Bad News

I went to the Cathedral tonight for 5 PM Mass, at which Ave Verum Corpus was played and Panis Angelicus was sung for the Eucharist. That's the good news, but the bad news was to be found in the bulletin: The Friar's Pantry, our designated charity, is no more. Here's the announcement:

THE FRIAR’S PANTRY LAST DAY OF OPERATIONS WILL BE JULY 25TH DUE TO LACK OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT.

The volunteers, John Maddy and I, Gail Scalzi, wish to express our heartfelt thanks for the generosity and support you have given to the Friar’s Pantry all these years. Without your support we could not have accomplished the mission of the Pantry; to feed the needy and less fortunate in our community (Reno downtown area) with special emphasis to our veterans. Thank you. May God bless you always. 

We pray that those who relied on the pantry will find other means of assistance, that we may find other ways to assist them, and that Regina Pacis Cantorum will find another charity to support. I'm sure Kathy will be open to suggestions.

More About The Norcia Monks' Chant Album

Followup to this post. Some tidbits from this Religion News Service article:

• The album Benedicta debuted at number one on the Billboard classical charts.
• The record label co-founder says one reason the Norcia monks sound so good is that their average age is 33.
• The reporter writes, "Interest in Christianity continues to decline, according to the latest surveys. So it seems especially paradoxical that an album showcasing the Catholic Church’s most traditional form of liturgical prayer would generate such interest." I think it's more unsurprising than "paradoxical"; chant is resonating with the young and with those who think they want Haugen-Haas and P&W music at their Masses, but know deep down it doesn't provide the transcendent aspect of worship that chant does. A liturgy without mystery is not a liturgy.

Watch and listen for yourself to this record-label produced video about the Norcia monks.