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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Catholic Youth Choir Releases CD, Prepares For Tour

Guest Author · January 15, 2014

865 Cardinal HEN MY OLDEST SON was nearing his eighth birthday back in 2011, I felt that it was important for him to start learning Gregorian Chant as part of a good Catholic children’s choir. Searching all of the parishes surrounding my home in the western suburbs of Boston, I could not find a single chant-centered program for children, except for the magnificent Choir of Men and Boys at St. Paul’s in Harvard Square, Cambridge, well over an hour away on a typical weekday morning.

So I asked the pastor of my local church, St. Brendan’s Parish in Bellingham, MA, if I could form a youth choir dedicated to the study of Gregorian chant, traditional hymnody, and sacred choral music. He agreed, encouraged me to creatively package the group in a manner that would not seem to be in competition with the parish children’s choir, and invited me to prepare music for the Traditional Latin Mass offered every second Sunday of the month at 12:30 p.m. I expected three or four kids to show up.

To my amazement, a number of Catholic families from a dozen surrounding communities expressed interest in the group, and today there are well over thirty young people enrolled in the Blackstone Valley Catholic Youth Choir. The children have performed at concerts, liturgies, and choir festivals, at several area churches and cathedrals, as well as Boston-area venues such as Fanueil Hall and the Hynes Convention Center. In March 2014, the choir plans to visit several churches in Connecticut and New York during a cultural tour/pilgrimage culminating with the Pueri Cantores Festival Mass to be held at St. Ignatius, New York City, with Cardinal Dolan presiding.

As a fundraiser for the tour/pilgrimage, the children have released a CD recording entitled, “Clothed With the Sun: Music for the Solemnities of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption.” The recording features Gregorian Chant, Marian motets, and relevant passages from the Simple English Propers and the Parish Book of Psalms. To learn more about the choir, order a copy of the CD, or to make a donation of any amount to help the children raise the $15,000 needed for the tour/pilgrimage, please visit the choir website:

      * *  Blackstone Valley Catholic Youth Choir

The CD also features recordings of two of the movements of the “Mass in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea,” a Mass setting which I composed in 2010, dedicated to Cardinal Sean O’Malley on the 40th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. The Kyrie is designed to follow the recitation of the Confiteor and flow effortlessly into the Gloria, which borrows melodic material from the Gregorian “Ave Maris Stella” chant. The Sanctus, based on the preface tone, is an hommage to the simple English chant settings of the Sanctus by Theodore Marier found in his landmark hymnal, “Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs.” The simple Agnus Dei hearkens back to the melodic material for “you take away the sins of the world,” found in the Gloria. To download free copies of the score, simply click on the “Vatican II Hymnal” tab above, and find the link for downloading free Mass settings.


We hope you enjoyed this guest article by Michael Olbash.


864 Mich MICHAEL OLBASH, founder and director of the Blackstone Valley Catholic Youth Choir, is a homeschooling father of four residing in Bellingham, Massachusetts. He holds degrees in sacred music from Harvard University and St. Joseph’s College, as well as the Colleague (CAGO) and Choirmaster (ChM) certificates from the American Guild of Organists (AGO). In 2012, he was the recipient of the S. Lewis Elmer Award, a prize given to the person achieving the highest score in the nation on any of the upper-level examinations administered by the AGO.

Active in the American Federation Pueri Cantores, Michael currently serves as the Minister of Music at the United Church of Christ in Medfield, MA, chapel organist at the Carmelite Chapel in Peabody, MA, and staff organist at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Hopkinton, MA, as well as president of the Southeastern New England Chapter of Choristers Guild.

Contact by e-mail at:

olbash@post.harvard.edu

Contact by U.S. Mail at:

Michael Olbash, director
Blackstone Valley Catholic Youth Choir
P.O. Box 275
Millis, MA 02054

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catholic Youth Choirs Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

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

“I have devoted myself too much, I think, to Bach, to Mozart and to Liszt. I wish now that I could emancipate myself from them. Schumann is no use to me any more, Beethoven only with an effort and strict selection. Chopin has attracted and repelled me all my life; and I have heard his music too often—prostituted, profaned, vulgarized … I do not know what to choose for a new repertory!”

— Ferruccio Busoni (to a colleague in 1922, when he was 56 years old)

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