Views from the Choir Loft

Father Friel • Article Archive

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

Fr. David Friel · September 28, 2014

Married Couples at the Synod

Celibates have something to offer married couples, just as married couples have lessons to teach celibates.

Fr. David Friel · September 14, 2014

The Meaning of Marriage 1

Does This Mean That Cohabitation Is Okay Now?

Fr. David Friel · September 7, 2014

Bishop Sheen Speaks

Pointers on Public Speaking

Fr. David Friel · August 31, 2014

Liturgy vs. Social Justice

A Classic Case of the Catholic “Both/And”

Fr. David Friel · August 17, 2014

Hippolytus of Rome & Eucharistic Prayer II

What’s the Connection?

Fr. David Friel · August 13, 2014

Assumption Mass

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth will celebrate a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form this Friday evening in Philadelphia.

Fr. David Friel · August 10, 2014

Important Resources for Liturgical Reform (3 of 7)

Public Domain Scores & Published Resources

Fr. David Friel · August 3, 2014

The 15th Station?

The 9/11 Memorial and Conveying Catharsis through Art

Fr. David Friel · July 27, 2014

Is Recorded Music Okay for Children?

There is a prevalent notion that young people somehow need to be accommodated in the work of divine worship. As a former child, I find this to be an errant hankering.

Fr. David Friel · July 20, 2014

Basic Steps To Improve Music At Your Parish — Part 5

Silence is one of the most important sounds of the liturgy.

Fr. David Friel · July 13, 2014

The “Children’s Liturgy of the Word”

Are We Past This Yet?

Fr. David Friel · July 8, 2014

Colloquium Roundup

How to Experience Colloquium XXIV Belatedly and From Afar

Fr. David Friel · July 6, 2014

Colloquium Update IV

The Glories of A Single Proper

Fr. David Friel · July 5, 2014

Colloquium Update III

“Minding the Gap” — Organ Improvisation

Fr. David Friel · July 4, 2014

Colloquium Update II

Resources for Accompanying Gregorian Chant

“Music List” (4th Sunday of Advent, Year C)

This coming Sunday—22 December 2024—is the 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C). Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The English version of “Roráte Cæli” we’re singing for the ENTRANCE CHANT is magnificent.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Advent

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Advent (22 December 2024). Set in the first mode—just like the authentic version—this setting manages to capture the “essence” of the Gregorian setting in quite an admirable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion (4th Sunday of Advent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF) we’re singing for the 4th Sunday of Advent has a particularly gorgeous melody. The text (from the prophet Isaiah) is also quite beautiful and is cited toward the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It certainly seems like most of the Advent antiphons come from the book of Isaiah…

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Lessons and Carols”

Seen online! Dr. Samuel Backman conducted a “Lessons and Carols” service with his choir, and someone produced this lovely vignette.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker