Innocuous But Uninspired Music At Mass?
In my youth, I recall singing some of these same songs at Mass, but I refused to do the hand gestures.
Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”
A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He completed studies in Education and Musicology at the graduate level. Having worked as a church musician in Los Angeles for ten years, in 2024 he accepted a position as choirmaster for Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Michigan, where he resides with his wife and children. —Read full biography (with photographs).
In my youth, I recall singing some of these same songs at Mass, but I refused to do the hand gestures.
Your more advanced singers will love this piece by Palestrina!
“My Roman collar is my television uniform.” —Fr. Richard McBrien
“It contains about two hundred hymns—all from approved sources—and covers every phase of Catholic devotion.” —Foreword by the Bishop of La Crosse
Hymns can be implemented into the Latin High Mass with great effect.
Historically, “liturgy” referred to a service done for the people, not by them.
“We feel that the selection of hymns leaves little to be desired…” —From the 1942 Foreword
“Yet zephyrs vainly fan me, and flow’rs to groves invite…”
Some people accept a job as choir director and say, “I have five singers who don’t read music, so I guess that’s how it will always be.”
It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful text than Sedulius’ Hymn: Hostis Herodes Impie.
This extremely rare Catholic hymn book is here made available for the first time ever as a PDF download.
Resist the temptation to believe that Francis is 80,000 times as important as Benedict since he receives 80,000 times as much media coverage.
Can you imagine singing all those vernacular hymns while Mass is happening?
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