Think about how much money has passed over the hands of GIA,OCP and WLP from NPM participants.

Therein lies the answer.

Truthfully, I am not worried. CMAA is making little but important inroads in my neck of the woods. Next month, when I meet with parish musicians from the southside of Atlanta, I will be sharing the fruits of this place with them. I also have hooked up three directors of Catholic school music programs to Musicsacra.

Work in your vineyard, however small or large it might be. Be patient and wear a smile and show your passion for this work in a joyful way.

Kevin

"Maybe the horrible folk music stage had to be gone through in order for us to get to the ultimate goal."

I agree COMPLETELY. That was the final post when I had my old blog. Thanks to the folk music, we are now in a church where, in opposition to the pre-Vatican 2 scenario: Laity are expected to vocally participate in the Mass (which also leads to our ability to catechize on internal participation!); vernacular music is accepted, allowing us to use everything from quality English hymnody to JS Bach's choral music; the "left-foot Lucy" organists are not tolerated. And let's not forget the CONTRAST we present. Pre-Vatican 2, we'd be fighting St. Gregory Hymnal and Rossini Propers with chant and polyphony - who'd care? Now we're fighting trashy folk music badly performed with chant and polyphony - the choice is clear to any rational person!

I don't think the CMAA is being ignored. The cards are in our favor. The NPM Haugen-Haas monopoly is getting nowhere. There's really only two possibilities for growth in the future: the Praise & Worship model, well meaning though the proponents may be, no one takes them that seriously; and the chant crowd. More and more people are seeing us as the future. How many headlines do you see, "LOCAL CHURCH INTRODUCES NEW HAUGEN PSALM REFRAIN"? Again, consider what we have in common with the P&W crowd: going somewhere. The people endorsing stagnation (NPM) are furious that we're getting press, because they're becoming more and more irrelevant. Between stagnation and progress, progress always wins.

God bless you, Charles. By the way, I just turned 27 --- feelin' fairly old at the moment, but blessed.

My favorite 20th-century architect, Antoni Gaudi, when asked about a completion date for the Sagrada Familia, answered, "My client is not in a hurry."

In the same manner, I don't expect to see significant change by 2048; of course, I am open to being pleasantly surprised.

(On the other hand, I earnestly hope that the Sagrada Familia is complete by 2026, even with all of the upcoming economic turmoil, and that CMAA can fill that expansive choir loft. Colloquium 2030 Barcelona, anyone?)

I know, Gavin; I am pleasantly surprised, and I share your sentiment.

But not expecting it is the stance that I have to take, lest I become too impatient; I suppose it's my own flavor of detachment, strange as it may be. I've never been a patient person, and if I reflect otherwise, it's only because of the grace of God.

So with that said, I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised in 2009 and thereafter, but I won't be disappointed if I'm not. On the contrary, I'll continue to do what I've been doing to work towards "Change 2048." The best thing in my case would to continue to work, not worrying about the outcome, and then have someone point out to me how much things indeed have changed for the better.

Would it be wonderful if attendance at Colloquium 2009 doubled from last year? Certainly! But would it still be wonderful if attendance were halved? Absolutely! Why? Because, getting back to JMO's original entry, we are doing our small part as cooperatores veritatis, whether or not we receive official recognition or appreciation from the powers that be. If and when official recognition comes, it will be when God says all parties are ready. I'm sure that will come with its own problems should it come to pass!

The children sang chants yesterday, and the adult schola sang chants today. Until last year we didn't hear them in our parish. They sang beautifully. Their faces were glowing with joy. They didn't really need me (director), because they were praying together. I know we touched people's hearts with the most powerful and beautiful music we have. I'm very grateful.

Thanks, CMAA

If we can popularize a better liturgical THEOLOGY, changes in practice will come about as quickly as they did between 1965 and 1975.

Underlying mistakes in the implementation of liturgical reform and the introduction of unsuitable music was an ideology--"Secularization theology."
It's principal tenets, as popularly understood, were (1) That because of growth in scientific knowledge, "man" had "come of age" and no longer related to God as a helpless child; (2) That God recognized that excessive intimacy with "man come of age" would be stultifying, just as excessive intimacy between parents and grown children is; (3) That God relates to "man come of age" as a fellow worker in the world, with a degree of intimacy comparable to that between business associates. This theology was, of course, incompatible with liturgy of any sort. Nevertheless, people were not ready to give it up; so they sought to secularize it. The slogan of the late 1960s was that if cult were divorced from "the secular experience," men [sic] would "compartmentalize" Christianity, not relating it to their daily affairs. Therefore the language, music, and deportment used in liturgical celebrations, as far as possible, had to be made similar to the language, music, and deportment that people encountered elsewhere.

Secularization theology is virtually dead. No one talks about it any more. Its liturgical legacy survives, however, partly because some who fancy themselves progressive believe that secularized liturgy is "on the cutting edge" but more because, as an Orthodox friend of mine observed, "local churches are paradogenic." The speed with which innovations become hallowed tradition is amazing. And once a tradition has been established, people become very upset when it is changed. (A young man in our parish who was baptized at last year's Easter Vigil recently complained about a very minor adjustment.)

Back in the 1960s the theology of the liturgical movement (justifiably, in my view) and secularization theology (unjustifiably, in my view) captivated the parish clergy (or those whom they chose as leaders/role models). They were convinced that the need for innovation was URGENT, and that allowing fear of upsetting the people to stop them would be irresponsible.

If we can find a way to captivate today's leaders with a better liturgical theology, so that they become sufficiently committed to it to take risks, improvements in practice will follow very quickly.

I get angry that despite how hard I work, I still only seem to loose about 1 or 2 pounds a week. The reality is I didn't get fat in a few weeks, I'm not going to loose the weight in a few weeks.

Similarly, the dismal liturgical/musical culture many of us deal with on a daily/weekly/yearly basis didn't develop over night . . . it took nearly 40 years (or 50 depending on who you read) for the liturgical-industrial complex to hollow out the center of the culture. It is the height of arrogance (imho) to believe that we're going to turn the Barque of Peter around in a few short years, or expect the Successor of Peter to do it.

Just as loosing weight quickly is unhealthy and generally unsuccessful, to rush the changes we're trying to make (brick by brick, as Fr. Z says) would be equally unhealthy and prone to failure.

Don't count on that always being a positive thing, Pes. As the sign said on the computer center back in my university days:

"We love our computers. They let us screw things up in seconds that used to take weeks!"

Will my computer help me lose weight? I don't want to diet, but I do spend a lot of time on this forum :)

Our biggest block is how much pressure the Pastor can take without bending from parishioners who want things their way rather than the church's way.

And that's his job, as assigned by Him!

Gavin,

I wish I shared your optimism. I have no doubt that in many ways there are a significant number of folk who are experiencing great things happening, and happening quickly.

However, I tried to move things quickly in my 3,500+ family suburban parish, and nearly lost my job, not to mention my health.

We all must work under the circumstances we're given, and sometimes the work of clearing away the rubble is harder than laying the new bricks. One must be cautious to clear the rubble first before laying the bricks. It seems to me that you've not experienced the truly back-breaking labor of clearing the rubble.

If the Church were to demand the rubble be cleared immediately and make the kinds of changes in the direction we want, just as they did in the '60's when folk went to Mass celebrated in Latin according to the MR1962 one day and then quite literally the next day went to Mass celebrated in English with the priest facing them, praying from the MR1970, we would be committing the same sin and be guilty of the same lack of care and propriety that those who robbed the Church of her culture were back then.

This is why I say these things must not be done overnight, they cannot be done overnight, and to do so would be foolhardy.

The three little pigs built their houses quickly, first of straw, then of wood, and finally of brick. The brick one withstood the wind of the wolf. Let's not in our haste build houses of straw or wood that can be easily blown down by our own version of the wolf.

Gavin! I've had nightmares about liturgy, too.

I had one nightmare that I went to the church here in my hometown and the priest was using English muffins and grape kool-aid for communion. I remember getting up during the dream Mass and being like, you can't do that, you can't do that!! When I went to the parish in real life, I got a nice little instrument-accompanied concert from the priest for the Eucharistic Prayer, but he used licit matter for communion at least.

I don't know what I think about this whole brick-by-brick approach either. It's such a difference to go from a church full of djembe and a giant choir in the sanctuary almost sitting behind the altar rocking out in their concert masses to another church merely an hour away celebrating an EF mass with no instruments for Advent and beautiful motets/chants performed by a small choir to a reverent congregation. It really is the culture of the place. I just don't know what comes first, the culture from some reverent music or the sacred music from a reverent culture.

When a priest came in after the EF Mass during Advent to rearrange the sanctuary for an OF Mass that was coming next, taking candles away, taking everything away, I almost cried. It was hard to watch. Even in the same parish there can be two entirely different cultures vying for control. I guess we just all have to do the best we can where we're at.

They took most of what was on the high altar off, and took the candles off that altar. But they did bring in some candles for the other altar. I know the music director there, and while I never went to an OF Mass there I bet it's pretty good. He cares about what the church teaches and does his best.

It sounds as if you assume that the parish celebrates the EF grudgingly. ("If the church 'bothers' to do EF...")

There really isn't any basis for such a suspicion, as far as I can tell. It may be a fine parish led by an excellent pastor whom you'd like quite well.

Chonak, I was kidding, that's why I put this' '. I was saying that they are willing to do that not many parishes want to do. I started to feel that it is very hard to communicate in the computer. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Thanks, Jam for understanding. One thing I don't want to do is being disrespectful to priests no matter what. They really work hard and the parish priests are under lot of pressure. I sometimes complaint and try not to. Instead I try to talk to my priests politely. Also, I pray for my boys' vocation and I want them to be respected if they ever become one. I'm sure they'll make mistakes.

Our shcola is hoping we will have EF mass here. We are planning to help one of the priest go to a workshop for that. We didn't ask him yet. Please pray that this will happen in our parish. I love EF Mass, because it really helps to experience the heavely Eucharist. And I want to have it in our parish for my friends here.