CMAA- What, Who and for What Purpose
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Considering there are lots of new eyes and ears on the CMAA, and with the start of a new calendar year, maybe its a good time to restate and focus on our mission as individuals and as an organization?

    Forum discussions tend to go lots of places and explore new ground, which is a good thing. But for the newcomer and the seasoned member alike, I think it is also useful to be clear about our identity- who we are and what the main goals of CMAA are, as stated on the MusicaSacra Home page.

    "The Church Music Association of America (founded in 1874) is an association of Catholic musicians, and those who have a special interest in music and liturgy, active in advancing Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, and other forms of sacred music, including new composition, for liturgical use. The CMAA’s purpose is the advancement of musica sacra in keeping with the norms established by competent ecclesiastical authority."

    Purity of intent is important for Catholics, especially for sacred musicians, who have to wear several hats. Again, this discussion is not intended to reduce the efforts of the CMAA, but to be clear about who we are as a group so as to be clear about our core objectives and pursue them with an ever-increasing vigor. St. Cecilia and St. Gregory, pray for us!

    Happy New Year, everyone!
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Happy New Year! Let's hope there were more chanted Te Deums this year than last!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,508
    One of the things that has struck me time and again is the positive attitude of the CMAA officers. They smile. They speak politely.

    Movements can define themselves by what they are for, or by what they are against. It seems to me that the leadership of this movement strives to define us by what we are for: good music, chant, polyphony, unabashed reverence, deep tradition. The overall effect is almost childlike in its simplicity and goodness.

    Movements that define themselves by what they are against tend to be fragile. They are easily divided amongst themselves. They don't last.

    I think that it would be best to define the CMAA in its own terms, which are positive, forward-looking, and generous in spirit.
  • don roy
    Posts: 306
    spot on Kathy!
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 762
    Ditto.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,817
    double ditto
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    The founding date on the home page should be changed from 1874 to 1964.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    As the CMAA is the merger of two older Catholic music associations, the Society of Saint Gregory of America (founded in 1913) and the American Society of St. Cecilia (1874), it claims the founding date of the earlier one.
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Is that not a historical sleight of hand? The American Society of St. Cecilia, not the CMAA, was founded in 1874.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    I suppose it's a matter of opinion. If an organization inherits the membership, assets, corporate registration, etc., of a predecessor (and I don't happen to know how the merger was done) , it may as well claim to be the continuation of the earlier organization.
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    True. It very well could have been a "name change." At face value, the statement just doesn't pass the sniff test. I'm not sure Singenberger would want his organization's 90-year history to be subsumed, whether or not the organization itself was.
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    I also concur with Kathy.
    A group of positive folks who know who they are and love what they promote and work toward is appealing. It helps that we work in unison with 'norms established by competent ecclesiastical authority'. Because of this, we are standing on solid ground and free to pursue a defined mission, albeit in creative and incremental ways in average parish life.
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