Did Abp Cordileone get an archdiocese in the British Isles? (Humor alert.*)

* In the USA, he's still customarily His Excellency....

And, from another shore...

http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2013/12/30/san-francisco-new-benedict-xvi-institute-for-sacred-music-and-divine-worship/

Prey-Tail is always depressing. LOL.

Haven't been over to Pray Tell for awhile - now I remember why.

Signed up for the updates from the institute though. You know, since it's promoting Catholic worship and stuff.

And whatever, it might not be what a PRIEST said there: "the music their flocks have made their own over many decades." Oh well. I guess I side with centuries over decades, and with church authority over local traditions.

Last I checked, the 70's are long gone, and the young Catholics of the world are ready to acknowledge that ... musically, liturgically, and spiritually.

[purple] But, you know ... Gather has been around for decades, so we might as well just make it dogma.

I just signed up for updates, too. This sounds like a good thing!

I have also signed up for updates. I also clicked on the survey. I can't believe we will see another throw away missal. Please take the survey and express your opinions.

a report from any of our brethren that might be in the Bay Area

I'm a bit on the fence about making the drive: this is the same St. Sebastien's that had a tree on the curbside last time I went out to Point Reyes for Christmas Day bird watching, and neither the parish website nor the newsletter mention any such event. Besides, it's near but not in San Rafael.

Could just take my binoculars and keep going if nothing is happening, I guess, but I got burned the last time I went to hear Fr. Weber in Moraga: the venue on the poster was empty, no one St. Mary's campus seemed to know about his workshop, there were no flyers in the music department, and repeated calls and emails to the organizers and registrar (who cashed my tuition check) were never answered.

Very strange.

Maybe the Vespers is on after all: Pray Tell links to this broken link and backing up to home one finds nothing in the "calendar", but a bit of hunting turns up this, still without a phone number or any other way to confirm.

Last time I saw the archbishop he was asking for prayers for the new institute. That's something we can all do or keep doing.

As an aside, I also found the music lacking. But the text was nice. And I appreciate that the archbishop led with his own voice in the video. There were some telling visual bits, too, like reception of communion on the tongue.

In the land of fruit and nuts, I am thrilled that we have a new crop of bishops like Cordileone. We need some sanity in this state. :)

In the land of fruit and nuts,

Nice use of the singular to avoid the PC Police! But actually that land is in my neck of the woods, the only red part of the state.

That depends upon how one defines "commune," Little Joe. There are a number of illuminati/glitterati/neo-pinko socialists, perhaps. Up in Santa Cruz/San Jose/Silicon(e) Valley/SF/Oakland/Berzerkley one finds the more traditionalist-socialististas. Further north, a mixture of chardonnay socialists, cannibis communists in alliance with Tea Party anarchists, and as I said, red-necks in my ____ of the woods.

Just returned from Epiphany Vespers celebrated by Archbishop Cordileone. At 4pm, his Excellency gave a 20 min talk about the broad goals of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship. He said it will offer a certificate program for lay ministers, particularly those involved in sacred music. This is intended to be a help for pastors who want to have good sacred music, but don't have the time or wherewithal to provide direct guidance to lay ministers. After the Archbishop's introductory remarks, Father Weber instructed the faithful in singing the English chants for Vespers which was subsequently celebrated at 5pm.

The people seemed to enjoyed the liturgy. In my opinion, it would have been nice if a deacon had been available to assist the Archbishop at Benediction.

melo, I would be very interested to learn more about your experience in Oakland's Liturgical Certification program in the 1980's. I have no particular expectations regarding the Benedict XVI Institute, and I do not know Father Weber well. It seems that the Institute is still in the process of developing a concrete program, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

The institute's survey form sends data to Ignatius Press, so I'm sure they will be able to sort out the problem.

Salve Arthur! We'll have to wear name tags next time; I was the tall guy blocking everyone's view. I'm happy to report that a well attended Vespers did happen at 4:00. I'll ere on the side of caution and say that this could be the start of something very good, and amidst CMAA folk offer some nitpicking, since we musicians have the habit of seeking God in the details.

I arrived at 3:30 and was immediately ushered to a schola rehearsal, where a dozen or so people were given handsome black binders. My neighbor showed me a "Learn Gregorian chant" flyer announcing a 3:30 start, but Fr. Weber had the same info I received and arrived at a quarter to. One of the participants had experience chanting 90' a day in Sanskrit at a yoga school and was interesting in branching out; I hope he was not scared off. It's not so easy to imagine that kind of walk-in in the hinterlands! One would not wish to hear Fr. Weber in Wagner or even Mozart, but he is pleasant in voice and especially in manner, being wonderfully encouraging of baby steps. In a monastic setting there are many details such as cut offs that can be left to common style, but in the acoustically tiled undercroft shared with a reception buffet, rehearsal was somewhat hampered. The tenor of his Excellency's following remarks seemed to be that it would be less embarrassing for priests to require certification from an institute than to fire incompetent musicians outright.

The booklet was beautifully prepared in most details, but while all was notated for the two-tone Deus in adjutorium, no notation was provided for hymns: in "Holy God we praise your name" it was clear that 3 versions of that tune were known by various participants, and there was uncertainty about whether to repeat the last lines. I also doubt the yoga adept had the DUGUET tune for O salutaris by heart, as seemed expected. The psalms were pointed thus, (instead of in the an- | glican | manner) with asterisks at each half verse. Since antiphony was marked "cantor" and "all" in the far left margin, and asterisks were also used in the antiphons for incipits, there was possibly avoidable confusion. The Meinrad-style psalm tones were notated after the antiphons in the manner of EUOUAE, and then again at the start of the psalm, followed by the pointed version of the antiphon text: not confusing to the experienced, but my neighbors kept getting lost and asking me to point to where we were.

The 'congregation' sang throughout (occasionally with organum at the minor third or even tritone), and I need not convince anyone here of the value of demonstrating that even in a carpeted church (quite attractive, with no fewer than 7 Christmas trees!) piano and microphone are quite unnecessary.

Well, the logistical end of things is lagging a bit, in other respects as well. ;-) Guess I was an early bird!

I wonder if the copyright claim was based on the cheesy music of the promo video?

You may wish to follow the Institute on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/b16institute

Photos from the Vespers of Epiphany with Abp. Cordileone:

http://tlmofsf.smugmug.com/Vespers-of-Epiphany-2014

The official website doesn't seem to have been edited in more than a year, since the link was first posted: "Full site launching soon" and BrophyBoy's
b16institute Facebook link has no recent posts either.

There has been local emailing about Candlemas on Feb. 1; let me see if I can find anything official…here we go: Youtube announcement.