I have every good thing to say about the rector of Our Lady of Walsingham - and our other priests, as well. We have a fine choir, a fine choirmaster, the priests sing every bit of the mass, and the people respond enthusiastically with one voice. Equal good words are due to our ordinary, Msgr Steenson, and his staff at our new chancery next to the church. Our homilies are uniformly excellent, outstanding, and our liturgy without parallel in the archdiocese - a solemn high mass in Anglican English at 11.15am every Sunday and solemnity.

I also have nothing but praise for our cardinal-archbishop, H.E. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo. His love of music is legendary throughout the country. Wherever he celebrates, he sings the mass (though not as thoroughly as we do at Walsingham). It is sad that all his priests and deacons don't follow his example.... but Chris says we are supposed to be saying 'good things'.

At the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart we have an excellent organ, built by Martin Pasi. Unfortunately, the co-cathedral's liturgy does not rise to the level of its music... but Chris says we are supposed to be saying 'good things'.

The music at UST's Chapel of St Basil does not rise to exemplary, but it is of a decent and consistent quality. The choirmaster there has very good taste and his small-but-dedicated choir do very nice work. The people sing lustily on the ordinary and hymns, with some, but not a lot of, chant. I am engaged to play there throughout the summers and on great feasts. During the summers I choose very good hymnody and chant Gregorian hymns in English or Latin during communions, in addition to the Gregorian communion antiphon from either the Roman Gradual or Palmer and Burgess.

At Annunciation, in downtown Houston, the music is of a very high quality, directed by our member, Felipe Gasper, who is choirmaster there. He has a fledgling choir who do really good things, and has started a series of solemn vespers with polyphony by a semi-professional choir, Sola Stella. Other than a knowledge of the music, I cannot comment on the Sunday liturgy, itself. The pastor, though, is very orthodox and supportive of music. Annunciation is in process of restoring a one hundred-year-old Pilsher organ. Most of us would probably replace such an instrument, but it is good and commendable that we have an example of that style of organ building in good repair, living to see yet another day.

...Chris says that we are supposed to say 'good things', so that is all that I can say about music and liturgy in Houston.

Oh, except that at St Mary's Seminary the music program is under the direction of our member, Alexis. She is well versed in chant and is an ardent follower of Fr Columba. Together with Fr Michael Earthman, she is responsible for good musical training for the seminarians there.

Thanks for starting this, Chris! You are right - it was needed.

I moved away to accept a teaching post many years back, but I must speak up for a former boss of mine: I drove an hour each way to play and sing in his parish precisely because I knew that his goal was the worship of God and his method was reliably according to the mind of the Church. We met, if I recall correctly, twice a year to confirm liturgical details. Otherwise knowing what the Church taught meant that I knew my marching orders. Job security and peace of mind at the same time!

We have an excellent pastor and a fantastic associate. They are both young and should be around for a long while... God willing! They both sing very well and give good homilies. They are also grateful for the work the musicians do.

We also have an excellent priest who is a professor at the local seminary. He is teaching the seminarians what they need to know in order to sing the Mass and beyond if they are willing to put in the work. I met one of his student seminarians at the 2015 Colloquium!

Annunciation is in process of restoring a one hundred-year-old Pilsher organ. Most of us would probably replace such an instrument, but it is good and commendable that we have an example of that style of organ building in good repair, living to see yet another day.

Could this possibly be a Henry Pilcher and Sons instrument? I would take one of those instruments in a heartbeat and rejoice over my good fortune in having it. They were fine instruments. Only one, a restored tracker, remains in my area. They have been replaced with lesser instruments reflecting the fads popular with fickle organists at the time.

At the moment, and until September, I am without a church organ while the console is being rebuilt. Some re-voicing and re-racking of a noxious 3-rank mixture and the addition of a 32' pedal stop will expand its capabilities, so well worth the wait. I didn't realize until yesterday how poorly a piano leads congregational singing.

This same priest (whom I mentioned earlier), following the directives of someone in the chancery, asked me to find a workshop to attend. He sent me to the Sacred Music Colloquium in 2000, on the parish dime.

My choir sings for a Latin Mass in the ordinary form, with the lessons sung in English. The parish priests are not yet up to either the Latin or the completely sung Mass. For a long time, we have relied upon priests from outside the parish from the religious orders, Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite, and even Jesuit. At present, we are blessed with several Dominicans, professors at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, each of which comes once a month. They know Latin from their academic profession and are happy to sing the Mass in Latin. In addition, they are assiduous preachers. What a blessing!

I just got the very first raise I've ever received in 45 years yesterday from my pastor!
A surprise.
Well, shut my mouth;-)

Charles W,

You work for a Presbyterian? Or is it merely a man with heavy Scottish influence?

Chris

I just got the very first raise I've ever received in 45 years yesterday from my pastor!

You've been working for the same salary for 45 years?

Alleluia anyway!

Egad!
45 years ago $25 was a more or less decent stipend for a wedding.
Now it's ten times that.
You have really been taken advantage of.

It's often a mixed bag. I've been in parishes where even the clergy fight amongst themselves over what should be the proper liturgical music.

Some clergy are just pleased to have someone who can make music. Others decide to micro-manage.

Some priests whom I regularly helped out just trust me to do a good job and leave me to it. I like these priests the best.

You've been working for the same salary for 45 years?

It is common knowledge that I don't need the money from my church music work. I am grateful I don't, but it might be better if everyone didn't know that.

It is common knowledge that I don't need the money from my church music work. I am grateful I don't, but it might be better if everyone didn't know that.

Ah, man, and I just paid for the billboards to go up in Tennessee lauding your dedication and sacrifice!

I sometimes have issues with converts.

I had a priest that told me Martin Luther was a genius for using old beer drinking songs and setting religious words to them so that the whole congregation could sing during the service. I highly suspect he is a convert, especially since he is from an area where there is a very high population of Lutherans.

I've ranted about the director here before but when it comes down to it, she is a very kind and generous person, just slightly off-key sometimes I suppose. We have fun with the fact that we're both Catholics working in a Presbyterian church lol! If I could transplant the pastor there to my church and make him Catholic I would do it. His sermons are fantastic, he has such a warm and gentle spirit and genuinely appreciates music. He is almost completely deaf and had an implant put in last year, but this doesn't stop him from singing along with the hymns sometimes. Sure I wish I was paid more, but this church has given my family food and grocery store gift cards when we needed them, among many other things that have helped. I wouldn't trade my job there for anything

Many thanks -
Yes, we are more than pleased with Edmund.
Are you in Britain?

Well, I thought that you were at Atonement, but I thought that I had seen a recent comment of yours that came from England. Perhaps it was someone else named Viola.
I was able to return to Walsingham today because I had a break from St Basil's. I'll be back at St Basil's for the next several weeks and then will be able to return to wonderful Walsingham. (It is interesting the things we have to 'complain' about at Walsingham: today I told Edmund after mass that the choir were singing the wrong final cadence to psalm tone vii's doxology following the introit. We really are blessed!... today is the Xth Sunday after Trinity on our kalendar.)

It may interest everyone to know that, prior Henry the Bad's terrible deeds, England was known as our Lady's dowry... and that Mariology as we know it today had its beginnings in mediaeval England. What an irony that Henry's father, Henry VII, who had a particular liking for the Augustinians, built and saw to the foundation of many monasteries... only to have his tyrant son rape and pillage them, and parcel out their lands (for a hefty fee) to court favourites. (And to think that the very first paragraph of Magna Charta stipulates that 'the church of England shall be free' - which at that time [A.D. 1215] meant free of the crown... to my knowledge, no British academic, barrister, jurist, or government official, or churchman, or scholar has ever taken note of this.)

(And to think that the very first paragraph of Magna Charta stipulates that 'the church of England shall be free' - which at that time [A.D. 1215] meant free of the crown... to my knowledge, no British academic, barrister, or government official, or churchman, or scholar has ever taken note of this.)

"And more to this, the immunity of the Church is promised both in Magna Carta and the King's own Coronation Oath."

-- Sir Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons

(Yes, I know, it's only a movie. But screenwriter Robert Bolt took a lot of More's speeches directly from the transcripts of the trial, so it might be worth looking into.)

(And to think that the very first paragraph of Magna Charta stipulates that 'the church of England shall be free' - which at that time [A.D. 1215] meant free of the crown... to my knowledge, no British academic, barrister, jurist, or government official, or churchman, or scholar has ever taken note of this.)

Why would they want to?

I remember seeing this quotation carved into the woodwork with statues of the English reformers (Wycliff, Tyndale, etc.) in the Washington National Cathedral. Evidently there's been some revisionist history going on. . . .

it's irksome interference in the appointment of bishops and abbots, matters of investiture, etc., and that it's freedom

Jackson,

Disable the autocorrect.

Cheers,
Chris