Addams Family Theme Song … At Mass?
Is it really true that any style of music can be lawfully used at Mass?
“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).
Is it really true that any style of music can be lawfully used at Mass?
A Catholic bishop once said to me: “One of the greatest proofs of the truth of Christianity is the fact that the Church is still here in spite of the incompetence and villainy of her frail priests and all-too-human bishops.”
I took Latin in school, and one day someone asked me, “Did you know that in the Middle Ages the Mass used to be in Latin?” I thought, “I wish that still happened, somewhere on earth.”
It is simply incorrect to say that a “black hole” existed from 600AD until 1965 (when the vernacular was introduced) during which Catholics were not truly adoring God at Mass.
I was disturbed when I read Fr. Godfrey Diekmann’s comments about the Pope.
During the second half of the 20th century, some doctors thought they were smarter than God. They no longer promoted or taught breastfeeding to mothers.
The current Missal was put together with haste, and even the Vatican dicastery had to apologize for all the errors and typos contained in those early 1969 and 1970 directives, as Msgr. Schuler has pointed out.
The current rubrics tell the priest when to turn around and face the people, which would be superfluous if he were already facing them.
I never realized Subdeacons were allowed to be part of the New Mass, but it makes sense since the minor orders were not suppressed until 15 August 1972.
Those who oppose abortion point out that very few of the 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade had to do with “rape and incest,” but this is the weaker argument.
“I had a special relationship with Pope Paul VI that began with his election to the papacy.” — Bishop René H. Gracida
“This is not to say that prayers in strophic form cannot be uttered with a prayerful mentality.” — Professor László Dobszay
Fr. Georg May was a superb Canon lawyer and faithfully heard Confessions every Saturday … even during the tumultuous years following the Second Vatican Council.
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