The homily was on beauty and I got to thinking about “the beauty of the Lord” having a precise name: holiness – as the incredible beauty of the mass gave a tiny inkling of heaven where angels bow before our God, proclaiming Holy, Holy, Holy.

I was able to leave DC while there was a bit of daylight, thankfully, as cities and their traffic, etc are difficult for me.

Driving back, I thought about what was needed for that sort of Mass in less urban places, especially the architectural concerns. First of all, of course, there is the human architecture – more priests who can sing the mass are needed. This really comes down to – more priests. Suppose a certain parish needing to accomodate 1500-1800 folks on Sunday. A building could be constructed to seat 1000 where one planned on 2 masses on Sunday. However, a much more beautiful building, both artistically and acoustically, could be built for, say, 6 masses seating 300 or so. But that would require two priests.

This very Catholic concern for beauty has been somewhat absent in the United States recently; hopefully, that is changing, by God’s grace. solo Dei gloria.

In addition to those Kathy mentioned (Bill, Scott, David, and I), the full compliment for the Propers Schola included David Lang (D.C.; McLean, VA), Kurt Poterack (Front Royal, VA), Gary Penkala (Charles Town, WV), Daniel Bennett Page and Dave Amenn (Baltimore, MD), CMAA's own Jeffrey Tucker (Auburn, AL) and Bill Stoops (Richmond. VA), and Ryan (whose last name I missed, Pittsburgh, PA), all of whom added to the quality of the performance.

To which this particular "expert" is not ashamed to add the contribution of the glorious Crypt Church, which is a very, VERY (blessedly very!) grateful place in which to sing.

[PS. to Mia: I somehow ended up with your nametag, if you want it.]

God bless you all. Sometimes 't seems so impoverished out here on the Left Coast.
But, Richard, know how treasured your gifts are in CenCA.

It's plenty impoverished in many places in the greater Washington metrorama.

Thank you Aristotle for posting the homily and the music. Did we miss you there yesterday?

Mahrt's speech was incredible in every way. I think it might have been the best he ever gave.

Dr. Mahrt gave the same excellent lecture to an appreciative audience on Sunday evening at Christendom College (CC) in Front Royal, VA, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Kurt Poterack, faculty member at CC (music). choirmaster at Christ the King Chapel on the campus, and editor-at-large of Sacred Music journal. I do not know if the lecture was recorded, however.

Elizabeth Poel
DC Pilgrimage/chant workshop Coordinator

The weekend was incredible in every way. It was a pleasure to see many old friends and sing with such a great group of people. The Palestrina piece that the Shrine choir did was so beautiful that I could hardly breathe. Dr. Mahrt's talk and Fr. McAfee's homily were worth the price of admission all by themselves and will be the start of many hours of study and reflection. Many thanks to all at the Shrine,the JPII Center, and the folks from St. John the Beloved who were so kind and helpful- and of course, to Jeffrey, Arlene and Scott without whom no event would be quite so good, true or beautiful.

I would add that Father Vincent Rigdon whom some of you know was just installed as Pastor of our sister parish in Poolesville MD. He is one of my Chaplains in my KofC council. I have a Memorial Mass scheduled for November 24th. If there was a schola available, I wonder if we could arrange an Extraordinary Form sung Mass followed by a reception? Hmm.

Another request here for a recording or transcript of Dr. Mahrt's talk!

Bravo to the CMAA for making this happen.

It's amazing to see how Scott can be so passionate everytime he teaches chants. I believe he teaches the basics several times or more every year. But he is always gleaming with wonder and joy when he teaches. Something to learn as a teacher, also his patience. (And thank you Scott for doing the solfege. Now my schola members are convinced that I didn't make them up in a strange language or Korean... Evne if we learned Hymn to St. John, they were still suspicious until last weekend :-)
Also thank you Jeffrey and Arlene for organizing this wonderful event and doing all the time consuming work. And David Lang, Elizabeth Poel, and shrine choir for all your wonderful work.

And I'm still admiring Dr. Marht's knowledge, wisdom and passion for sacred music. He has so much gifts to share with us. I'm very very thankful. Can't wait until the next Colloquium.

I remember the moment when I realized exactly how dedicated the CMAA faculty is. It was Friday morning, the last day of the San Diego Chant Intensive, the very last day of a very intense week. I came in a few minutes late, and there's Scott Turkington cheerfully solfedging with everybody one last time. Just incredibly impressive.

Here's a reduced-filesize version of Penny's file.