pope Benedict's new book, "Jesus of Nazareth" esp. the first 25 pages (which we should read with a pencil in hand) because it is so crucial to the understanding of Christ as he really is in our day when even priests minimize Christ's divinity in some way. So i really think i'm going to get the book now. Fr. Groeschel truly sees our "Papa" as a genius and wise beyond his years (150 he said) He said much else, but it's hard to remember it all!
Since i'm on the topic of my church, there's a couple things i'd like to put out there for priests' knowledge. Once of the things that may seem hard to change in typical parishes when starting to implement the reform of the reform is the issue of girl altar servers. But i believe removing girls from that role is crucial to encouraging priestly vocations in boys by having them alone serve at the altar and from relationships with the priest. A few parishes where i have seen an effective transition away from altar girls is to form a type of society for them. a couple examples - 1) at Mater Ecclesiae, we have the Blessed Imelda lambertini Society, which is "A Society of prayer and Eucharistic Adoration for young girls and women who have received the sacrament of First Holy Communion" The girls love it, because on feast days, they are part of the procession and where white dresses and shoes, with blue sashes and white veils. They have a banner to carry in front as well, and yearly Fr. Pasley inducts new members into the society. Also, a couple of the girls have the honor of doing the may crowning of our lady.
2) our lady of lourdes in Overbrook PA also started a separate society for girls as well called the Bernadettes, which is "Girl's Society, established for development and promotion of Christian and human formation for young ladies; dedicated to the imitation of St. Bernadette Subirous; to praying for an end to abortion and the outreach to help change the hearts of those women contemplating procuring an abortion. Present for various liturgies as an honor guard in processions and at the altar." this parish is especially a good example of the liturgical movement, as it now celebrates both forms of the mass as of Sept. 16th, including the Novus Ordo in Latin which i went to last week, and it is run by the mercedarian friars who have really renewed the parish life check them out - www.ourladylourdes.org
3) lastly, there's a parish in Connecticut with a young priest by the name of Fr. Greg Markey which has done a fantastic job in 2 years of bringing about the reform of the reform through much education of church teaching on liturgy. There is A LOT of valuable things on his church's website. They also have a group for girls called "handmaids of the altar" and a great FAQ tab about a lot of the changes made to their liturgy. One thing i like though is that upon making the switch to only allowing boys to now serve, they allowed those girls who had already been serving continue to serve as long as they liked, but no new girls would be accepted. i thought that was a very good way of transitioning. The parish website is - www.stmarynorwalk.net

another thing in connection with my church i want to discuss is training for the extraordinary form of the mass. I know our Vermont bishop seemed quite clear about planning to train priests in this form, but i know how difficult that may end up being since the priests are already so busy. it may be difficult to send them away for a weekend for training. However, i believe training in this form of the mass so it becomes available to Vermont Catholics will be crucial in interesting boys in the priesthood again. Vermont lacks vocations! I think the extraordinary form will be fundamental in bringing about more vocations, so training for current priests in this form needs to happen. If priests are able to sneak away for a weekend, i would recommend going to one hosted by the canons regular of St. john Cantius in Chicago, and i believe they still have room in their next training weekend which is Oct. 17-19! you can go here for more information- http://www.musicasacra.com/celebrant ( i don't know how to creat links!). The training has two tracks, learning to chant the mass in the ordinary OR extraordinary form. I highly suggest checking out their parish website, they have done some amazing things since 1990. (for example, growing from 70 families to 1,000 families) www.cantius.org.
ALSO, these priests have also started a website with online tutorials for priests AND altar servers to learn the extraordinary form, which i think will be really helpful for priests who are extremely busy. Go to www.sanctamissa.org. they are continuing to develop the website, and there's also a bookstore there.

Another awesome thing i have heard is that the priest at my parish in NJ is planning with another priest to eventually have priests be able to come to Mater Ecclesiae to learn the extraordinary form! Fr. Pasley is honestly the best celebrant for mass i have ever seen. I'll keep you updated on that development.

I hope some of this can be helpful to priests i know, and can be spread to other priests by means of this. For solely learning the extraordinary form, there are also workshops being given by the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, so look them up!

I've come across a really good article in my Fall issue of Sacred Music, published by the CMAA, that i would love to post once they have it online, because i think it might be good as a starting point for educating a parish before making liturgical changes. the article is "Beauty and the Roman Liturgy" by Fr. Martin Fox, and once it's available on their website, i'll link to it.

I should save something to post for another time, so i will bid adieu. But for those who read this i would like to say, that if you are a supporter of the reform of the reform, take Fr. Groeschel's advice and support the spread of the extraordinary form of the mass as well. it is needed to put the church back in touch with her liturgical heritage and will aid most fruitfully a reform of the reform of the ordinary mass. so encourage and support your priest in any way possible to bring reverence, sacredness, and beauty back to the liturgy. Inquire about the extraordinary form. And pray for all of us who are or are preparing to serve the liturgy of the Catholic Church in any way.

Entering Blogdom

I'm not exactly sure why i'm doing it, but i'm deciding to enter the blogging world. I've learned so much in the past year from blogs and met such a wide variety of opinions and believe i am the better for it. I guess i hope to know other people through this who share my love of the Catholic Church and are involved in music ministry in the Church, so i can learn and have support from them, as i am about to enter into the joys and suffering it may entail to reform Catholic music. All prayers for me are welcome, for the year seems to be heavy with discernment. i so often want to plan out my life the way i think it should go, and am constantly working with the Lord on that fault of mine. He often helps by putting unexpected events in my life. I'll forever be grateful for discovering my Catholic heritage in the Traditional Latin Mass, or now called the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, and will promote its use everywhere! But i feel that i am possibly being prepared to join in the struggle of the reform of the reform, and all the suffering that would entail as a church musician. I feel i have so much growing to do this year! And i so often fall short of striving for holiness as i ought. If i am to direct music for the church, which is the most integral liturgical ministry, i am supposed to be example of of virtue and striving to embody the Catholic faith. How many prayers i need! May i grow in the virtues of humility, charity, patience, and perseverance to prepare for a life of service to the Church.