A Message From Watershed’s Newly-Elected President
A message from Jeff Ostrowski, elected President of Watershed on 22 January, 2011:
Corpus Christi Watershed has recently undertaken a process of renewal. As the new year began, we were faced with restructuring the board of directors. The board now consists of five members, three of whom are composers and musicians working in Catholic churches, meeting the same deadlines and challenges of the visitors to this site. This has been a blessing to Watershed and its mission, which remains concerned with serving the current needs of the Church and her artists.
Looking forward, we believe that we are uniquely positioned to draw upon the riches of our glorious Catholic musical inheritance and also help navigate through the attendant changes the new Missal will require of choirs. For instance, a new hymnal is in the works, we’ve published several collections by world-famous composer Kevin Allen, the Chabanel Psalms are available in print (with more volumes forthcoming), and our new blog, RondaView, is a daily rendezvous of wise reflections by author Ronda Chervin. These are but a few of the current labors, in addition to the thousands of scores and mp3’s we continue to post and offer for free.
Witnessing the birth of our daughter in January has increased my appreciation for the necessary struggles in bringing forth something new. And not only new, but thriving and beautiful! We at Watershed labor to contribute in harmony with the life of the Church and so appreciate all the generous prayers, enthusiastic encouragement and kind contributions of its supporters.
As newly elected President of Corpus Christi Watershed, I would like to remind all our supporters that we can only continue with your help. Please consider purchasing some of our items (in the Media Store) or, perhaps, making a donation. May God reward you for your generosity!
About Corpus Christi Watershed
Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purposes are “charitable, religious, scientific, literary, and/or educational.” Specifically, our organization exists to assist artists in their service to the Church. Another way of saying this would be to say that Watershed helps make it possible for Catholic artists to follow the vocation Almighty God has given them.
We were founded in the city of Corpus Christi, Texas on 19 October 2006, the feast day of St. Philip Howard as well as the Jesuit Martyrs of North America (Sts. Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf, René Goupil, Jean de Lalande, Charles Garnier, Antoine Daniel, Gabriel Lalemant, and Noël Chabanel).
One of the areas Watershed has focused on in a special way has been Catholic Liturgical music. In our very short history, we have been blessed with numerous and fruitful collaborations with the world’s leading Catholic musicians and composers of Sacred music. Our publications and media items have already begun to find a wide audience, and we thank God for this (in our holy hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament), as these sales will allow our work to continue. We also thank God for the donations we have received from generous benefactors.
Through our Watershed Sacred music websites, we have been able to make available (for free and instant download) close to 7,000 scores, Mp3’s, and videos. Our Liturgical websites have been visited millions of times and we’ve received many hundreds of E-mails and letters from every corner of the globe, thanking us for our work. God willing, we will continue to help spread the beauties of Gregorian chant and Sacred polyphony for many years to come.
