One More Gig

Bass Zac Lunt's sister Shelbe will be graduating on Saturday, June 9 at 1 PM at the Cathedral. Anyone who can sing for the graduation, please let Kathy know. She needs all the singing bodies she can get.

I like to refer to myself as a "switch hitter" who can sing tenor or bass, but Zac is even more of one. He can sing with us or, at a moment's notice, get pulled from the Cathedral choir loft to be an altar server! It's already happened at least once this season.

Requiescant in Pace

On April 26, bass Tim Rhodes lost his mother, Dolly Rhodes (above), suddenly. We pray she joins his father among the heavenly choir. I apologize for not posting about it until now; I was on the other side of the country. There is a GoFundMe account for her started by Tim's niece, Jackie Mullen:

Our grandma, Dolly Rhodes, had a wonderful life full of love and laughter. She was on vacation to visit family and for her grandaughters wedding in Vermont when she passed away last night April 26,  2018. We want to send her home so she can be buried next to our grandpa- her last wish... Please help us make this come true. She was one of the sweetest, most loving people and we want so badly to make this happen for her.

Also, we sang an unplanned a cappella Mass today because our organist, Jennifer Cotter, lost her grandmother, Olga Wascher, on Tuesday, May 1. She is in Wisconsin for the funeral.

Please keep Tim, Jennifer, her husband Bill, and their families in your prayers. Here is a different prayer for the souls of Dolly and Olga:

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that the souls of Thy servants and handmaidens, the memory of whom we keep with special reverence, and for whom we are bidden and are bound to pray, and the souls of all our benefactors, relatives and connections, and all the faithful, may rest in the bosom of Thy saints; and hereafter, in the resurrection from the dead, may please Thee in the land of the living. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

May 6: 6th Sunday of Easter

("I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete." -John 15:11)

4 PM at the Cathedral. This kicks off a busy stretch for us.

Introit: Vocem jucunditatis

Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei: Mass VIII

Credo III

Offertory: Benedicite gentes; Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Communio: Ego vos elegi de mundo, Ubi Caritas (Durufle)

Recessional: Hail, Redeemer, King Divine

Watch Kathy, Mark Your Music, And Wash Your Hands. (Not Necessarily In That Order)

Yet another wave of sickness is tearing through the choir, and it's reportedly a virus, meaning antibiotics won't be any use against it. Nurse Kathy, who does not have a medical degree but did stay at a Holiday Inn Express, says the best thing you can do to prevent illness from spreading is to wash your hands frequently. Nurses who do have medical degrees always wash their hands when entering and leaving a hospital room.

The Centers for Disease Control explain why handwashing is so important; one reason is to make antibiotics more effective. I hope it is utterly redundant for me to say you need to do so after going to the bathroom, even the nice clean ones where we rehearse. The Mayo Clinic adds that you may be washing your hands incorrectly; one big no-no is antibacterial soap, which can give rise to antibiotic-resistant "superbugs."

Until now, I had always washed my hands with hot water, but then I was wondering why my hands were so chapped and dry, especially in our arid climate. It turns out, as the Mayo article says, cold or warm water is best for handwashing. My resident (registered and soon to have her master's) nurse informs me hot water opens the pores too much and causes the skin to crack, allowing more bacteria to enter.

Apr. 22: 4th Sunday of Easter

4:15 PM at the Cathedral.

Introit: Misericordia Domini

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

Credo III

Offertory: Deus, Deus meus; The King Of Love (SMH)

Communio: Ego sum pastor bonus, Angelus Autem Domini (in key of F; we're singing in key of G)

Recessional: At The Lamb's High Feast We Sing (SMH)

A Few Good Men...But Getting Fewer

(The Holy/Maundy Thursday Chrism Mass with Bishop Calvo and the priests of the Diocese of Reno, who renewed their priestly vows. Photo credit: High Desert Catholic.)

The April/May 2018 issue of High Desert Catholic, the Diocese of Reno's bi-monthly publication, has a couple articles of interest to us.

On page 6, Bishop Randolph Calvo talks about the current and deepening priest shortage in the diocese, including the imminent departure of the Franciscan Friars from St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral (pssst...Your Excellency...FSSP!), and the logistical problems that ensue from all this movement. He also mentions Fr. Anton Sommer is leaving St. Mary's in the Mountains in Virginia City, among other reassignments. Finally there is another ordination coming up on June 1, namely that of Lucio Rocha at Little Flower. We'll be busy that night singing for the Friars' final First Friday (say THAT ten times fast) Missa Cantata High Mass at the Cathedral.

Speaking of ordinations, recently ordained Fr. Joseph Walsh gets his own profile starting on page 12. As mentioned there, he is currently the parochial vicar pro tempore at Immaculate Conception in Sparks. The Spanish version begins on page 14.

If you haven't gotten the April/May 2018 issue of High Desert Catholic in the mail, you can find it here. (Note: You'll need Flash Player to read it; double-click the page to make the print larger.) Parishes may have hard copies available until the next issue is published.

Let's not forget to pray for vocations to the priesthood, brotherhood, and religious life:

Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the world! We humbly beg of Thee to manifest in Thy Church the Spirit Whom Thou didst so abundantly bestow upon Thy Apostles. Call, we pray Thee, very many to Thy priesthood and to the religious life. And may zeal for Thy glory and the salvation of souls inflame those whom Thou hast chosen; may they be saints in Thy likeness, and may Thy Spirit strengthen them. O Jesus, give us priests and religious according to Thine own Heart!
O Mary, Mother of Jesus! Obtain for fervent souls the grace to hear and the courage to follow thy Divine Son in the path of religious perfection.
Queen of Apostles, pray for us.
Queen of Virgins, pray for us.

How To Not Need As Many Sopranos

Thanks to the King's College Choir, we can now turn people from other sections into sopranos! For us guys, it's a better process than *ahem* the Biological Solution.



I know it's Easter Sunday, but the King's College Choir released this on April Fool's Day four years ago, so...April Fool!