Agree with all the above. I will be retiring before too long, and will go back to being a happy Byzantine. However, a good friend and life-long Catholic, is in the process of converting to Orthodoxy. He says the same things some of you are saying. He is tired of the politics, dishonesty, ego-driven priests, and secret agendas in the RC church. For someone like him to leave, things must be even worse than I realized.

I also notice a lot of "professional Catholics" and bloggers who write endless articles about 'how to fix the liturgy' . . . yet won't lift a finger to do anything about it real life. Depressing.

Bingo. You hit the nail on the head. I hear so many folks saying "bring back Gregorian chant". You'd think the Vatican had a squadron of paratrooper-Gregorian-choristers plying the skies in a fleet of C130s ready to paradrop trained choristers on parishes, Graduale Romanum in hand, ready to sing at the next Mass.

Yet I have yet to see any of those bloggers bleating for chant actually, you know, attempt to form a schola or join one, should they be able to find one, that already exists.

Meanwhile our schola struggles to recruit. We're beginning to look like the local Benedictines, average age creeping up year after year.

Ora

Dear Friend,

It is a spear thrust deep into my heart every day! The apathy of Catholics, even traditional Catholics in regard to sacred music. Music is not essential to the Liturgy but it is a most important accidental. It clothes the sacred mysteries in reverence. (at least it should) Just as clothing is not essential to being a human, society cannot function in a rational manner unless attention is paid to properly clothing ourselves everyday to interact with each other.

These Liturgies were the structure upon which all of Christendom was built and our music helped to keep the structure of civilized society healthy and in tact. The daily singing of the Mass and hours acted as a internal structure that pressed outward against the irrational forces and kept them at bay. It is plain to see that for the most part we have no appetite to expend the due efforts and time the time to give sacred music it proper place.

The mind set when it comes to music in general is we can take it or leave it. The way I see it, however, it is only in the Catholic Church that Music becomes a sacred duty and not a mere recreation. If anyone understands the importance of music on the soul, it is our enemies. An entire multi million dollar industry has been manufactured intent on MOLESTING the ears, eyes and souls of our youth. If we do not get them then the world will swallow them up. “Nature abhors a vacuum.”

May I encourage you not to give up on it, you may effect one soul who may turn things around. It is hard, and darn near impossible at times. The Church and the world need you and your love for music. Also may I ask all who read this forum to pray for each other.

God bless you for your efforts and sufferings!!!

Every time I feel sufficiently discouraged to agree with our OP, I check the emotion at the door.

Objectively speaking, there are some selfish people in positions of authority within the Church, and within the diocese, and within the parish and within the schola. ….sicut erat in principio......

How many of those selfish people look around and see only their own efforts, and not the efforts of others?..

On the other hand, how much of the frustration stems from the desire to do better for God than our (otherwise) well-intentioned efforts seem to do?

Can I add "in the Church" ?

This is the sad and awful truth.

To take a phrase from the depraved - It Gets Better.
I promise, Stella. It does.

Ken,

Do you mean autocephalic or autonomous ?

Ken,

A wandering priest is called a vagus, if I remember, but a priest without a bishop somewhere is a rarity and a highly undesirable situation. Consider this question, "On whose authority do you use the Latin Sarum Rite and the Anglican Altar Missal?"

I would not call us a congregation but rather a semi-cloistered community. We are based in Fresno, CA. We do not have a church building yet but a home / house chapel. I would say we are a house community striving to live and worship together through sacred traditional arts and music. Our "bishop" is Jesus Christ.

We are not presently in communion with any denomination. Although that could change! The priest we have with us is retired and is our Abbot. We are highly selective and cautious of clergy. Upon our deaths, our entire means and wealth will go to this community for a proper chapel and monastic dwelling and to take care of each other. We are very well informed of what is taking place in Roman Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox circles (even in Evangelical and Protestant), and are not hopeful in any of them hence our extreme caution. There are a small few number of clergy we do have trust and hope in (like Cardinal Burke), but otherwise we are not hopeful in most denominations. We are a tiny community whose members are traditionalist Catholic, Anglican and Russian Orthodox.

We have a communion mass in each tradition with visiting priests offering respectfully. The bottom line is that we come together as Christians FIRST, worshiping through sacred music and supporting each other individually in our Eucharistic needs. Think of us as a choir of different religious back grounds, living together in community, that go to each member's church and supports that member by offering sacred traditional music while that individual receives communion. I forgot to mention that we also use the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom for our two Orthodox members and of course we use the Liturgy of the Hours for us all.

We focus on what unites us rather than differences that have historically divided. In a funny way, like Father Flannigan's Boystown where each boy worships in their individual way but are supported by all. Of course I am sure few will understand or agree with us. But this is our way and efforts to unite and worship through sacred traditional arts and music; to help to keep alive each others historical sacred culture which we see as under attack and dying. We come together to support each other with our lives, fortune, honor to live together as Jesus commanded us to do in love.

PS - We see, share and believe that a great blindness and apostasy has been under way and a transformations of Christianity by all sorts of demonically evil influences are occurring.

I am not so concerned with what you are as where you are going. At the moment you seem to have a form of a "house church." I am assuming that at some point you will affiliate with one of the existing churches. You are just not there yet.

Cardinal Burke is a fine man - I have even said that he would make a fine pope. Your mistrust of some clergy is wisdom at work. I don't trust some of them either.

As Jackson noted, all the churches have problems and the advice to run to something rather than away from something is wise advice. For the moment, I will say prayers for you as you discern and find your way for I believe your intentions to be good.