Another Future RPC Singing Location (We Hope and Pray): Cathedral of St. Paul

Sandy (at the lower left) and I got to tour the impressive Cathedral of St. Paul in the heart of the Minnesota capital following her graduation ceremony in Minneapolis. We took way too many photos to put here, so I'll just stick to a few. Kathy was here during last year's colloquium; have you ever visited it?

St. Paul guarding the cathedral and city that bear his name.

Looking in from the front center doors.

Statues of the four Evangelists are located at the corners of the front of the cathedral.

I lost count of all the side altars. There are several behind the main altar as well.

The choir loft. The organ keyboard, or *an* organ keyboard, is behind the main altar.

The altar and dome above it.

Paintings abound as well.

Before he became Pope Pius XII, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli visited the Cathedral of St. Paul in 1926.

The cathedral dominates its portion of the St. Paul skyline. The surrounding Cathedral Hill neighborhood is worth visiting with its historic homes, museums, and quaint restaurants. The Minnesota State Capitol is only a short walk over I-94.

A Reminder/Disclaimer

(Image from reddit via worldwideinterweb.com. It's a little fuzzy at that size, so no, it's not your eyesight.)

Only Kathy speaks for Regina Pacis Cantorum. No one else in the choir does, not even me; anything I write here has to meet with Kathy's tacit permission. This also serves as a reminder to conduct ourselves well as members of RPC when dealing with other churches. It may be the difference between us gaining access to a parish or not.

Truckin' Up to Truckee

At the invitation of Fr. Vincent Juan, we will be singing for 9 AM Mass at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Truckee, CA on Sunday, July 22, a rare summer appearance for us. We'll rehearse at 7 PM on Tuesday, July 17 at our usual location.

I do not believe we have sung in this charming ski and transportation hub before. The town, of course, is named for the great Paiute Chief Truckee, whom you can read more about here. Despite what the title implies, we will not be singing "Keep on Truckin'" by Eddie Kendricks, ""Truckin'" by the Grateful Dead, or "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple [1]. We don't want to give any parish DRMs any ideas. 

[1] I wonder if Kathy can hit some of those high notes Ian Gillan used to scream out. The fan video done for this, a collection of space movie scenes, is quite good.

Signs Of The Timing

Kathy took photos of these two handwritten signs at the Chicago colloquium. I'm wondering if maybe she wants us to remember them or something.

And:

And that is a comma splice, so there. Nyahh. 😜

Okay, Then

Looks like the Solemn High Mass held at the Cathedral on June 1 (above) will indeed be the last one there for quite some time. According to incoming rector Fr. Chuck Durante in the June-July 2018 High Desert Catholic:

“The only actively assigned priest in our diocese trained in the Latin Rite, as far as I know, is Father Loy, who celebrates it at the Holy Spirit Mission. So, for those people who remember the Latin Rite and long for it, or those younger people who desire it, the Holy Spirit Mission in Washoe Valley would be the place to go for the Latin experience. The rubrics of the Latin Rite are completely different, and though I might be able to pronounce some of the words in Latin, I wouldn’t understand what I was saying very well, so I could not really pray it. I would just be saying words.”

Still, HDC's farewell interview with Fr. Jacob Carazo, which also delves more into the 32-year-history of the Friars in Reno, is worth the read.

I know I put one of these memes into our year-end post, but considering the almost certain closure of the doors of the Cathedral to us, here's another one:

KEEP CALM

and

TRUST KATHY 

And, more importantly, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

A Farewell To Friars

As Fr. Jacob Carazo prepares to hand the reins of St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral to Fr. Chuck Durante, we need to thank Fr. Jacob for allowing us to sing at the Cathedral as long as we did, continuing the run that started under Fr. Francisco Nahoe's rectorship. Fr. Jacob, Fr. Tom Hamilton, and Fr. Paul Fazio (all of the Conventional Order of Franciscans Minor, OFM Conv.) will be leaving for California by the end of the month; we have sung at Masses served by all three.  Here is a photo from their farewell Mass (how did we not sing for that?) featuring all the Friars who attended:

Thus ends 32 years of service at STA by the Friars, who have been the most prominent and consistent supporters of RPC's mission in recent years.Today was Fr. Paul's final Sunday Mass, and he commented that St. Thomas Aquinas was his favorite assignment in his more than 40 years as a priest. I'd like to think it was at least partly because of the Gregorian chant we provided for him both as a choir and as individual cantors (Kathy and I).

We will miss the Friars, their spirituality, and their affinity for sacred music. Their imprint on the Cathedral and northern Nevada will not soon be forgotten. For them I offer the following:

St. Maximilian Kolbe Prayer

Amidst hate and imprisonment, you brought love into the lives of fellow captives and sowed the seeds of hope amidst despair. You bore witness to the whole world by word and deed that “Love alone creates.”

V.  Pray for us, St. Maximilian Kolbe.

R. Help us become worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, You inflamed St. Maximilian the friar and priest with love for the Immaculate Virgin and filled him with zeal for souls and love of neighbor. Through his prayers grant us to work strenuously for Your glory in the service of our sisters and brothers, and so be made conformable to Your Son until death.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

A side note: The Shrine of St. Anthony, bucolic home of the OFM Conventional province in Ellicott City, MD, was spared damage from the terrible floods that hit the historic part of that town in late May. Fr. Masseo Gonzales, a.k.a. "El Padrecito," studied as a brother in Ellicott City; having served at STA, he is now in Guadalupe, CA. Fr. Masseo maintains a small but important spot in RPC lore as the one who made me aware of Fr. Francisco's arrival and his love of sacred music in the Liturgy. I connected Fr. Francisco with Kathy, and the rest was history. [ETA: Okay, Kathy says there was a little more to it than that, including a recommendation from Dr. William Mahrt.]

Where The Road Will Lead Us

(Of course, it's been said Highway 50 between Fallon and Ely isn't even the Loneliest Road in Nevada.)

This is a different sort of year-end post for us because between now and September when we resume, we do not know exactly what will happen. The Friars are leaving the Cathedral, so our relationship with that parish remains to be seen. At least we do know our rehearsals will continue in our current location. As I was often told in the Defense Department, "Stand by to stand by."

This was a good season in which we had help from several new and returning members, while others suffered through various maladies, some temporary, some rather chronic. We did have the honor of singing at Fr. Joseph Walsh's First Mass as well as the Friars' last Mass for First Friday, a Solemn High Mass. We also sang on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

Thanks be to:

• Kathy, which goes without saying.
• All those who sang with us throughout the year, with special mention to those who often sang two and even three times a Sunday.
• The pastors who allowed us to sing for them.
• Our family members who had to do without us on Tuesday nights until now.
• Our Lady Queen of Peace and St. Cecelia for their intercession and inspiration.
• Our benefactors, known and anonymous.

So I leave you with this encouragement in these uncertain times:

Your webmaster, who occasionally remembers how many beats a half note gets,
Paul