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Views from the Choir Loft

Rory Cooney Needs “Healing” From Pope Benedict’s Liturgical Reforms

Jeff Ostrowski · November 19, 2013

154 Quit Your Mean Click to enlarge image ARDINAL RATZINGER famously called for a “new liturgical movement” (which Cardinal Burke has called a “Reform of the Reform”), but not all seem excited about such things. Rory Cooney is a “contemporary” liturgical composer famous for writing Bread of Life. Here are some lyrics * he wrote for that song:

I myself am the bread of life.
You and I are the bread of life,
taken and blessed, broken and shared by Christ
that the world may live.   [ … ]

This is our body, this is our blood:
a living sign of God in Christ. [etc.]

Rory Cooney recently had this to say about those who desire more reverent liturgies:

My inner optimist has started to heal over the last couple of years, surrendering to the harsh reality of recent successes in the reform-the-reform movement, but at the same time seeing that, well, it could have been a lot worse. I see that as an act of providence. The joy of writing has come back, even though things are far from ideal. It’s all right, I guess, to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land after all.   [source]

GHASTLY LYRICS APPEAR TO HAVE come into style following the Second Vatican Council. Open up the 1984 Glory & Praise (first published in the 1970s) and you’ll find “hymn texts” you won’t believe on every page. Here’s an example:

I am a man without envy   |   no roof and no walls to defend me,   |   in hope that someday you’ll befriend me,   |   and take all my troubles away.   |   Walk with me, talk with me, tell me about all the good things you’ve done;   |   stay with me, pray with me,   |   leave all your blues in your shoes at the door.

When it comes to “textual excellence,” Rory Cooney seems very much in the tradition of Glory & Praise. I often struggle to comprehend such songs. A case in point is Tom Conry’s Anthem:

We are called, we are chosen. We are Christ for one another.   |   We are promised to tomorrow, while we are for him today.   |   We are sign, we are wonder. We are sower, we are seed.   |   We are harvest, we are hungry. [sic] We are question, we are creed.

It’s probably fair to say that Cooney agrees with ideas put forth in the Glory & Praise Introduction, a must-read in spite of puzzling statements (“all of us are here by our presence”). Incidentally, some claim that texts in our Catholic songbooks have improved since the Council, but in my opinion the poetry remains horribly stilted, the melodies uninspired, and the theology superficial at best. Consider these lines from GIA’s newest hymnal (Worship IV):

Who is this who breaches borders   |   And subverts the social orders,   |   Crossing chasms that divide,   |   Casting race and class aside?   |   Who is this who eats with sinners,   |   Calling luckless losers “winners,”   [etc.]

Turning to another random page, what do I find?

This is a day of new beginnings,   |   Time to remember, and move on,   |   Time to believe what love is bringing,   |   Laying to rest the pain that’s gone.

Yet another random page has these lyrics:

If life is like a wedding feast | and we are cast as guests, | then it is tragic not to know | the life God manifests. | Distracted by appearances, | seduced by praise or place, | if we remain outside ourselves | we miss this moment’s grace.

If life is like a wedding feast | and we are cast as hosts | then it is limiting to list | the ones we like the most | and leave apart, outside, unknown | uncounted other souls, | when love suggests there is no feast | till all the parts are whole.

I don’t like hearing Catholics denounce B16, and I’ve posted a song (upper right) called Quit Your Meanness. Hopefully Mr. Cooney, having sung that hymn, will delete what he wrote about B16’s beautiful liturgical example.


*   You might ask, “As a musical composer, what are Rory’s theological and poetic qualifications for writing Catholic liturgical texts?” However, many “contemporary” composers (even the non-Catholic ones) routinely compose their own lyrics and translate Sacred Scripture, even though they’re unqualified for such tasks.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Pope Benedict XVI, Reform of the Reform Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

On 26 July 1916—during the German occupation of Belgium—a student choir led by Van Nuffel performed his setting of the psalm “Super flumina Babylonis” in Saint Rumbold’s Cathedral. The text and the musical setting very aptly expressed the depressed and rebellious mood of the population. The acclaim was enormous, and it laid the foundation for Van Nuffel’s formation of the Saint Rumbold’s choir.

— Unknown

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  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”

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