Coming Up in Southern California and Chicago: Symposium and Colloquium

FSSP Los Angeles is hosting the Sacred Music Symposium from June 18-22 at the St. Therese Carmelite School in Alhambra. More information, including when registration will open, can be found on the Corpus Christi Watershed site or its Facebook page. Here's a video look at last year's symposium:



This should not be confused with the CMAA's annual Sacred Music Colloquium which will run from June 25-30 at Loyola University's Lakeshore Campus in Chicago. This is the one to which Kathy goes every year, but the Symposium could be a closer alternative if the cost is prohibitive.

Heck, why not go to both? You'd be in extreme danger of becoming a better singer.

Feb. 11: Quinquegesima Sunday

7:45 AM at Holy Spirit Mission.

Asperges Me

Introit: Esto mihi

Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei (no Gloria): Mass XVII

Gradual: Tu es Deus

Tract: Jubilate Deo omnis terra

Credo III

Offertory: Benedictus es Domine (Proper, Lassus motet)

Communio: Manducaverunt (Proper, Isaac/Quick motet)

Last Gospel: Ave Regina Caelorum

Recessional: O God Of Loveliness

Breaking News: New Cathedral Rector Named

^ "you're," of course.

Fr. Chuck Durante, current pastor of St. Teresa of Avila in Carson City, will become the new rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral as of July 1, 2018.

In making the announcement at tonight's 5 PM Mass, outgoing rector Fr. Jacob Carazo noted that Fr. Chuck was a longtime parishioner of the Cathedral and graduated from Bishop Manogue High, where he later served as chaplain. He is the Vicar General of the Diocese of Reno and heads its Life, Peace and Justice Commission.

Exactly what this augurs for Regina Pacis Cantorum is far from certain; I'm sure we'll be on Fr. Chuck's checklist, but it may take him a while to get to us, which is most understandable. Remember that although we do most of our singing at the Cathedral, RPC is not/not an official Cathedral choir. 

That being said, it's possible he may be amenable to us, given this leaflet I found in a St. Teresa pew last Ash Wednesday. More will be revealed.

Creating The Next Generation Of Ex-Catholics

HT: Catholic Memes and Regina. I'll just leave this here...

You Are A Priest Forever

Congratulations to the newly ordained Fr. Joseph Walsh, and thank you for giving us the honor of singing for your First Mass today. We pray for the Holy Spirit to bear you up when, as Fr. Jacob Carazo said during his homily today, the novelty of your ordination wears off and the reality of your vocation sets in.

A plenary indulgence is available for those who attend a First Mass of a newly ordained priest. Here is an explanation of how to receive a plenary indulgence:

The Handbook of Indulgences states that a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who perform the works listed below.  This means the full remission of all temporal punishment (time spent in purgatory) due to sin in one's entire lifetime up to that point.  Plenary indulgences can also be requested of Our Lord for the deceased. 

There are additional conditions that must be met for the acquiring of a plenary indulgence: 1) that the person truly repudiate and be sorry for all sin, mortal and venial; 2) reception of Holy Communion on the day the indulgence is sought; 3) Sacrament of Penance several days (not specified how many) before or after the indulgence is sought; 4) prayer (which can in the form of an Our Father and a Hail Mary) for the intentions of the pope on the day the indulgence is sought.  Only one plenary indulgence per day can be obtained (unless it is the hour of death—see indulgence number 28).  Several plenary indulgences may be gained on the basis of a single sacramental confession; only one may be gained, however, on the basis of a single Holy Communion and prayer for the pope’s intentions.

Feb. 4: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

ETA: Or, as tenor Rob Bateman put it, "5th Sunday in Super Bowl Time."

4:15 at the Cathedral. Adoremus this week, so no need for the Icy Hot (R) on your shoulders from carrying the SMH.

Introit: Venite adoremus Deum

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

Credo III (mp3)

Offertory: Perfice gressus meos, All People That On Earth Do Dwell

Communio: Multitudo languientium, Manducaverunt (Isaac, and all thanks to Jeffrey Quick for the reduction!)

Recessional: Praise To The Holiest In The Height

Coming Up In Salem

Schola Cantus Angelorum is hosting the 6th annual Sacred Liturgy Conference in Salem, OR on June 27 through 30. This year, guest speakers will include Bishop Athanasius Schneider from Astana, Kazakhstan; Rev. Cassian Folsom, OSB from Norcia, Italy; and Bishop James D. Conley from Lincoln, NE. Last year in Medford, Raymond Cardinal Burke was among the celebrants, and Kathy attended.

Read much more about the conference here.

Droning On

A coworker of mine is excited about the drone he got for Christmas and has already been using it over his neighborhood and, as of this weekend, around Lake Tahoe. In Northern Nevada, there is an abundance of great places to capture footage with drones. Most of the local news stations use them, as do police departments, farmers, and even Amazon (above). The military has been using much larger drones for decades.

But as you may have guessed, this post is not about those drones.

New Liturgical Movement features an article by David Clayton called "Using Drone Warfare In The Battlefield Of Sacred Music." A drone in this instance is a single note sung along with a chant, which Clayton says is especially useful in churches that do not have the best acoustics because of carpeting or other architectural issues. I had never heard of this concept before.

Clayton argues:

I have seen the drone used in both Gregorian and Byzantine chant to powerful effect. I suggest that this is something that could be used more, especially in modern churches which are not designed with an acoustic that naturally produces a harmonic resonance. In my opinion, chant requires that faint suggestion of harmony that such a resonance lends to it, as one might hear in a Gothic abbey, for example, in order to have full effect as sacred music. 

After discussing how the concept of a drone relates to mathematics and proportion, Clayton offers the following video as an example of how it sounds in a chant.



Clayton concludes with a great idea on how droning can help when the music was selected and played by adherents of the "Spirit of Vatican II":

[I]f I ever find myself trapped in the pews in a Mass that has missalette music I create a little chant-like micro-environment around me by trying to improvise an ison to the hymns and ditties. I aim to make it as deep and reverberating as I possibly can - we are talking Russian-basso-profundo levels of reverberation here. It seems to pull it in the right direction at least. 

Read and see the whole thing.

Some New Friends We Haven't Met Yet

Kathy has alerted me to the existence of the Saint Sebastian Gregorian Schola from Akron, Ohio. She explains how she "met" their director, Jeffrey Quick, who has already done us a great favor:

I downloaded a copy of Isaac's "Manducaverunt," from CPDL, which we will be singing at [St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral, Reno] on Feb. 4 and at [Holy Spirit Mission, New Washoe City] for Quinquagesima (which is the correct Communio for that day).

There was not a reduction of the choral score, so on impulse, I contacted the editor of the piece [Mr. Quick] and asked him if he had one.  Although he said he was really busy, he took the time to set up the piece with the reduction - very kind of him.  He was interested in our choir and asked if we were really going to sing the piece for Quinquagesima; very excited when I told him we were.  He would like a recording of it but that isn't going to happen. Too hard to record at HSM anyway and the cathedral is impossible with all the ambient noise.

Anyway, he was interested about our being an independent choir and he sent me a link to his schola's Facebook page.  There is some interesting stuff there.  Please take a look when you have time.

Always good to acknowledge our fellow chant singers!

Jan. 21: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

4:15 PM at the Cathedral.

Introit: Dominus secus mare Galilaeae

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

Credo III (mp3)

Offertory: Dextera Domini, Christ Is Made The Sure Foundation (SMH)

Communio: Venite post me, Ave Verum Corpus (Mozart)

Recessional: I Sing The Mighty Power of God

Saturday, Jan. 20: First Mass of Fr. Joseph Walsh

8 AM at St. Rose of Lima. If the propers look familiar, they should; they're from the 2nd Sunday on OT. You can leave the SMH home, but bring your Adoremus.

Introit: Omnis terra adoret te

Kyrie (S, A, T, B): Missa O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria)

Offertory: Jubilate Deo, Jesus Lover Of My Soul (Adoremus)

Sanctus, Agnus Dei: Mass VIII

Communion: Dicit Andreas Simoni, Ave Verum Corpus (Mozart), Adoro Te Devote

Recessional: O God Of Loveliness

Jan. 14: 2nd Sunday In Ordinary Time

Sorry for the lack of posts lately; like most of us, I've been sick.

4: 15 PM at the Cathedral. Hopefully the lights will stay on this time; the power went out throughout downtown Reno on December 31st (Holy Family) at the 5 PM Mass while Kathy was singing the Responsorial Psalm. She, Karon, and I formed the Impromptu A Cappella Cell Phone Light Trio (our answer to the Electric Light Orchestra?). Here's what the outage looked like from the choir loft:

Of course, the celebrant had to be Fr. Tom Hamilton, who needs more light than usual; that's Deacon Joe Bell delivering the homily (he worked the darkness into it). Someone found a high-powered flashlight to help Fr. Tom.

Anyway, I digress.

Introit: Omnis terra adoret te

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

Credo III (mp3)

Offertory: Jubilate Deo, Christ Be Beside Me

Communio: Dicit Andreas Simoni, O Sacrum Convivium (Remondi)

Recessional: God's Blessing Sends Us Forth