Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Victory?

An article by Christopher Bord, (should I know that name?) at CanticaNova, that makes some very important, and perhaps overlooked points.

It would be very easy [for musicians] to retreat to the extraordinary form ...
[A]ttempts to integrate chant and polyphony into the ordinary form [may be met with] "if people want that, they can go to the extraordinary form of the Mass — that's what it's there for." ...
And frankly, it would be very nice to be able to do our work in a non-hostile environment, in which the people are actually looking for what we have to offer, rather than fighting us every step of the way...
[But this] would bring an end to the "reform of the reform." ...
If we abandon [the ordinary] form, then we ensure that the norm for most Catholics will be poorly done liturgy with little to no attempt to follow the guidelines of the Church.

Reading this put me in mind of people who read books on grief well after the fact and exclaim over how dead-on (excuse the pun,) the conventional wisdom is, the stages ring absolutely true, utter familiar.
My ambiguity and discontent is a result all of these things swirling around in me simultaneously (exacerbated by worries about my Mother, my alcoholic brother and the possibility of an impending move.)
Or, as Homer Simpson would put it, "Doh.... it's funny because it's true!"
It is funny.
But it's also comforting... at a music workshop Dr Ed Shaefer practically had tears in his eyes asking if such gatherings weren't reassuring, to realize those of us with similar aims and sensibilities were not alone.
So, thank you, Christopher Bord.
And Deacon Shaefer.
And Fr Weber
And Msgr. Phillips
And Shawn Tribe
And Jeff Ostrowski
And Fr Heimann
And Mr Webb
And Msgr Hellreigel
And Rafael Ornes
And Dad
And Fr Skeris
And Linda Shaefer
And PapaRatz
And Dom Mocquereau
And Dr Prowse
And William Mahrt

And Michael Lawrence
And Fr Martis
And Msgr Schuler
And Jean Claude Chiasson
And Joe Naglia
And Pope St Gregory
And Julia Ward
And RVW
And Fr Jeff Keyes
And Theodore Marier
And the 9th grader who told me the offertory from the 4th Sunday of Advent was the most beautiful thing she'd ever sung.
And thousands of others whose names I will never know, thousands living and dead and yet to be....

Gee, all of a sudden, I don't feel so alone.


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