Sadly, nothing. We only have one candidate this year who is studying in Rome. His diaconal ordination will occur there.

I've never heard of the Proulx Te Deum Mass. Is it currently published? I would presume through GIA, but I only find an assembly card (with no PDF preview) on their website.

The Te Deum Mass was published by GIA as a version for cantor and congregation with accompaniment in Four Masses for Cantor, Assembly, and Organ, G-5537. The unaccompanied SATB version was initially commissioned by St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, and completed with a commission by Saint Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska, during my tenure there. The completed setting was premiered at the 2002 Regional NPM Convention in Omaha. It was engraved by GIA in 2004 as G-5345, but never published since the new translation was pending.

The Te Deum Mass is the fourth in a series of Proulx's Masses based on plainsong themes, along with the Missa Emmanuel (G-3489), Corpus Christi Mass (G-3693, and Paschal Mass (G-5043). All of these Masses are of the "instant music" variety, in which intonations of the cantor teach the congregation its parts as the music progresses. In the other three Masses, the choir creates a "sonic halo" around the congregational melodies. In the Te Deum Mass, however, the choir sings large parts of the text (on behalf of the whole assembly) in substantial polyphonic textures. It is both a revival and a fulfillment of the "Missa cum populo genre of the 1950s and 1960s, which attempted both to conserve the value of sacred polyphony and embrace liturgical reform. Proulx achieved in this Mass a balance between "sacred art" music and "ritual-functional" music that perhaps could only have been achieved by someone whose career spanned the pre- and post-conciliar era, whose musical craft was fully developed and grounded in the polyphonic tradition, and whose judgement was tempered by decades of pastoral experience coaxing one-time congregations to sing and participate in the "quintalogue" (a term coined by RP) that is the performative modality of the reformed liturgy.

My colleague Laura Rau is currently researching and writing a DMA document on this very topic, and having worked closely with Richard on the editing of the version premiered in Omaha, I have myself undertaken the revision of the Te Deum Mass according to the 2010 Roman Missal translation. This is no Mozart-Süssmeyer situation; every note is pure Proulx. I plan to finish the engraving of the revision this summer. God (and GIA!) willing, this remarkable Mass will see the light of day soon. I will keep you posted.

Dr. Kevin Vogt
Director of Sacred Liturgy, Music and Art
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church
Leawood, Kansas

That would be great!