Fittingly enough, CharlesW, Alexandr's story also appears on the web on a forum page with comments inspired by Jeffrey's 2006 article, "I Hate Converts (and I Am One)".

What a well-made video!! I am highly impressed with the quality and presentation. I'm really curious, though...are there actually twins, or just the same girl copied twice? If real twins, they are VERY identical! :)

Thanks for posting the vid. It's truly inspirational. I feel like sending the link to people I know who can't get their heads out of the pop hymnals, but I won't. If I did, the subject would be, "Welcome to the future".

Request:

Can you divide the video into parts? 2-3 minute chunks, for our YouTube world?

(Yes, attention span.)

The potential for this video project is GRAND, tremendous. Almost ineffable.

Years of pounding this into friends didn’t work. But one 9-minute video resulted in this GEM from a 15-year old: “does that mean that the music at the Life Teen Mass and at retreats is not sacred music when played during adoration and the Liturgy? I always wondered that; no one says anything about it.”

As you continue, one suggestion is to scaffold your way up, to bring your audience UP, one step at a time. The second suggestion is to be explicit in your target audience, so as to GRAB THEIR ATTENTION at the start.


- - - - - ENTER Fantasy-land - - - - -

With those two suggestions in mind, if I had the money, I'd hire you to do the following:

VIDEO ONE (3-4 minutes)
Target Audience: My Life Teen buddies.
GOAL: To teach that music styles belong where they belong.
1. Start with something completely engaging. Shock and awe.
2. Continue with some ridiculous misuse of music. You said: "After all, we don't play Gregorian chant at a Wedding reception. We don't play Verdi's Requiem in a coffee lounge. We don't play a slow folk tune at an exciting part of a movie. Etc. etc." Show how ridiculous it is.
3. Finish with a question to lead to video two: "What belongs at Mass?"

VIDEO TWO (2-3 minutes)
Target Audience: Catholics who just don’t know.
GOAL: To show how easy it is to tell the difference between secular and sacred.
1. Start with obvious non-examples. (Strike deep at our hearts with some major errors.)
2. Have a simple, easy to memorize "official" definition of sacred.
3. Show a bunch of obvious examples and non-examples.
4. Show a bunch of SUBTLE examples and non-examples, OCP central here!

VIDEO THREE (4 minutes)
(Current video already does this)
GOAL: To prove what makes secular secular.
1. Strong definition
2. Examples and non-examples.

VIDEO FOUR (4 minutes)
(Current video already does this)
GOAL: To prove what makes sacred sacred.
1. Strong definition
2. Examples and non-examples.

VIDEO FIVE (4 minutes)
(Current video already does this)
GOAL: To prove what the Church documents state.
1. Simply cut it out of the current video.

VIDEO SIX (longer, depending on how much “caricature” complains)
Target Audience: All Catholics
GOAL: Show how easy it is to learn sacred music.
- hire Mr. Turkington
1. Show "Spirit of Vatican II” retiree caricature complaining in whiny, groovy voice:
- - It’s old. It’s hard. It’s in Latin. It’s boring. I hate it. It’s not “the Spirit” . . . etc.
2. Annihilate each complaint, one by one. (Destroy.)
3. Teach ICEL’s “new” Lamb of God setting (show modern notation)
4. Show how it’s almost the same melody as the Agnus Dei (Jubilate Deo)

VIDEO SEVEN to TWENTY
GOAL: Show how easy it is to learn music, without the complainer.
1. Teach “Lamb of God” in English chant
2. Teach “Kyrie” (Jubilate Deo)
3. Teach other similar, super, super easy chants in English or Latin.
* * * The potential for multiple videos is HUGE here. * * *

THE LAST VIDEO
Target Audience: All Catholics
GOAL: To demonstrate the most powerful examples of the ideal that you can find.
1. Introits
2. Monks in unison
3. Multi-ethnic congregation UNITED in Latin
4. Youngsters, teens
5. Grandmothers with veils
6. ad orientem
7. Recent and not-so-recent Popes

etc. etc. etc.

Final. Tantum Ergo, Monstrance, fade to knock ‘em down quote, fade to black/bells.

- - - - These videos would be in sequence. - - - -
- - - - These videos could be watched independently of each other. - - - -


- - - - - EXIT Fantasy - - - - -

Is that the one with the awful dancing? (!)

Wow, they are SO identical! The young lady is very lovely and does a great job narrating the piece. However, the film and her presentation would offer even more authority and credibility with a less revealing neckline choice. We should be as sensitive to the Vatican's guidelines for modesty as we are toward their directives on Sacred music. Both have to do with reverence and respect.

Here is a great quote for consideration...

"Our society desperately needs women to recover a sense of the fittingness of modesty to our dignity and vocation. It depresses me to see how many strong, thoughtful and devout young Catholic women, including some who are on the front lines defending the faith, seem to have no notion of the nobility of their own bodies, and are content to be possible temptations rather than 'breaths of fresh air' in society. From what I've seen, the culture of dress even among the orthodox Catholic elite has been affected more by Vogue than the Vatican...

"Having mentioned the Vatican, I will throw out a concrete solution as a starting point. If they want to see the inside of many churches in Italy, women must cover their shoulders and their legs down to below the knee. Some might be familiar with the 'Pope's Rules.' In the 1940's, Pius XII was asked his opinion of what women teaching in Italian schools should wear to preserve their modesty. With the delicate reserve of any average man asked for his opinion on women's clothing, he simply indicated, 'Below the knee, halfway down the arm, and two finger widths below the collarbone.'

(Part of a wonderful article entitled "Modesty and Beauty: The Lost Connection" by Regina Doman Schmiedicke: http://www.theuniversityconcourse.com/IV,4,2-5-1999/Schmiedicke.htm)

Especially when defending the sacred, we need to be extra careful not to distract from our message.

Thanks, Jeff, for being so open and receptive to all the comments thus far. I pray you will consider this one too. :)