• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“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)

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

EWTN Broadcast • Mass of Ordination • First Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Richard J. Clark · February 1, 2016

HIS TUESDAY, February 2nd, on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, EWTN will broadcast live from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (Central Standard Time) the ordination of Bishop-Elect Steven J. Lopes as the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. This will take place at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston.

Maestro Edmund Murray will be directing for the ordination. He is the former Music Director of St. John’s Seminary in Boston and Our Lady of Atonement (Anglican Use Liturgy) in San Antonio, Texas. He is currently the Director of Music at Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas.

Our Lady of Walsingham is the Principal Church of the Ordinariate serving Roman Catholics nurtured in the Anglican tradition. It was established in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. With only three such Principal Churches in the world, the elevation by Pope Francis of Bishop-Elect Steven J. Lopes is highly significant, as he is the First Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. With his ordination, Our Lady of Walsingham will be elevated to a cathedral.

NDER THE DIRECTION OF EDMUND MURRAY, the music will be provided by a combined choir comprised of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocesan Choir (Dr. Rick Lopez, Director), Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Schola Cantorum (Dr. Crista Miller, Director), and Our Lady of Walsingham Parish Choir. The organists will include M. Jackson Osborne, former Organist and Choirmaster at Our Lady of Walsingham, Dr. Crista Miller, and Dr. Kevin Clarke, Director of Music and Organist at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Sugar Land, TX.

This televised liturgy will be a rare opportunity to observe a liturgy in the Anglican tradition within the Roman Catholic Church. Also notable will be the presence of six cardinals and over thirty bishops. Be prepared for lengthy processions!

The music, which promises to be exquisite, will represent a distinct mix of Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions including a variety of Gregorian and Anglican Chant, works by William Byrd, Palestrina, Hans Leo Hassler, Healey Willan, and of course beautifully arranged hymnody. Unfortunately, the prelude will not be televised as it includes a sumptuous range of works by Hubert Parry, Jean Langlais, J. S. Bach, Charles Villiers Stanford, John Ireland, and Flor Peeters.

Finally, with a nod towards Murray’s Catholic roots in Boston, the Mass will also include an Alleluia by Theodore Marier, Michael Burgo’s beautiful Anima Christi, and a newly commissioned work for this occasion by yours truly.

DMUND MURRAY has done extraordinary work wherever he has gone. With his wife, Chalon, he built one of the finest music programs in the United States at Our Lady of Atonement—essentially a choir school in practice, if not in name. Named Director of Music in 2015 of Our Lady of Walsingham, I expect Murray will grow yet another extraordinary program as the years progress.

AM HONORED TO HAVE BEEN COMMISSIONED for a new work for this ordination, which will be sung during Communion. A setting of Psalm 111, Magna Opera Domini (“Great are the Works of the Lord”) is Bishop Lopes’ episcopal motto which appears on his Coat of Arms.

This piece, inspired by the works of Theodore Marier, utilizes a chant-based antiphon in Latin for the congregation. The verses, in English, alternate unison chant with various choral textures.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Anglican Ordinariate Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

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

The 1960s reformers had no chance of success since their goal was “recasting from top to bottom—and in a few months!—an entire liturgy which had required twenty centuries to develop.”

— Professor Louis Bouyer, close friend of Pope Saint Paul VI

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up