Step Backwards in South Florida
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    I had the distinct displeasure to hear that the music director at the cathedral in the Palm Beach Diocese was summarily dismissed yesterday for budgetary reasons. He is a superb organist and was building a fine choir that sang music appropriate for a cathedral. In addition to the monetary reasons given, the rector hinted that the cathedral music was going to go in a different direction with no full-time paid position of music director. This is indeed a sad day for our diocese. Things were beginning to look up and now our poor cathedral Masses will sound no different than any other parish. IOW the guitars and bongos have been restored and Messrs. Haas and Haugen will once again be given their lost prominence. Personally, the saddest thing is that there is nowhere to go. We will once again have to attend a local Mass sans music or travel a ways for the TLM.
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,206
    UGH.

    Deleted, for reasons made obvious by Charles in Cen CA.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Possibly now a second cathedral and entire diocesan music program will be led by a person who cannot read music.

    Before anyone thinks that this is sour grapes on my part, you need to understand that the local cathedral is a squat low-ceilinged building adorned with microphones in the loft to try and overcome the building's faults and a new organ that, after I politely refused to offer an opinion as to its sound, was described by a visiting priest and also an organist as "ugly" and a folk group that is out of control.


    Kind of place that would be ok to serve as an interim, but depressing to consider for a future.
  • Jeffrey CogginsJeffrey Coggins
    Posts: 360
    IOW the guitars and bongos have been restored and Messrs.


    "Instruments of War"?

    "Idiots on Wheels"?

    "Innovators of Wrestling"?
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 994
    I like "Idiots on Wheels" myself, but I'll bet it's In other words.

    Sorry to hear the news, Mike. Palm Beach is problematic (could be suitable for t-shirt slogan).
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    I've been accused of being a Joncas apologist for decades, so I might as well live up to the stereotype.
    I think it would be in the best interest of justice to recognize that plopping Rv.Dr. Joncas in the same boat with H/H as if he was "Nod" to "Winkin' and Blinkin" would prove a profound ignorance of his own development as both a composer and a liturgical philosopher. I would have employed most of the choral sacred works from his last collection at a Papal Mass with as much confidence as the Brits employed MacMillan's.
    I'll go further. Had NPM the moxie, and had Joncas the will, appointing/electing him to be the CEO of NPM, they would be a much more relevant and effective advocate for restoration of balance and perspective to our art and craft than Funk's current successor.
    Beating Joncas down because of OEW (in a nutshell, let's be honest) would be akin to dismissing the entire body of work of the actor Jack Nicholson just because he appeared in a dumb Hell's Angels film in the mid sixties. It's intellectually dishonest and ignorant of an artist's development.
    And, after all, he is a faithful priest in service to God and the Faithful.
    Whale on me, but be ware of dissing a priest who's remained true to his calling in these toxic times.
    Definitely losing a true artist in Palm Beach from our ranks is a great injustice. But it's not reason enough to cannibalize our own.

    PS. Does anybody ever wonder why people like Pr. Mahrt, Arlene OZ, MJB, Turk, David Hughes et al never get down into the mud in the liturgy/music wars? Could it be that besides serving no real purpose other than a smackdown (or like I said elsewhere, bloodsport) that it's unseemly for Christians to do so?
    YMMV
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Joncas's book on Church music documents isn't half bad, either, Charles. It's got problems, but it's worth a read.
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,206
    .
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    The problem with Joncas's book is that it leaves the reader with....not that much, just an extraordinary amount of commentary on many different and often contradictory documents. A new reader looking for clarity would leave that book more confused than ever. I wouldn't suggest that it not be read but I just don't think it amounts to much. It is thoughtful but not driven, reflective but not enlightening. I seriously doubt that anyone would change anything about parish music once having mastered the text.
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    I agree completely, Jeffrey. I am not sure what David Andrew wrote, because now it is deleted. I would only add that my faint praise for the book was just that: faint.

    At least he's thinking about Church teachings.
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