The Choir Isn’t Everything
The priest’s musical role is enormously influential. This can not be emphasized enough.
Three Things that Inform the Work of Every Parish: Hospitality, Catechesis, Evangelization
These three elements inform most every aspect of our service to God and the faithful.
The Power of Wordless Presence
Many of us are gearing up our choir programs. Yet if we do not invest of ourselves time to “know” the Lord, our work may be for our own glorification rather than for God’s.
Communion Antiphons for Advent & Christmas • NEW • World Library Publications
World Library Publications has published settings of Communion propers for Advent and Christmas. Listen here to beautiful recordings directed by Paul French.
New Resource from the Archdiocese of Boston for First Communion and Confirmation
The most important element of this document is not the list of hymns and chants, but the vital coupling of faith formation and sacred music.
The Difficulty of Cultivating a Prayerful Focus for Musicians
Quiet prayer for church musicians is very difficult to come by. Here are nine things one may find helpful.
“Ad Orientem” and Granovetter’s Threshold Models of Collective Behavior
The people deserve to know the truth. It is time for ignorance to end so that the faithful may develop informed opinions.
The Illusion of Privacy • Social Media Etiquette for Liturgical Musicians
A very wise and compassionate Jesuit priest kindly exhorted me to avoid writing such missives. I quickly heeded his advice. So should you. Here’s why:
Letter from USCCB Committee on Divine Worship on “Ad Orientem”
Most Rev’d Serratelli says the current rubrics “reflect the real possibility that the celebrant might be facing away from the assembly.”
Those Pesky Letters of Complaint
As surely as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, someone will be unhappy. Displeasure does not discriminate.
The Frontier of Liturgical Composition
The frontier of composition is clearly producing new settings of the propers in the vernacular, useful for a typical parish.
New Organ Work • Madonna & Child
It took me—the composer—to realize this is really a work about mother and child.
Two Concerts • Two Milestones • 101-rank E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Opus 801
2016 marks two milestones: the 140th Anniversary of the Dedication of the E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings, Opus 801 and the thirtieth anniversary of Leo Abbott’s tenure as Cathedral Music Director in Boston
“Insidious Form” of Clericalism? A Jesuit Speaks Out
“The presider claims a form of privilege to change things that do not belong to him…”
A Model of Sacred Music at Priest’s First Mass
What music does a newly ordained priest, who currently plays the drums in a jazz band, choose for his first Mass? A priest who also has a degree from the Hartt School of Music in Music Production and Technology? The answer will surprise you.