A Fetch of Futilities

Futile?
Indeed, firstly, this very posting may be -- as the last three posts I've published don't seem to appear, although they do show up on my "edit" page, so I can re-arrange, spell correct and manipulate them.
Curiouser and curiouser.

Now, to the Larger Futility...
I am unsure of how to proceed.
I don't want to force anything on the parish or the padres.
But not only did someone more or less denigrate the solemnity of the entrance in his opening remarks ("That was kinda sombre, wasn't it?" with a wincing expression that telegraphed "sombre=bad,") but after announcing that the recess would be in silence, please remain in your pew for silent reflection, etc., he shot the idea in the foot - he smiled, greeted, acknowledged, and even, I think, spoke to, (I admit, he might have been mouthing the words,) people on his progress down the aisle.

It may be that I and my liturgical sensibilities are just a bad fit for this administration.
I don't think I am trying to enforce my taste (if I were, I would cut out the GLO&P cold turkey, I would do little but Baroque Masses and many, many Anglican anthems -- every verse! -- and Russian chant, I would move the cantor stand to the loft, I would hire a professional harpist ;-). And I sure as shooting would never program that communion piece -- who really thinks a 60 year old guy who works in the mills is ever going to be persuaded to croon, "Come back to me... with all you heart.... don't let fear.... keep us apart," at Mass?)

I think what I am trying to do is encourage closer adherence to what is required.

But what I think is "right," what I think the Church asks of us in Her rubrics, in Her documents dealing with liturgy seems so at odds with what others here want or think best.
And look, I'm the first one to proclaim:I don't own the liturgy, I don't own music ministry.
If they honestly think they are moving with the mind of the Church Universal, so be it.
I'll step down.
But I don't want to be party to something of which I do not approve.

I am willing to cede authority to someone whose judgement I trust. It is how my entire professional life has been led.

And that is what I thought I was doing when I came on board.
I didn't for a moment imagine that Fr and I would see eye to eye on everything, (with whom WOULD one?) but he is learned and wise and he does know what he is doing, so I was more than willing to present ideas and if he chose to go in another direction, fine, I knew he would never insist on anything execrable.

I trust his judgement.

It never occurred to me that so many other people (about whose judgement I ma ... less than sanguine,) would think they had authority to dictate on matters that concern my work. Or that still other people would, deliberately or inadvertently, sabotage what was being done.

I may have a hard choice here.

And on other, littler liturgical matters, I, Her Most Serene Highness Lady X the Pertinacious of Fishbourne Sneething (have I mentioned before the generator that gives one his "peculiar aristocratic title"? in case not, I hereby do: http://www.masquerademaskarts.com/memes/peculiartitle.php . Or should that be "herby do"?) am officially somewhat.... bummed.

No, "bummed" is too strong, put out?
After checking about the scheduling of the Scrutinies well ahead of time (I can't seem to get them to understand that if their extra-liturgical Baptism rituals, or the Scrutinies change the music program -- as the latter must, because of the psalm and the Gospel acclamation, and the former does because of their affection for Becker's Litany of Some Saints and Some Other Folks -- I NEED TO KNOW IT BEFORE THE CANTOR REHEARSAL!), and going into a mini-rant (more comic than not,) to the choir that thanks to the Scrutinies requiring Year A readings, we would never hear certain Gospels again, but coming to peace with that, and finding and working on a terrific setting of the communio for one of the weeks of Year A -- I finally have to beg a copy of the calendar and what do I see?

Oh, no we changed that.
We're not having the scrutinies.

I mean, if I hadn't asked it would have been one thing...Ah, well.Of course, that does mean that Now the Silence is a good fit for Laetare (I know that it practically encompasses all of salvation history in that tiny text, but it is the idea of "the Father's arms in welcome" that rushes out at me so it almost makes me weep.)And we can still do the Croft.

Save the Liturgy, Save the World!

p.s. Closed Cafateria, (an interesting, usually right-thinking, but often a bit too mean for its subject matter... duh, GOD, and His PEOPLE!) has seized on Fr Z's use of my mantra and done some really fine graphics of it! They will also be selling merchandise, not sure how I feel about that, left leaning anti-capitalist sick-of-commerce-and-the-pursuit-of-the-almighty-shekel, bleeding heart that I am.