Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

I suppose I'll post this under the actual name of the cathedral, since I don't really have much to say that is negative... which, btw, it is quite a lovely cathedral, and really looks exactly like what a Catholic cathedral is supposed to look like... (unlike, ahem, certain dioceses in another state to the northwest...)

So, on this day which was both mine and my dear husband's last Sunday without both of us having church/work commitments, we decided to go to the cathedral for Mass, and were not only blessed with the bishop saying Mass, but also were pleasantly surprised with the beautiful music selections!

I didn't take a copy of the bulletin (which had most of the congregational of the music selections in it,) but I'll write about what was notable to me.

Apparently the full choir does not normally sing, and they certainly sounded quite prepared and professional!
There was a lovely organ prelude, followed by the choir singing some beautiful polyphonic piece (I believe it was in Latin, but unfortunately I have no idea what!)

The opening hymn was "Lord whose love in humble service" which isn't such a terrible hymn, although some of the verses have some very annoying PC social justice-y themes to them.
The Kyrie was surprisingly lovely; I believe it was an interesting combination of simple call-and-response with the congregation, with a middle "Christe" verse that was a beautiful polyphonic choral setting.

Followed by, unfortunately, the awful diocesan-mandated setting of the Mass of St. Paul the Apostle Gloria. I mean, it's not such a bad piece of music, but...suitable for the liturgy? And to be sung by a congregation? And the accompaniment, to be played by your average church organist? It's just so...syncopated. I love it when non-musicians (or else professional musicians with no sense of appropriate liturgical music) choose music to be learned by an entire diocese...
Lansing, consider yourselves lucky!
Anyhow, the choral section was really neat to listen to, and the organist was of course fabulous, but none of it really made anyone in the congregation attempt to sing along!

I don't remember much about the psalm...it might have had cool choral verses.
The Alleluia was taken from "For all the Saints."

The Offertory was a modern-sounding choral piece, probably a bit dissonant for some people, but very nice for the occasion, IMHO.
I believe that the Sanctus/Mem Accl/Amen were from an old-translation Mass.
And now I'm trying to remember the Agnus...I *think* it was similar to the Kyrie (or else I'm mixing them up,) with some congregation, and some lovely choral singing.

The song for communion was that awful "Center of My Life" song, that seems to be the absolute favorite of every single church around here (but I had never heard prior to coming here,) As a song, it really just makes me want to link arms and rock and sway with everyone else around me. Maybe we should all pull out our lighters (or cell phones) and wave them in the air.
I can't remember the verses, but I'm pretty sure that every time I've heard it, something about the theology (or lack of) has really bothered me about...maybe the last verse?
Finally, the closing hymn was the ever-wonderful and rousing "For All the Saints." (with, I must add, the PROPER rhythm... "ALLLLLLLL who by faith..." NOT "All WHOOOOOOOO by faith..."

And then I believe that there was a nice but relatively brief (the church emptied fast) postlude, although I didn't listen closely.

Anyhow, overall the best cathedral liturgy that I've ever seen! I'd give it an 8.5/10!

St. Joseph in Toledo

Today being one of my last weekends where I am completely free to attend Mass wherever I want (at least until late February, and certainly one of my last in the SE Michigan area.) I received a recommendation to attend St. Joseph in Toledo, which was interestingly on my way to where I had to be later on Sunday!

After an unexpected realization that I must have written down the directions wrong, I knew I was in the right (somewhat sketchy) Toledo neighborhood, driving around on a Sunday morning. I had a vague idea of the cross streets, but couldn't find the church. I saw a steeple of what I was sure must be the church, but no, it was just some Protestant church. Finally I followed my gut, making use of the directions I had to leave the church (which were more accurate,) and saw another (much less impressive) steeple in the distance, which I determined to be it.

I found the church surprisingly small, but I decided that the inside was about the same size as St. P. (It's amazing the difference that being in the city versus country can be!) I attended their EF Latin Mass, and had a few observations.

One of the more interesting was that I noticed a great percentage (10%?) of the women wearing not just mantillas, but pashminas or scarves as a head covering. I must say, I am a fan. I approve of the simple, not-drawing-attention scarf, that a woman might even wear on the street today, (rather than the lacy mantilla...like...who ever came up with that idea?!)

I won't comment on the music, other than it was about what I expected, (Missa de Angelis, that pretty holy week Adoramus Te, I think Arcadelt's Ave Maria, the Panis Angelicus hymn, etc.) although this is not the first church like this that I've been surprised to find an all-male choir! (small though it may be.) They could also use a new organ. I didn't go up in the loft, but I could see pipes, but, let's just say...I don't think that's what they were using. :-/

The only liturgically interesting things I noticed, were that even though they did Missa de Angelis, they split the Sanctus/Benedictus as is permitted (required?) for a polyphonic setting. (Is that permitted for a chant setting? Every rubric I have ever read has directed it to be sung non-split.)
Also, I noticed that the communion antiphon was sung at the very end of communion. Is this an option, or incorrect?

ok, that's about all I can remember, although I thought there might have been a third liturgical interesting thing... the priest gave a VERY short homily (you know, one of those ones where you just start to really listen...and then he's done!) maybe cuz Mass started more than 10 minutes late I think cuz people were in confession... but yeah, overall a lovely church and liturgy! Thanks for the suggestion, JL!

Holy Family

It's nice to be free on Sunday mornings...
Finally got a chance to go to Holy Family in Greektown this morning! It did not appear to me that they do ANYthing illicit. It is basically just a Latin, Novus Ordo, ad orientem, (very sparsely attended) Mass.
The claim to fame, being that it is likely that they are the only Catholic church in the US that has NEVER had an English, versus populum Mass!
(The rumor is, since they are the Sicilian church in the diocese, apparently back when VII happened, the grandmothers there were just like, "no, we're not doing that...") I would like to now dispel the rumor that it is much of a "mixture" of EF/OF.
There was nothing illicit, especially that the priest did as far as I could tell... the only "crossovers" that I noticed were in what the people did:
-knelt at beginning of Mass
-didn't sing pretty much anything (the tiny choir did.)
-servers lifted chasuble
-didn't say "Amen" at communion, the server did. (at the rail)
-knelt for final blessing

A little gem of a church, housed away downtown! I think it seems smaller than it is, being surrounded by those big buildings. But when I was inside and thought about it, I'm sure it's actually larger than St. P! (It just doesnt have as high a ceiling. maybe thats why it seems smaller.) Very gorgeous. If you want to sort through some pictures, you can get an idea of what it looks like from AF- http://picasaweb.google.com/115178373895033328671/DetroitChurchBlog or his whole experience (similar to mine) http://detroitchurchblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/holy-family-greektown.html

Electronic organs

While being a student of organ, I was always taught to look down on "electronic organs" (read: an organ without pipes. Which pianist would prefer to play an electric Clavinova over a Steinway?)
And, in my experience, this was easy to do. But I had pretty much only ever played 30+ year old electronic organs.

That's one of the big accusations against them--how many other electronic devices do you know that dont last more than a few years? So isn't it obvious that these organs will all need to be replaced within our lifetimes? Contrast that to "real" organs; many of the good ones last well over 100 years, and just need the occasional re-leathering.

Obviously, for most or all churches who end up buying a new electronic organ, price is a huge factor. A "real" organ will easily be $200,000+, whilst a nice, large, electronic organ could run $20,000-$50,000. (I *think* my figures are about right. I kind of guesstimated, based on little things I've picked up over the years.) While the electronic one is still expensive, I wonder if churches forget to factor that they will probably have to buy a new one in 30 years? (Well, maybe nowadays most churches aren't thinking that far ahead--they're wondering if they will even be open by then!)

Other than the replacement likelihood, the real organ has other advantages, like the enjoyablity of playing it and how it *sounds* better. (Like, it sounds "real.")

I used to think that I could tell the difference, but the extent of my experience was from the 30-year old Allen that my first church had. (It was an awful instrument, if you can call it that...) More recently, my fiance, has been pointing out the occasional electronic organ, that sounds quite impressive to me, and pointing out how it is not real (and he would know as he has played on lots of electronic organs!)

And my surprise has led me to being quite impressed with some of the sounds that I have heard! And recently, I even was able to spend some time playing a brand new, very impressive Rodgers. I was pleasantly impressed with how much I enjoyed playing it. One thing I noticed, (compared with the only one other electronic new organ I have played recently,) it was LOUD. The volume was much more comparable to that of a real organ. For some situations, a single stop was enough. There was even one rank that I could not believe that didn't have pipes (it was a bourdon in the pedal for which a few of the middle notes, I *heard* some breathy, wind noise. [sorry, I don't know what the technical term for that is. I hope the organists understand!]) I looked for the pipes, and there didn't seem to be even a hidden rank, but, I should mention that the organist of that church was not there to verify if it did not have any ranks of pipes.

So what is this post about? My genuine surprise at the level of quality of some (at least one!) of the more recent electronic organs. Would I ever encourage a church to buy one? No. I will always value the artistic value of the craftsmanship that goes into making a pipe organ, as well as the other reasons listed above, and others I probably haven't mentioned, but I won't disdain some of the newer electronic organs as much as I used to.

more on accompaniment books...

apparently, there IS more than one church in the world whose organist likes to lock the accompaniment book away in his office! wow! who would have guessed....

Also, word to the wise-- be sure to check *how much* you are getting paid with the person who is actually hiring you for a service, before you do it, and don't just believe anyone who tells you what they "think" you will get! :-/

holy moley!

A parish FIVE miles away just posted a job description that includes the word "schola!"

This is gonna get interesting...

So I THOUGHT all organists kept the accompaniment books in an obvious place...

I mean, every single church I had ever seen had the organist hymnal right next to the console, within grasp of the organist!

So I had to play a wedding this weekend at a church where I had never touched the organ, and I assumed they would be where the books always are, so I didn't bother swinging by St. P's to borrow their books.

oops, fail. apparently there is at least one organist in the world who keeps her books locked up in her office.

LUCKILY, the wedding was at 4 on a friday, so I was able to have the office lady open the MD's door for me to get the books! phew! no more assumptions about that! (and the kind of weird thing is that the MD *knew* was coming, and had been very helpful in all other ways; I just forgot to check if the hymnal would be out, and perhaps she assumed I wouldn't need it, or didn't think of it.)

My liturgical life

A lot has been going on in the past couple months. Most significantly, I formally finished up my work at St. P's, where I have been for the past 5 years! (I left because I am moving to a new city!)

It leaves me in the interesting position of looking for a new job, which has its own repercussions...

For the first time in *years*, I am going to freely choose where to go to Mass on Sunday! I really don't know yet. I'm a huge fan of beautiful music, so I'd like to go to a church with that, but it's hard to know in advance when that will be! It's not like there is a published schedule put out by the diocese...

And secondly, until I find a formal job, I suspect that I will be "selling myself" (or I could use cruder terms...) anywhere as a sub. Goody. I'm going to be immersed in the full experience of a wide variety of liturgical styles, most of which I have been not only trying to avoid for the past several years, but also deliberately working to combat!

I suppose that's cool...

Apparently, the Mass setting that my mother co-wrote will be one of the 5 in the St. Augustine Hymnal. (Not that I am advocating for that particular hymnal ;-) but I still think it's pretty cool!)

I am not quite sure what Pope Benedict means here...

It is true that splitting the Sanctus and the Benedictus is not necessary, but it makes a lot of sense. if the choir sings the Sanctus and the Benedictus together, then the break between the Preface and the Eucharistic Prayer can indeed be too lengthy. When this happens, it no longer serves the congrega­tion’s silent, yet cooperative entering into cosmic praise because the inner tension is not sustained. On the other hand, if a filled silence and an interior greeting of the Lord along with the choir take place after the consecration event, it corresponds profoundly to the inner structure of the occasion. The pedantic proscription of such a split, which came about not without reason in the development, should be forgotten as quickly as possible. [A New Song for the Lord, (NY: Crossroad, 1995) p 145]

It seems to me that he first praises it, but then calls it a "pedantic proscription" to split it, which should "be forgotten."

So... is it, or is it not ok to split it? (In the Novus Ordo at least, is all I care about at the moment.)

And this one:

A Choral Agnus Dei

Now just a word about the Agnus Dei. In the Regensburg cathedral it has become a tradition that after the Sign of Peace the Agnus Dei is first spoken three times by both the priest and the people and then continued by the choir as a communion hymn during the distribution of Communion. Over against this custom it has been asserted that the Agnus Dei belongs to the rite of the breaking of the bread. Only a completely fossilized archaism can draw the conclusion from its original purpose of accompanying the time of the breaking of the bread that it should be sung exclusively at this point. As a matter of fact, it became a communion song as early as the ninth and tenth centuries when the old rites of the breaking the bread were no longer neces­sary because of the new hosts. J. A. Jungmann points out that in many cases in the early Middle Ages only one Agnus Dei was sung after the Sign of Peace while the second and third ones found their niche after Communion and thus accompanied the distribution of Communion where there was one. And does the request for the mercy of Christ, the Lamb of God, not make sense at that exact moment when he defenselessly gives himself into our hands again as Lamb, the sacrificed, yet triumphant Lamb who holds the keys of history in his hands (Revelation 5)? And is the request for peace made to him, the defenseless yet victorious One, not appropriate especially at the moment of receiving Communion since peace was, after all, one of the names of the Eucharist in the early Church because it tears down the boundaries between heaven and earth and between peoples and states and joins humans to the unity of the Body of Christ? At first glance, the Regensburg tradition and the conciliar as well as post­conciliar reform seem to be two opposite worlds, which clash in harsh con­tradiction. Whoever stood right between them for three decades was able to experience the severity of the posed questions for himself. But where this tension is endured, it turns out that all this belongs to the stages of one single path. Only if one holds these stages together and holds out will they be correctly understood and will true reform flourish in the spirit of the Sec­ond Vatican Council—reform that is not discontinuity and destruction but purification and growth to a new maturation and anew fullness. The cathe­dral choirmaster who has borne the weight of this tension deserves thanks: This was not only a service for Regensburg and its cathedral, but a service for the entire Church. [A New Song for the Lord (NY: Crossroad, 1995) p. 145]

(I've read it now a couple times, and I'm STILL not sure what conclusion he makes about a "choral sanctus!")

Thoughts?

I may be temporarily cracking down soon on the privacy of this blog...

When I next apply for a promising job, I will most likely need to change the privacy settings on here for a time so that the whole world can't read every post (like the ones in which I unknowingly sabotaged future job prospects at churches which may not completely agree with my views ;-) ). Hopefully, this will only be temporary, until I get a job and they decide that they like me. :-)

I'm not sure the best way to go about doing that-- after looking around on here for a minute, it only seems to give me the option to include people by email address. I will automatically add people who are under my google list of "friends," (I have no idea when I made this list, so don't be offended if you are not on it,) so if you ever notice that you can no longer view this blog, feel free to just shoot me an email (and if I like you,) I'll add you.
Not sure yet what is involved with reading this and needing to sign in...but we shall see.

(and the annoying thing is, I think my name is linked to this blog in only one place! and it's from someone that I am not sure I can contact! argh!)

EF

ok, I admit it. While I do not mind it, the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is not my favorite.

Occasionally I have heard the argument that "little children seem to instinctually know that something sacred is going on, and are much more calm and sedate than at a 'happy-clappy' Novus Ordo Mass."

sigh. I beg to differ.

At our EF today, there was a young child (about 1 year old?) who was *shrieking* his head off the ENTIRE second half of Mass. good. freaking. grief.