What He Said

Musica Sacra: Catholic World Report

See You at the Concert

The Five Priests Concert
Sunday, September 18, 3 p.m.


Five priests of the Diocese of Columbus who are also fine musicians will open the 2011-2012 Cathedral Concerts series. Msgr. Stephan Moloney of Immaculate Conception Church, Columbus, Fr. Kevin Lutz of Holy Family Church, Fr. Thomas Buffer of Saint Stephen the Martyr Church, and Fr. Ty Tomson of Saint Andrew Church will play a program to include works of J. S. Bach, Cesar Franck and others. The Cathedral's musicians will also perform a work composed by Fr. David Poliafico.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Top choral director calls modern Church music 'ecclesiastical karaoke' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Getting Organ-ized

It's been a long while since I last posted on the restoration of my Moller Artiste pipe organ. Last year I had the pouchboards releathered but time to work on this has been scarce. I eventually got the pouchboards installed and have been chasing down bugs as time permitted. Sometimes two weeks went by without one single thing being done to the organ. The work demands the kind of patience I don't always have when tired. I am happy to report that all the dead notes and ciphers (notes that play by themselves) have been eliminated, and I have begun to re-install the pipes. It seems a fitting way to begin Daylight Savings Time.

Catholic Men's Conference

Today I traveled by car to a far-flung suburb to hear confessions at the annual Columbus Catholic Men's Conference.The place was packed and it was inspiring to see how many men devoted their Saturday to growing in the Faith. It would have been the first good golfing day of 2009, too. After confessions it was time to get back to my parish for, well, confessions, but the conference organizers (who really know their stuff) insisted I take some lunch first. In keeping with the manly atmosphere of the conference I was hoping for raw meat but they had some very civilized sandwiches instead. As I picked up my sandwich I could hear that Mass was already underway in the adjoining church. That was the only jarring note of the day -- literally. The music selected was deplorable. Moreover, every song I heard included the accompaniment of a bell tree (click here to find out what a bell tree looks and sounds like). Who was thinking what? I felt sorry for the men who had volunteered to be in the choir. Not that you asked, but my advice is: if you want to sing bad Catholic music in a manly way, do it full-bore, like this. Hoo-ah!
It was a great blessing to return to my little parish where the music at the vigil Mass was dignified and lovely. And not a bell tree in sight.

A Hymn for the Faithful Departed

As others may have noted, Christians have been dying for about two thousand years now. Given this fact, one would think there would be more hymns suitable for All Souls Day. But I have found very few. In 2008 All Souls Day fell on a Sunday and this help to focus my mind on the theme. I found a suitable text, written by an Anglican missionary (onetime chaplain to the Bishop of Zanzibar) who first composed the lyrics in Swahili before making his own translation into English. A setting of the beautiful text to a tune of my own devising may be found here.

Jesus, Son of Mary, fount of life alone,
here we hail thee present on thine altar-throne.
Humbly we adore thee, Lord of endless might,
in the mystic symbols veiled from earthly sight.

Think, O Lord, in mercy on the souls of those
who, in faith gone from us, now in death repose.
Here 'mid stress and conflict toils can never cease;
there, the warfare ended, bid them rest in peace.

Often were they wounded in the deadly strife;
heal them, good Physician, with the balm of life.
Every taint of evil, frailty and decay,
good and gracious Savior, cleanse and purge away.

Rest eternal grant unto them, after weary fight;
shed on them the radiance of thy heavenly light.
Lead them onward, upward, to the holy place,
where thy saints made perfect gaze upon thy face.

Words: Edmund S. Palmer, 1902, 1906
based on the author's original text in Swahili

They Really Do Sing That!

Here is actual proof. And it was not my idea.