Sounds wonderful. I will pray that this will go well. Please don't forget to share it after the presentation.

I'm not planning on recording it, but I'll investigate the possibility.

Francis,

How exciting! I know quite a few folks who could benefit from a better understanding of 'actuoso participatio'. Keep us posted on this, please!

I'm happy to report that the presentation went well, and was well-received. There were approximately 20 in attendance, which for this kind of presentation at our parish, given on a Saturday morning, is excellent. It also helped that the monthly Missa Cantata preceded it. All of the attendees, save one, were sympathetic to the cause of the "reform of the reform" and the restoration of chant and polyphony to the liturgy, so in some ways I was "preaching to the choir." They did have many good questions and the discussions were lively and intelligent. There was one attendee who spent about 10 minutes attempting to explain how an inner-city parish in nearby Detroit uses "liturgical dance" and why she didn't see that as an abuse. Despite careful (and charitable) explanations from myself and others in the audience (and as providence would have it, although I had not intended to discuss the issue, a quote from Ratzinger's The Spirit of the Liturgy just happened to be at my fingertips), she wouldn't let it go, and so I simply said that we had to move on.

The handout for the presentation included an outline (shown below), as well as a chronological listing of documents on music and liturgy from the Holy See, the USCCB and the Holy Fathers, going back to 1903 (Tra le sollicitudini), two charts based on paragraphs 28-31 of Musicam sacram illustrating what was intended for increasing participation through the systematic introduction of more chant beginning with the dialogues and ending with the Propers as well as an illustration of what typically happens in a parish (Propers replaced with hymns, dialogues only sung to make the particular liturgy "more special" or solemn), and four jam-packed pages of links to all of the documents online as well as other articles and websites (including this very good one.)

You'll notice that the presentation culminated in a discussion of the funeral Mass as an example of how the replacement of Propers with Hymns actually thwarts the Church's intention of increasing participation by employing hymns and songs that are at odds with the intended texts and prayers of the liturgy, and making the Mass about what the people want ("songs that bring comfort") rather than what the Church wants (the prayer in Charity for the repose of the soul of the one who died, and to ease their passing through Purgatory into Heaven). I used a comparison of the Proper entrance antiphon ("Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord") with the text of "Amazing Grace" to illustrate how the participation of the faithful becomes a focus on them and how they feel, rather than on the true prayer of the Church. After the presentation, several elderly folk told me that they want to ensure that their funeral is a proper Requiem, sung according to the NO with the chanted Propers, and not "On Eagle's Wings". I told them that they needed to put their desires in writing in some kind of legally binding document, such as their Will, to ensure that grieving family members who may or may not be churched or would be inclined to select contemporary songs or Protestant hymnody for their funeral will not be able to make such choices.

Here is the outline of the presentation:

Introductory Remarks

[Included two excerpts from section 14 of Sacrosanctum Concilium printed here]

Actuosa participatio Throughout the Documents

- What does the Church teach and how does the Church describe it?
- Interior versus Exterior participation
- Not just moving around and making noise


Sacred Music: How the Church Describes It

- Holiness, purity of form
- Chant and polyphony (Renaissance) as the model
- New compositions as “true art”

Progressive Participation versus Progressive Solemnity

[explanation of the two charts derived from Musicam sacram]

The Propers versus Hymns

- What are the Propers and Hymns?
- Preferences in the IGMR

Questions and Discussion

(Break)

Understanding What This All Means for the Future of the Mass

- The “corrected” translation of the Missal, Advent 2011
- More chant, more participation
- Turning toward God together

How Does This All Work? The Paradigm of the Funeral Mass

- The purpose of the Funeral Mass and the Teachings of the Church
- The principles of full, active and conscious participation applied to the Mass


The presentation lasted a little over 2 hours, but would have benefited from a three-hour time frame. It is almost a mini-seminar.

I am currently looking for other venues in the area to give this presentation, and would be willing to travel if the possibility presented itself. If you would like to have more details about it, or if you think you or your parish would be interested in sponsoring this presentation, please feel free to contact me at: deasaun@gmail.com.

Andrew,

Looks very good Andrew. I would like to show this outline to a few people would that be alright with you? My pastor is one and perhaps another pastor I know as well.

Ruthy

You know I spoke to a canon lawyer about the ideas in Musicam Sacram. I told him that until one hymn is sung the dialogues of the Mass have to be sung. He smiled and offered me a link to his web page on Canon Law and an article he wrote several years ago about the codification of Canon Law and as an aside the almost impossible task of doing the same for Liturgical Law. Oh well, we must rely on the USCCB. What I remember from my very quick reading of Sing to the Lord is that it sounds better than past documents concerning the liturgy.

One of the pastor in this area asked me how he could bring more sacred music in the liturgy in his parish. (we had about an our meeting.) With a smile I politely said, 'Father, you have to chant your parts first, then the congregation will chant their parts" I showed him the link where he can listen and learn. (also invited him and the music director to the Colloquium) Next day a different priest, his friend, came to celebrate the Mass and chanted entrance and many other simple parts. I mentioned it to him, and he says" first degree!"

Another pastor told us, the schola, to sing 'Amen' after the doxology, so I politely said it would be a great help to the congregation , if he chants his part. He first said he didn't know how, but once he tried with my minimum help, he just automatically remembered. He seemed to gain a lot of confidence that he can do it more than he think.

I think most of the priests would like to have congregation sing in OF. Somehow they got this wrong idea of keep pushing many hymns in the liturgy hoping some will sing. But they don't seem to realize that they have to chant their parts first to do so. I hope music directors, those who are interested in having the congregation sing, save time from looking for hymns every week, but spend time helping the priests chant his parts. Starting with a small part that they know seemed to help the reluctant priests. (most of them seemed to need some private lessons also.)

So we come to the priest and how important it is for the priest to sing his parts of the Mass. In Detroit we have Archbishop Allen Vigneran who does indeed sing the priestly chants of the Mass, at least when he comes to the seminary he does. I work with my seminarian students on their chants and encourage them to sing, well actually I just assume they will when they become priests and speak to them that way and teach them with that in mind. Many want to sing, they also want better musical liturgy and so we try to help them as best we can.