It's too bad they only had fish, instead of other forms of sea life. I've been dying for an excuse to flesh out my new hymn text "The Church's One Crustacean." (Strangely, It is not sung to AURELIA, but to the German tune LOBSTER JESU).

You see a processional cross with a corpus, you think "Catholic."

Maybe even so, if you are in an Anglican, Episcopal, or Lutheran church and see a processional cross with a corpus.

I was at the opening, and I took it as typical of "creative" worship committees. Someone says let's rethink traditional images, someone mentions fish, someone saw some at a Chinese New Year, in they go. And if you protest for any reason, why, you're just afraid of new things. Bob Hurd said this morning that a new way for the Church to preach the Gospel ( after misquoting, St. Francis) was to have a lame flash mob at the already ridiculous Tate Modern gallery in London...and that the mob in the incident of the Woman Caught in Adultery was guilty of wanting to do the same things as always, not self- righteousness.

“Now! Now! Have no fear. Have no fear!” said the cat.
“My tricks are not bad,” Said the Cat in the Hat.
“Why, we can have lots of good fun, if you wish,
With a game that I call UP UP UP with a fish!”

Yes, puppets have a particular and definitive agenda. One appearance of one puppet during the liturgy basically says, "we remake the liturgy to our liking, and there is nothing you (the Church) can do about it." And the fish kite has a particular motion which is akin to 'waving it in your face'. It escapes the boundary of the usual puppet, although the ones with long arms can reach to the far aisles. It could also be classified as a type of psychological intimidation or 'boundary breaking'. It comes into your space, whether you like it or not. And when it enters your space, all eyes are fixed on YOU! So... be nice!

I was there and I really think they were attempts to rethink Christian images In a "multicultural way" without bothering to understand the cultural resonance of kites at Chinese New Year. Then reaction I heard was thatntehy were beautiful-- so people didnt see the, as anything more than decorations. But it came across as what happens when someone says something like "let's do something nifty." The kind of puppets you all are talking about are usually just human and definitely designed to mock the humanity of people one disagrees with. This was just novelty.

Jeffrey Quick's point about 'liturgists" and liturgy committees is spot on

No, not entirely. While the caricature of liturgical committees is somewhat accurate, I remind everyone that the Novus Ordo has a diversity of roles and people involved. There is a level of administration that needs to happen if the liturgy is prepared well. A well managed group of people involved in the management of these roles eases concerns about many things and makes for good preparation. I even know of a liturgy committee for the EF. They wanted to make sure everyone knew their role and when they needed to show up,etc.

And I am one of those dreaded "liturgists." In that capacity I spend 90% of my time teaching and catechizing. How are you going to change things if you do not teach?

I attended NPM this past week. There are many things that drive me crazy about NPM and the "flying fish" at the Convention Mass were certainly no exception. The text of the opening hymn was less than inspired and musically it sounded very dated and there was little connection between refrain and verse. The communion music, the antiphon by Richard Fitzgerald being the notable exception, was very weak. I wished his antiphon had been developed with an accompanying psalm.

However, there were some signs of encouragement during the week:
Cardinal DiNardo celebrated the Mass beautifully and his homily was inspiring. Everything was sung! There were many signs of good liturgical practice indicative of the Shrine that were on display for all to see. Yes, the ever-present cantor drove me nuts-did we really need her to bring in the congregation (of church musicians no less) on the Preface Dialogue responses, for example?) We heard wonderful choral music, the organ was very present, and we even ended with Rustington! The singing was quite excellent and the Sterling Proctor arrangement was lovely. The brass and choir were both excellent.

We were treated to first-rate choral music on Monday night at the National Cathedral, three fine organ recitals, and two fabulous programs at St. Matthew's Cathedral-brass and organ, as well as a program by the RSCM choir, who were in attendance for their week-long training session in DC.

I, too, was at Ed Schaefer's presentation. Unfortunately, it did not go well. There was disrespect shown by a few in attendance, as pointed out by Andy. However, I felt that Deacon Schaefer could have tread more lightly, better understanding the audience he had in front of him. That's just my opinion, for what it's worth.

I also attended a session by Steve Janco about the Propers. CMAA was NEVER mentioned. I was in complete amazement. The fact that CMAA was never mentioned, not even for critique, shows the influence this organization is having in shaping the discussion and trends in Catholic music and that it is a threat to the status quo. When this happens, you don't engage, you simply ignore. The fact that these discussions are happening at NPM is a sign that things are changing, perhaps not as quickly as we would like, but we need to realize that progress is being made.

I should also mention that Paul Turner's plenum address was particularly excellent. I also attended an NPM chant interest session. It was very well attended, and there were several young people in attendance.

Forgot to add another difference - LOTS of liturgical dance, everywhere, at the 2003 convention Eucharist. ZERO at this one, unless you count some mild swaying on the part of the kite carrier to get the stupid thing to swirl around more.

Thumbs up to PGA, Heitor, and the magnificently-named redsox1. We need to encourage these good practices and just let the other nonsense slide, for now. No, it's not okay. It's just not helpful or fruitful to harp on it.

Wow, this entire thread (especially the more recent comments) are making me think of how FANTASTIC it would be to have booth there, as one of the vendors. I know we talk about it every year, and we're usually thinking of it in the summer when it's fresh in our minds, but we would need to be talking seriously about it in like January. I really think it's entirely possible. Would just take a couple people completely committed to organizing it, and other people to put forth money (the booths probably run about $1000,) plus housing - either costs or people who live in the city and would let those running the booth stay with them. Every year I think that I would love to help do this (I've actually gone as a "vendor assistant" three times, so I've got a pretty decent idea of how it works,) but unfortunately this upcoming year will definitely be out for me, due to personal life circumstances.

Dr. Paul Ford has already volunteered to coordinate this in other thread.

melo - wait, what other thread? (sorry, there's too many going on.)

Focus on publications. How would this be any different than other music/text vendors?

@marajoy

http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/9369/npm-2014-saint-louis-mo-july-14-18#Item_10

It was at both.

well, that settles that.

Maybe it was a very subtle ad for Shark Week.

Kevin in Ky, you are of course correct. Forgive me- a week at NPM with people who thought they constituted a council shot my nerves a little. Kenneth

Were they borne there by a ...tornado?

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

It's the middle of the night and I should be sleeping, but instead I've got fish on my brain. I was wondering if the largest of the 3 fish that Kathy referred to, the red-yellow one, was a Copper Moki (also known as a Bastard Trumpeter). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastard_trumpeter
It all makes musical sense now.

Isn't there a saying about how much good you can do if you are indifferent about who gets the credit?

Anyone who searches on the net for "english propers" finds resources that we publish and promote. That's what's important.

And of course, they'll find us through that route anyway.

The flying fish were not the highlight, but they certainly were the highest!

Seen on the NLM blog:
"This is Catholics reclaiming the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Take that, atheists!"

Now here's my question: Is it not also correct to say "We're talking passed each other," rather than the common "past?"

My sense is that it should say "We're talking past each other," with "past" as a preposition meaning "close to and then beyond." What I do sometimes when I am unsure is I take a look at what other people have done and I compare how many instances there are of each version. If you do a search at books.google.com (i.e. stuff that is more likely to have been reviewed by an editor) for the phrase "talking passed each other," you get 22 results and a question, "Do you mean "talking past each other?" But if you search there for the phrase "talking past each other," you get 12,200 results.

BTW, I agree with you that "principal" was the correct spelling, meaning "most important."