A Simple Plan To Improve Music At Mass
Are all musical styles acceptable for Mass? Movie directors realize such a notion is bogus.
“Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the extraordinary form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?” —The Vatican’s chief liturgist from 2014-2021; interview with Edw. Pentin (23-Sep-2019)
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).
Are all musical styles acceptable for Mass? Movie directors realize such a notion is bogus.
What a stark contrast between the (discredited) translation from the 1970s and the 2011 translation!
Consider these lines from GIA’s newest hymnal (Worship IV): “Who is this who eats with sinners, calling luckless losers winners?” Did they really just use the phrase “luckless losers” in a Catholic hymn book?
It dawned on me that nothing I’d been saying had made the slightest impact. I had literally been wasting my breath.
Even after so many years, recalling this statement makes my brain explode with rage.
“The Conference of Bishops has given permission that, when a qualified man is not
available, a woman may proclaim the readings prior to the gospel, while standing outside the sanctuary.” — 1970 Statement
“The Instruction pretends that we actually do have Propers for the Mass, whereas everyone knows that today the Mass Propers are sung perhaps at one Mass in ten thousand.” — Professor László Dobszay
“Many a pope has gone through his entire pontificate without making a single infallible statement.” — Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
A mystery! The 1970s ICEL seems not to have included these words, even though they were in the official Latin …
“If the world is progressing intellectually, should not the existence of God have been defined in the 1st century and the nature of the Trinity in the 19th?” — Fulton J. Sheen
Following the Second Vatican Council, black vestments aren’t usually worn because they’re considered too “spooky and scary.”
Pope Francis celebrating in this manner was a bit of a surprise, since members of his generation aren’t usually accustomed to “turning their backs on the people.”
Human beings are “geared” toward annual events. Our minds, emotions, and memories simply aren’t programmed to work in 3-year cycles.
Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.