An American Layman Reminisces about Liturgical Upheaval

New Liturgical Movement is grateful to James Ignatius McAuley, Esq., for sending us the following write-up of some of his memories of the period of major liturgical change. Today he is a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and is preparing to receive the subdiaconate. The photos are classic shots from the period about which he is writing.

As a child growing up, I noted changes in the Mass. When I asked why they were done, if the answer was not (ad nauseam) “Vatican II,” it was that we laity had asked for the changes. Then I read The Canon of the Mass and Liturgical Reform by Cipriano Vagaggini, O.S.B. (Alba House, 1967). In Father Frederic McManus’s introduction, he claims that we laity wanted the reform. I had to ask my mom, dad, grandmother, and every older person I knew who was Catholic whether this was true. The answer was invariably the same: “We never asked for these changes. Once they started, they never stopped.” “I was not consulted.” “I was told that it was part of Kennedy’s 'New Frontier' and the space program and that modern man needed a modern liturgy.” Maybe that last comment from my Uncle Dan was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but I could never figure out what poor Kennedy, God rest his soul, had to do with it.

I talked with a priest, the late Father Allan Webber, O.F.M., about McManus’s introduction to Vagaggini’s book in 2009. My fair recollection of what Fr. Allan told me: “McManus was a liar.  The laity, outside of those few involved in the liturgical conferences, had nothing to do with the liturgical reform. The reform belonged to a certain clique of priests—Reinhold, McManus, Diekmann, and some others.  These were the individuals who set up the agenda of the reform here in the United States. Certain priests and laity from the liturgical conferences were assigned to effectuate the agenda. Some were useful idiots like [Robert] Hovda, who was better for a committee than for a parish. Jim, you should take into account that honesty was not their policy. [J.D.] Crichton told me once at a conference that the liturgical goal justified the liturgical means.”

Father Allan’s story is backed up by Alcuin Reid’s The Organic Development of the Liturgy (Ignatius, 2005), especially in Reid’s interview with Crichton. Father Allen was a progressive priest who was somewhat conservative in his liturgical approach. Father Allen supported the so-called agenda but was very reverential of the Real Presence. When I was a undergraduate student at St. Bonaventure (1987–1991), Father Allen was supportive of my use of the St. John’s Abbey 1940 Short Breviary as opposed to the Liturgy of the Hours.
 

In 1987, when I was a student a St. Bonaventure, I observed that all of the liturgical banners were gone from the University Chapel that were just there a few years before. I asked about this and was told they were out of style. I thought that was strange as I remember being told that banners were part of the Vatican II renewal. As part of vocation group in late 1990, we were asked by Father O.F.M. #1 [name withheld because he is still alive], as to what we could do to bring diversity to the Mass. I suggested we make arrangements to allow with the local Maronite Catholic priest or Byzantine Catholic priest and we could have such liturgies in the university parish chapel. Father Dan looked at me, and spoke most patronizingly: “Now, Jimmy, that is not what we mean by diversity. We do not want any of that Byzantine stuff here. We want diversity. Diversity means you bring non-Catholic people, especially people of color, to our Masses and have them add their spirituality to the Mass.”  Father went on to speak of the need for enculturation of the mass from minorities. Whatever Father O.F.M. #1’s intentions were, what I took away from the conversation was that certain Latin priests did not believe in true liturgical diversity, but were willing to suborn the Roman liturgy for their private agendas. This was very upsetting to me. And it was the first time I had heard the word “diversity” used in regard to racial matters.
 

In 1992 I was a parishioner at St. Bonaventure’s Church in Allegany, New York.  Our parish priest, Father O.F.M. #2, said we needed to “bring people back to the Church.” “Why were they leaving?,” one might ask. I noted that the high altar was gone and the tabernacle was no longer at the center of the Church, but now on the side, and that people no longer genuflected. I suggested to Father O.F.M. #2 after Mass one day that the tabernacle should be moved back to the center of the Church. Father’s angry reaction shocked me as he blew up at me and said: “This change was called for by Vatican II!” I found my voice and asked where, in what document. His response: “You wouldn’t understand. The Council called for this and we must listen to the Council.” I did not appreciate being talked down to as if I were still a child; after all I had gone to college.

So I looked carefully in Flannery’s book of Vatican II documents and found nothing of the sort. No wonder people left—they were being treated as children, berated for asking obvious questions. If we were now supposed to be (as many were saying) “adults” after Vatican II, we were not treated like adults, but rather as children, and as bad children at that.

In the early years of my life I was disturbed by what seemed to be perpetual changes in the Mass. As a young child, I remember the introduction of lay lectors. Then, I remember the change in language and my parents being irritated over it. Then there was the advent of the folk band with songs like “Day by Day,” Sister Margaret Meade’s rock-and-roll Our Father, and “Let It Be.” Simultaneous with this development was the departure of the Church organist and the end of any Latin in the Mass. Statues disappeared and were replaced by liturgical banners. Confessions were replaced with reconciliation rooms, which involved scary face-to-face confession. We were told to think of the priest as our friend and counselor and discouraged from thinking of the priest as in persona Christi. I remember as a child being told that the youth folk band was for the youth and that the youth wanted it. It was patently obvious to me, even as a child, that this was something a certain clique of adults, not youth, wanted. Funny thing: the hymns changed, “Day by Day” went away and was replaced by garbage like “On Eagles Wings.” When I was a student at Bonaventure, we used to make mocking parodies of these songs.  “The King of Glory” was modified by my girlfriend (now wife) to “The King of Glory comes delivering pizzas, open the doors before Him, give Him a good tip.”

We had the introduction of albs as altar boys and the discouragement of the use of the cassock and surplice beginning in the mid 1970s. Then the introduction of communion with the cup and then “Eucharistic ministers.” Then altar girls began to show up and, as a consequence of that, boys disappeared from the altar. As a young boy, I did not want to be around girls, and when I was older, the altar girl movement seemed to attract “weird chicks” that creeped you right off the altar.

You went from having two Eucharistic ministers, usually a husband and wife team, to a plethora (the “sacristy rats” as a friend called them), all women, who seem to evolve from sacristans to liturgical planners. First standing for Communion came, then Communion in the hand, then Eucharistic ministers. The altar rail went and the tabernacle was moved from the center of the church, behind the altar, off to the side. Then the kneelers were pulled out. In that order. By the time it was all said and done, reverence for the Real Presence had disappeared. And things such as genuflecting vanished and immodest dress appeared in Church.

Holy water fonts begin to be filled with sand to remind us of the spiritual desert. I thought: “I am trying to get out of the desert into the garden of life!” Incense went out and so did the censers, but then it reappeared in the form of big bowls in which the incense was burned, the bowls looking like something out of Conan the Barbarian. Amices were dropped and no one had to wear them in the 1970s (“Jim, the amices are no longer necessary, like the maniple,” to quote Father Allan Webber). Then suddenly, built-in amices as part of the chasuble began to appear everywhere in the 1990s and I was told that this was a (another) change required by Vatican II.  I remember thinking in 1995, “the Council ended 30 years ago, why is this being implemented now?”  As a child, many of the older priests had beautiful Gothic chasubles from the pre-Vatican II liturgical movement, but if you went to mass in a different parish, you might see a priest in a burlap chasuble with strange designs on it. Pope Benedict once wore a tie-dyed chasuble. I could not but help think that this the sort of vestment you wear when you do Mass at a Grateful Dead show.

Speaking of the Grateful Dead, I remember when a well-intentioned priest, trying to encourage reverence, handed out incense sticks to be used when one said the rosary.  Now, anyone who works with the pleasant uplifting Byzantine style incense knows that incense sticks give off an atrocious sickly sweet smell and that these incense sticks are what is used by potheads to cover up their pot smoking. Poor Father!  He meant well, but handing out what some guys used to call “pot sticks” did not create an atmosphere of reverence.

The entrance antiphon, if said, was forever banished for the new “Good morning” ritual. When are they going to do a “Good-bye ritual”? What I found funny is that they justified many of the changes in the mass as a way of eliminating “useless repetitions” such as the second Confiteor, but now we have a double handshake ceremony – one at the “Good morning” greeting and another at the Sign of Peace!

Funerals: out with the black, in came the white. Sometimes the white had the sparkly sheen of a Michael Jackson glove! Wakes with Vespers services from the Office of the Dead or Rosary for the dead disappeared. I remember saying: “What will go next, the funeral mass?” A rhetorical question then, but today most people do not have Masses said for their souls or even a Catholic funeral, but the old shake-and-bake cremation and their ashes get dumped in their backyard by their fallen-away adult children.

Anecdotal evidence, but nonetheless, primary source evidence: experience. Nothing stayed the same. It was a perfect fulfillment of the Marxist theory of perpetual revolution as espoused by Leon Trotsky. In effect, the church liturgical planners, lead by that doofus Bugnini, had developed a Trotskyite liturgy—the mass was never the same but in perpetual flux. However, where Trotsky imagined that the proletariat and peasant would work together to seize power, here we have a cabal of liturgists and their priest allies who have seized power and dictate everything. I guess that is called “empowerment.”

From the 1965 Catholic Encyclopedia

Consider what Fr. Lucien Deiss, C.S.S.p., says in his book The Mass (The Liturgical Press, 1992): “We know that no reform is perfect and that the liturgy, like the Church itself, remains subject to the law that the Council with boldness and magnificence called perennis reformatio, permanent reform” (10). And: “It is here that we can ask the question of what is called the ‘Ministerial Function,’ the fundamental question that concerns all the songs and even all the rites of the liturgy…. The question of the Ministerial Function—‘What do we use that for?’—strikes at the root of the rite or the song. It is clear that if something does not serve any purpose, or if it is at cross-purposes, the rite or the song must be cut at its root” (14-15).

Pure utilitarianism. Everything measured by our own mental capacity at this very moment, our own ability to see and to understand “utility.” What if we are not good at doing that? What if there are more subtle uses we have forgotten about and will eventually rediscover, if only we are patient?
 

Magnificat Institute’s Sacred Music Workshops in New Hampshire, June 24-29

I encourage all NLM readers to consider the sacred music workshops offered by the Magnificat Institute which are taking place June 24-19 in beautiful rural New Hampshire at the campus of Northeast Catholic College, in the town of Warner.

Headed by founder, the Catholic composer Paul Jernberg, the Magnificat Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the renewal of sacred music in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. We aim to help parishes and communities of humble means, as well as those with an abundance of resources, to recover the dignity, depth, and grace that have characterized the great traditions of Catholic sacred music.

The workshop is for clergy and church musicians, as well as laity who wish to participate in the renewal of Sacred Music in the Catholic Church, and will be conducted by Mr Jernberg. He will present an overview of the newly-formed Magnificat’s program for formation in Catholic sacred music and its renewal today, as well as a wide-ranging repertoire which can be used in parishes, with a special focus on those with humble or modest resources. This repertoire includes new works by Mr Jernberg himself, as well as beautiful traditional chant and polyphony.

For those who wish to know more about the workshops and the Magnificat Institute, their website is here. I have been talking to Paul about his insights and practical ideas for saving sacred music in parishes in a series of podcasts at thewayofbeauty.org.

“There Will Be Blood” - Lessons on Introducing Good Music Into a Parish

After my recent article on music, “Breaking Bad, Why Misalette Music is Destroying the Faith”, a number of readers who are choir directors contacted me asking for practical help on introducing chant to parishes that currently use praise and worship music.

For those people, I pass on a detailed account of the experiences of one choir director at a small church in rural Georgia, Our Lady of the Mountains. He describes how he and the pastor had worked together to win over the parish. This is not intended as a formula that will be right for every parish, but I hope some will see how the principles he is using might be applied in their own situation.

As an aside, it is interesting to me that the development of a Catholic ethos in their worship is connected to the process of improving the music in the liturgy; and strongly connected to that is the commissioning of many works of art that were related to the liturgy. The question as to how a small parish can commission so many works of art is one that will be dealt with in future article,

The title of this post comes from a phrase in a section at the end of this choir director’s piece. It is perhaps a little melodramatic in choice of language, but the point is well made. He makes it plain that however sensitively and diplomatically the director handles the changes he makes, he is never going to convince everyone. Liturgical music is an emotional subject for many, and some people are likely to object; some of those will do so forcefully, and do all they can to undermine the changes. So while we ought to do all we can to win people over, he says, we must accept that some won’t be, and not be deterred by that fact. Nonetheless, I should point out that the tone of the article is generally optimistic!

I suspect that there is no single formula for this task of changing management, and finding the right approach will depend on many variables. What is done will depend on how great the divide between the current situation and the ideal; on whether you have the support of your priest, and that of your bishop when complaints are made, and so on. Also, the approach will be different depending on whether or not we are talking about the EF or the OF, the additional flexibility of which can be helpful. Therefore, I encourage people to post their own experiences of doing this successfully in the comments below, for others to read.

I present one additional point of my own based upon my own experience. I suggested to one choir director who told me that his priest was not interested in seeing any changes in the Mass, that he might find a group that would commit to singing Lauds or Vespers in the church every week on Sunday. Although one would hope that the priest would want to be involved, he doesn’t have to be, and if one doesn’t demand his presence, he is less likely to object.

Another example of a slightly different situation, but also relevant: I was looking for a place to hold a series of weekly workshops explaining spiritual exercises directed toward discernment of personal vocation, each of which would close with the chanting of Vespers. I approached the pastor of a local Catholic Church and explained what we planned to do, including the fact that we would chant Vespers. I didn’t know his views on traditional chant, one would guess from his Sunday Masses that it was not a big interest of his. However, this wasn’t an issue in our discussion, because our group wasn’t looking to interfere at all in anything he did. On that basis, he very happily allowed us to meet in the church hall and we are delighted to be there. (For any who are close to the East Bay in California and would like to come, here are the details of The Vision for You Group.)

The point I am making here is that if you find that you have to change things gradually (which will be unavoidable in some situations), see if you can establish also some aspect of the liturgy in which you have full control, and the ideal is presented in its fullest form. Then it is there for people to see right at the start, and this will inspire them to be involved in the main project. Again, I would welcome readers’ thoughts on this.

So here is the article; it can also be found online at the church’s website.

When the pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains, Fr. Charles Byrd, first called me, he had a vision, and he needed my experience and training to help make that vision a reality. He didn’t have much to offer in the way of compensation, but what he did offer was his complete support and trust. I in turn was motivated by his love for the Church and Her Divine Worship. He sought to be obedient in word and deed, and he knew that sacred music was a part of that obedience. His attention to the details of our worship was enough to make me want to be part of the village, but I trusted him to be the chief.

Step One: A spirit of trust and cooperation between pastor and music director. It’s got to flow both ways.

The resources that Fr. Byrd had inherited when he came to Our Lady of the Mountains were dismal. The Third Edition of the Roman Missal gave us the opportunity we needed to cast aside some of the less-than-adequate books that were in the pews and look at some of the new hymnals and missals that were being published. A committee was formed to evaluate several hymnals based on a set of standards drawn up from a compilation of the various church documents pertaining to sacred music. Did the hymnal contain at least some of the Latin chant settings for Mass? Did it contain a chant-like or polyphonic English Mass setting? Were the hymns noble in form and in conformity with Catholic doctrine in text? Were the chants from Jubilate Deo included in the hymnal?
Since we couldn’t afford to replace the hymnals and the missalette at the same time, we chose a hymnal first. The St. Michael Hymnal offered us a bit of a carrot in that Richard Rice’s simple Entrance Antiphons were included, and we saw this as a first step in moving away from the hymn-dominated liturgies to which the congregation was accustomed. For the choir, we purchased The Choral Gradual, also by Richard Rice. These SATB settings of the Psalms are a perfect introduction to singing the propers, and since the choir members were accustomed to singing hymns in four parts, this was a good way of transitioning from melody-driven music to more chant-like antiphon and verse music. The Chabanel Psalms by Jeff Ostrowski made it possible for us to have a dignified Responsorial Psalm in place each week. 

We simply stopped using the rhythmic and syncopated psalms that were in the paperback missal in the pews and starting singing the Chabanel settings. The congregation leaned to listen and sing back what they had heard. Fr. Byrd always joined in with their singing as a means of instructing by example

Step 2: Choose a permanent (non-disposable) hymnal and other resources that uphold the Church’s vision for renewal of the sacred liturgy as prescribed in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and that draw abundantly upon the Church’s treasury of chant.

With our new hymnal in place, we could begin introducing the concept of an Entrance Antiphon. Like most parishes in the United States, the congregation knew little to nothing about such things as propers. We had to start small, so the first few weeks all we did was sing the antiphon through twice — choir or cantor first and then the congregation, following then with a hymn. 

Over time, we added verses along with the antiphon, with the people singing after each verse. Eventually, the “opening hymn” was replaced with the proper texts of the Mass and the congregation was singing the antiphon heartily. Concurrent to this, we were using the hymnal to learn a new English Mass setting for Ordinary Time and a Latin Mass setting for Advent and Lent. 

Eventually, we learned yet another Latin setting, Missa de Angelis, for Eastertide and Christmastide. Fr. Byrd was instrumental in teaching the Latin Mass settings because he would sing them not only for Sunday Masses, but at the Masses he offered daily. Those daily Mass attendees learn the chants quickly and are very helpful when it comes to singing in the larger Sunday congregations. Chanting the dialogue prayers was also seen as an essential element and crucial to the overall vision. The pastor placed great emphasis on learning these chants as the General Instruction directs that these should take primacy in singing the Mass.

Step 3: Start small. We didn’t have all the resources that we needed at once, but we worked with what we had. Stay simple, but keep it noble. Introduce new things gradually.

Step 4: This is crucial: Start growing a children’s choir! Children take naturally to chant. They have no hang-ups about Latin. They do everything with enthusiasm and pure joy, and it is contagious. Purchase enough of the Liber Cantualis for each singer to have one. They are small and fit small hands perfectly. Children love singing from them! Teach solfege. Teach neumes. Teach easy polyphony. Teach proper vocal technique. Identify gifted young singers early and begin training them. The children in turn will become advocates for your sacred music program (part of the village), not to mention your future adult choir members.

With forward-looking folks on the Parish Finance Council (it helps to make a member of the choir the Finance Chairperson!), it took about a year to have the money in place to order permanent pew missals. We didn’t form a committee for selecting our pew missals, but Fr. Byrd and I did have a standard by which we would evaluate our options. At the time we were looking, the only viable option based on our standards was Adam Bartlett’s Lumen Christi Missal. Other fine missals were in the works, it seems, but the Lumen Christi Missal was already available and it had everything that we were looking for: the Lectionary Readings and Antiphons for Sundays and major Feasts and music for chanting the Proper of the Mass in the vernacular. 

Remember, we were starting from scratch, so our choir members were also learning about sacred music along with the rest of the congregation. Most of the choir at the time consisted of untrained singers who gave generously of their time, but were nowhere near ready to sing the chants from the Graduale Romanum. We needed exactly what the Lumen Christi Missal offered: simple but dignified modal chant settings of the antiphons in English with organ accompaniment if needed. We knew that our choir and cantors would eventually progress to the point of singing from the G.R., so it was good that the Lumen Christi Missal provided the Latin text of the proper alongside its English translation for the congregation. No one will be able to complain that they don’t know what the choir is singing because they can’t understand Latin.

Step 5: Make the Finance Council part of your village. It doesn’t hurt to have a member of the choir (or two) on the Finance Council, the Pastoral Council, the Knights of Columbus…you get the point.

Step 6: Purchase a permanent pew missal that comes complete with music resources for your cantors, choirs, and organist.

And speaking of organists, Step 7 is, Get an organ and hire an organist (or make one, as we did – more about that in a minute). The only instrument in the church when Fr. Byrd arrived was an electronic piano. There was no money in the budget to purchase an organ, but about a year into our work of singing the Mass, an anonymous donor came forward with the money. They had been moved by the efforts of our village and convinced by the effect that sacred music was having on our parish. Read that again: convinced by the effect of sacred music. A transformation was occurring among the choir members and the congregation. A deeper spirituality was blossoming in the hearts and minds of those called to worship. The gift of the organ was a result of this new reality, but where does one find an organist willing to drive to this out-of-the-way place to work with a nascent sacred music program? As it would happen, the pianist we had hired to play the little Kawai was about to become an organist. Again, the Finance Council was instrumental in providing the funds we needed to pay for organ lessons, and the Cathedral organist agreed to work with our young and gifted pianist.

Step 8: Invest in your people. Pay good cantors. Hire section leaders. Pay for workshops and education like the CMAA Colloquium and/or lessons for a singer or an organist. The money saved from not being vested in the Big Three church music conglomerates can go a long way when spread about the village. Since we are on the topic of education, I’ll mention here that it was and continues to be a big component of our sacred music program. Whether through the bulletin, a homily, classes, handouts, or our website, olmjasper.com, we sought first to prepare good fertile soil into which we would be sowing seed. 

All of this takes time and careful planning. Read that again: Time and Planning. When we would introduce the Missa de Angelis was as important as how and why. Why we sing an Entrance Antiphon instead of a “Gathering Song” was as important as how we did it. We prepared for months in advance of the new missal. At times, our bulletin was so packed with inserts that it more resembled a magazine than a pamphlet. Fr. Byrd developed a website with formation and education as its primary goals. Yes, the Mass time and directions to the parish are there, but so are articles expounding upon various saints or hymns or any number of topics that make for a better formed Catholic. Music training sound files are placed on the website so that folks can listen and learn the various chants at home. This takes time and a great deal of coordination and cooperation in the village, but the payoff is a firm foundation. And by the way, we copyright nothing, so feel free to copy and adapt anything on our website for use in your parishes.

Step 9: Education and formation are critical. Predispose and prepare people for changes. This takes time.

Step 10: Create a Catholic ethos. This may seem simplistic or perhaps vague, but I can’t express the importance of creating an environment where the truth and beauty of our Faith is evident in every nook and cranny of parish life. I began this article by describing the simple exterior of a small village church, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the nobility one encounters upon entering. Everywhere one can see signs of great devotion to Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and to his mother, Our Lady of the Mountains. Worshippers here are surrounded by saints and angels represented by works of art in paint, glass, wood, and stone. In the chancel where the choir sings are newly commissioned icons of St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. Cecelia, and St. Hildegard — their watchful gaze will bless various ensembles who have taken these saints as their patrons. In the not-too-distant future, magnificent stained glass windows honoring King David, the psalmist, and King Josiah, the great reformer, will look kindly onto the musicians who sing and play beneath their stoic visages. 

The Liturgical rites are carried out with great dignity and solemnity, and those that have the responsibility of singing the rites are aware that their work is holy insofar as it is connected intimately to the liturgy. Sacred Music does not exist in a vacuum. It has no life of its own apart from the lex orandi and lex credendi of Holy Mother Church. 

And finally: THERE WILL BE BLOOD. This is not a step towards creating a sacred music program in your parish. This is a reality. Not everyone will want to be part of the village. In fact, there will be those who would rather see the village burn than go along with any changes that aren’t in conformity with their way of doing things. There will be angry emails and copies of On Eagles’ Wings anonymously left under your office door. There will be outright rebellion by some, and when sensing that they aren’t going to get their way, there will be those who will leave the parish. You will explain over and over that Latin was not banned by Vatican II, and that learning a Latin Mass setting isn’t as bad as all that.

There will be letters written to the Chancery with any number of grievances spelled out in vivid detail: The chant! The incense! The Latin! The horror! But you will find, as we did, that the Diocese will back you up. (Thank you, Archdiocese of Atlanta!) It could get ugly, so begin praying for your parishioners and don’t stop! Slowly, slowly, the naysayers will either be gone or be quiet, and you will find your parish filling up with people in search of something that is missing in that parish in the big city or the town next door. And there will be peace…mostly.

In closing I would add that when we are obedient to God in the moral and spiritual life, things can become clearer. Our world may remain confused, but at the same time, we are less confused about right and wrong, and understand why things are the way they are. This does not mean that we are always perfect, but at least we can recognize our own mistakes. The same may be said of the liturgy. When we endeavor to live out the liturgical vision of the Church, we learn things. We learn that one doesn’t need banks of speakers and bongo drums to worship like Catholics. Neither must we have a choir full of Julliard graduates who may or may not believe in God. Bigger is not always better. Trust us when we say that authentic Catholic worship (as it is envisioned by the official liturgical documents of the Church) really is ideal for any sized choir or congregation, and when you get people singing antiphons and hearing and singing more and more sacred scripture throughout the Mass, it is a good thing! By living out the Church’s vision of the liturgy, our vision becomes clearer.

Simply put, we are not entertainers. Instead, we are called to fulfill a time-honored role within the liturgical life of the Church, by intoning and chanting specific texts given to us by the saints of old. That is the vocation of the chorister: to allow the Spirit to teach us to pray, so that the Body of Christ can offer up fitting and worthy praise to the Father. We’re not making this up. It really is that clear. And we’re trying to be obedient to that vision. Thus, we believe our choirs can grow in holiness, and likewise, others around us. And if what we have learned here in our little parish can help others, then praise God.

Lincoln Diocese Sacred Music Clinic: Beginnings and Small Steps (Guest Article by Amy Flamminio)

Our thanks to Amy Flamminio for sharing with us this report of the Sacred Music Clinic recently held by the Diocese of Lincoln Nebraska. Photos from the Southern Nebraska Register by Cathy Blankenau-Bender, reproduced by permission.

On Saturday, August 27th, the Diocese of Lincoln hosted its first ever Sacred Music Clinic at the beautiful Newman Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was a day to encourage and educate the musicians of the Diocese, which extends along the length of Nebraska, south of the Platte River from the border with Iowa to the border with Colorado; musicians were in attendance from as far away as Grant, a town of just over a thousand people.

Early in 2016, the Bishop sent each musician and parish a letter personally inviting them to come, and they responded generously, with over 230 in attendance in a venue that was soon bursting at the seams! Featured guests were Adam Bartlett, Matthew Meloche, and David Clayton, while local clinicians included Fr. Michael Zimmer, Diocesan Master of Ceremonies, Jessica Ligon, Cathedral Music Teacher, Nicholas Lemme, Music Director at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary (FSSP), and Amy Flamminio, Cathedral Choir Director.

For close to 12 hours, attendees sang, listened, and learned. The day was packed with a lot of information to take in and felt a little overwhelming to all. But as Bishop Conley said in his address to the attendees in the morning:

Singing the Mass is not easy. But we come together in gatherings like this to learn to make the mystery of the Mass as beautiful as possible. To make a gift of ourselves, by giving God our best efforts, and our best music, and our trust…I know that what we learn here will be a lot. And I know that some of it might be unfamiliar. I know it might seem like the chants, and propers, and polyphonies of the Church’s tradition might not fit in ordinary parish worship. Do not be overwhelmed. Everything starts with small steps. I encourage you to take what you learn here today, and pray about how you might incorporate what you have learned in the worship at your parish. To begin at the beginning, with small steps, and to trust the Lord, as he leads us all to worship Him with beauty, making sacred worship all about God, who loves us, and gives himself to us, who is the source of all beauty, and who is a mystery.

One attendee said, it was a day that awakened her to the Church’s vision of Beauty. While much of what was done at the clinic’s liturgies, such as the opening Morning Prayer and closing Mass, cannot be put into practice at her small town parish, it led her to desire an awareness of the beauty of the Propers of the Mass, of singing the Mass, and not just singing at the Mass. As another attendee described it, they left excited about finding ways to “implement some new and beautiful things in our liturgies over time!”

Due to the wide variety in the sizes of parishes, musical experience, and the abilities of musicians throughout the diocese, almost all of them volunteers, the clinic’s goal clinic was to provide the tools that will enable musicians to begin a liturgical renewal in their parish, at whatever level they are capable. Fr. Daniel Rayer, chairman of the Diocese’s Liturgical Commission, said in his homily at the closing Mass, “just as in the parable of the talents, some of us have been given one talent, some five, and some ten talents, we must give the best that we can, even if for some of us that is only one talent.”

For most attendees, the most useful part of the day was a session on hymn selection. Most parishes are not at a point in which they can switch to singing the Mass antiphons, so participants were encouraged to find ways to use the antiphons when they pick a “suitable hymn” for different parts of the Mass. They were also encouraged to consider introducing antiphons at Communion before singing a hymn, whether in a simple psalm tone or through some of the wonderful resources in English available through Illuminare Publications, CMAA, CCWatershed, and others. For others, the clinic will lead to a focus on singing the Ordinary, the responsorial psalms, and dialogues of the Mass.

Responses to the day, while varied, were overwhelmingly positive, as people were moved by beauty and by the knowledge that they can use “small steps” in their move to better “singing the Mass and not just at the Mass.”

The “small steps” in this renewal of the liturgy will include making the Sacred Music Clinic an annual event, with breakout sessions and varying focus each year. In an effort to reach all parts of the diocese, smaller clinics may eventually be offered in different towns and cities along Nebraska. This beginning is one of communication, education, beauty, and God’s grace.

The author conducting one of the sessions.

— Talks and topics included:
• Singing the Mass: The Musical Structure of the Liturgy, by Adam Bartlett
• Introducing Sacred Music to a Parish Community, by Matthew Meloche

• Breakout Sessions
            • Responsorial Psalm 101 and Selecting Hymns for Mass, by Jessica Ligon and Amy Flamminio.
            • The “Spirit” of Vatican II: How we got to where we are and what the Council Teaches, by Rev. Michael Zimmer
            • Accompanying hymns and chant on the organ , by Matthew Meloche
            • Chant—A Deeper Look, by Adam Bartlett

• Chant Breakout Sessions
            • Chant I with Adam Bartlett focused on the Responsorial Psalm and Alleluia as well as the Ordinary for the Clinic’s Ordinary Form Mass.
            • Chant II for Women, led by Amy Flamminio, had a quick introduction in how to read the 4-line staff to equip them for learning chant at home and were in responsible for the Introit, from Illuminare Publications, for the evening liturgy.
            • The men’s session, led by Matthew Meloche, prepared the Offertory Antiphon, also from Illuminare Publications, for the day. • Chant III, led by Nicholas Lemme, prepared and sang the Gregorian Communion Antiphon for Mass, alternating verses and antiphon between men and women.

Amy Flamminio is an organist, choir director, piano teacher, and writer, who has served as music director at St. Mary’s in Ashland, Nebraska, and is currently serving as a choir director at St. Peter’s in Lincoln and the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, while also sitting on the Diocese’s Liturgical Commission since 2014. She graduated from UNL where she majored in Music (piano performance); while there, she was awarded a UCARE grant to study and write her senior thesis on the study and practice of Gregorian Chant, which she later published (as Amy Danielle Waddle) in the Sacred Music journal of the Church Music Association of America. While attending UNL, Amy directed a Schola that sang for Latin Novus Ordo Masses at the Newman Center and hosted an annual ecumenical concert with Orthodox and Catholic choirs. She also writes for LincolnCMN.blogspot.com and has been published at Catholic Exchange, Nebraska Music Teachers Association, and others.