Kathy at the Colloquium

Kathy will soon be returning from her Tradition Unlike Any Other, namely attending the Sacred Music Colloquium held this year in St. Paul, MN. Here are a few shots of her, courtesy of New Liturgical Movement:

I'm guessing the fisheye lens was necessary because the photographer was at the edge of the choir loft.

A better shot of Kathy.

Here, I believe she's the one in the sunglasses.

Totus Est

Thus endeth the 2016-17 Regina Pacis Cantorum season.

I'd say the biggest thing we had to contend with this year would be the weather. We prayed for years for an end to our drought, and boy, did we get it, starting with flooding in Reno, Sparks, and Carson City in January, and following with epic snowfall in the Sierras. The flooding even impacted our rehearsals as a flash flood broke out in our parking lot, and a February rehearsal was cancelled when rain instead of snow again hit the mountains.

We suffered a couple losses as benefactor LTG Martin Brandtner, USMC and former soprano Helen Carrico went to receive what we pray are their eternal rewards. Also, we will be dealing with some uncertainty next season as we learned the Franciscans will leave the Cathedral in April June 2018.

We managed to make it through the tension of a brutal election season still unified.

We had to take the Harbor Freeway to any harbor, back up 5 miles to the spoon in the road, and get out and cut off our Slausons just to get to Immaculate Conception while construction was going on at Pyramid Highway and McCarran Boulevard. (I miss Johnny Carson.)

We sang at St. Mary in the Mountains church in Virginia City for the first time, accompanied by a barely-in-tune organ and dozens of motorcycles.

And since we could not get out of the season without one more weather note, we left our robes home for today's heated Corpus Christi Mass while a wildfire raged just to the west of Kathy's house. Looks like her development will be safe, although her home did lose power.

Thanks to all of you who sang for making the season memorable, especially those who had never sung with us before. Thank you to Jennifer and Nancy for accompanying us on organ. Thank you to all the parishes and pastors who had us sing for them. Thank you to our patrons and benefactors, known and anonymous. And thanks most of all to the indefatigable Kathy, who almost singlehandedly keeps RPC going.

Enjoy the summer, and as I like to say, find something else to do on Tuesday nights for the next few months. See you in the fall! If you need some summer reading and listening, look here.

BTW, Kathy and I are filling in for the ailing Bob Buschine (who can still use your prayers) as cantors at the Cathedral's 5 PM Sunday Masses, at least until we start singing again.

Hot, Hot, Hot

With a forecast high temperature of 94 in Reno tomorrow, disrobing is authorized. Kathy has said we do not need to wear our robes for our final Mass, but we will still want to dress nicely; no jeans or T-shirts, please. Bring plenty of water. We can all therefore start cleaning our robes; unless you somehow were born with no sweat glands whatsoever, your robe is going to need it.

Make sure to hydrate over the next several days as well, as temperatures push toward 100 degrees. It could be worse; we could be in Las Vegas, where 120 is not out of the question next week. In case you forgot, Monday, June 12's high was 60 in Reno, and several inches of snow fell in the Sierras.

Just another June in Reno-Tahoe. (Photo: the wise guys at CHP Truckee. "Now if we could just get our base tan going," they said.)

Or Would He Play For The Sacramento Fracto Demum?

(Photo: nba.com)

A brief and humorous tangent into sports:

In a result that delighted many in our area, the Golden State Warriors just captured their second NBA title in three years over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won the other one last year. As a result, many sports pundits are talking about whether the Cavaliers might retool themselves like the Warriors did last year, luring all-star Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder. (The satirical Eye Of The Tiber has a funny related story here.)

While Cleveland's LeBron "King" James gets most of the limelight in Cleveland, his point guard has been essential to the team's success, namely, Kyrie Irving (above). That's right, "Kyrie." But he pronounces it "Ki-ree," not "Kee-ree-eh." It's not likely he would become expendable, but with a name like "Kyrie," how could we refuse him in our bass section?

Meanwhile in Baltimore...

(my and Sandy's hometown, in case you didn't know)

The National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori, a.k.a. "Baltimore's Powerhouse of Prayer," is within walking distance of the Basilica of the Assumption, the oldest cathedral in the U.S. It has been the only church in the Baltimore area that offers Mass in the Extraordinary Form, an unfortunate situation considering Baltimore's rich Catholic history. Well, the Rorate Caeli blog reports that St. Alphonsus will continue to offer EF Masses thanks to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) taking it over.

Kathy tells me the FSSP is very much in demand, but unfortunately will not be coming to Reno anytime soon. We can always pray that will change; with absolutely no disrespect to those there now, could you imagine the FSSP in charge of Holy Spirit Mission, if not the Cathedral? Recall that we sang for Fr. Timothy O'Brien two years ago, just after he was ordained an FSSP priest.

Jun. 18: Corpus Christi

And then there was one. 4:15 PM at the Cathedral. We've done this Mass pretty much every year, but let us not become complacent.

Introit: Cibavit eos (T/B: mp3)

Kyrie, Gloria (mp3), Sanctus, Agnus Dei: Mass VIII

Sequence: Lauda Sion

Credo III (mp3)

Offertory: Portas coeli (S/A, mp3); Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All

Communio: Qui manducat, Sicut Cervus (Palestrina)

Closing: What Shall I Render To The Lord

What's The Password?

Unlike the speakeasy in Horse Feathers, there is no password that will get us into the Cathedral before 4 PM (for 5 PM Mass) anymore. Several of us had to wait outside until the custodian let us in.

This apparently will be the new normal, as a few particular sinners are ruining things for the rest of us sinners. Deacon Richard Ramm announced in the May 21 bulletin:

Thefts continue in the Cathedral. We are even losing items that are bolted to the wall. Until further notice, the church will be closed except for an hour before Masses.

THE CHURCH WILL OPEN:

Weekdays: ONE hour before each Daily Mass & on Thursdays for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. (11:00 AM-1:00 PM MTWF, THU 11:00 AM-6:45 PM)

Saturday: One hour before the morning Mass & from 2:00 PM until the end of the 5:00 PM Mass. (6:30-8:15 AM & 2:00-6:00 PM)

Sunday: ONE hour before the 7:30 AM Mass until after the 11:30 AM Mass & from 5:00 PM Mass until the end of the Spanish Mass. (6:30 AM-1:00 PM & 4:00-8:00 PM) [Emphasis mine; I also made some slight edits for readability]

As I discovered, not only do the cathedral doors have latches on the inside, they also have deadbolt locks that can only be operated with a key. So do not be late for call time (officially 4:15), but don't be too early either.

Thankfully, there was at least some air conditioning in the choir loft yesterday. May that also be the case at our June 18 season finale for Corpus Christi.

All Right, Hand It In

It's music turn-in time! Recall that Kathy gave you a manila envelope earlier this year; she distinctly asked you to keep it to facilitate turning your music in. If you don't have it, please get another one. Last year, she had us all put the leftover music in a box; to say the least, that didn't go very well. She wound up having to toss many sheets. Ergo, do not submit ANY loose sheets.

Please erase any pencil marks you make on each of these pieces of music unless you want Kathy to give you back the same copy next year or in a future year; in that case, put your name on the front of each piece in pencil.

Things To Turn In (Most Of Which Probably Should Have Been Turned In Sometime Over The Past Nine Months)

• Other Gospel Acclamation sheets besides SotY I
• Psalms in numerical order
• Propers (with the corresponding Communio inside)
• Holy Thursday or Easter Sunday booklets
• Hymns or motets in alphabetical order

Note: Do NOT turn in any music that will be used for Corpus Christi until then, June 18.

Things NOT To Turn In (That Is, You Keep Them)

• Adoremus
• St. Michael's Hymnal
• Parish Book of Chant
• Liber Cantualis
• St. Gregory Hymnal*
• Chormisik der Caecilianer* (the "green book")
• Chants of the Roman Missal* (English)
• Sheet music of:
• Asperges Me/Vidi Aquam
• The eight Gloria Patri tones*
• Gospel Acclamations, Sundays of the Year I
• Memorial Acclamation*
• Repleatur
• Tutorial sheets on:
• Latin pronunciation (vowels, consonants)
• Solfege
• Mechanics of the Chant/Gregorian Chant Notation
• Any personal copies of any music (throw away/recycle; please don't confuse Kathy)
• Any schedule printouts (likewise)

*If you have it; not everyone does.