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

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Every moment is a teachable moment

Andrew R. Motyka · February 6, 2013

E WHO HAVE FOUGHT in the Liturgy Wars easily fall into the trap of assuming that every liturgical anomaly is born from dissent. As someone who has seen his share of liturgical abuse in his career, I sympathize with the frustration and borderline-paranoia that faithful musicians and others experience. As I’ve delved deeper into working for an Office of Worship, I’ve found that there are far more problems that have lack of knowledge as their origin than problems that are rooted in actual opposition to the law.

One of the more edifying things that I get to do is answering musical and liturgical questions from around the archdiocese. I never thought that I would take joy in it, but it is fulfilling in a very real way. Parish musicians seldom see “breakthroughs” that exhibit their efforts in making a difference, but addressing practical matters in this way is immediate, and I find that I learn something almost every time I am asked to help.

For example, last week a parish musician contacted me to ask some details about the tradition of covering the crosses and images in the Church on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. She wanted to know:

1. What color is to be used when covering the cross and images (she assumed violet).
2. What color the cross is to be veiled with on Good Friday (she guessed red), and if that color needed to be changed on Good Friday.

If your first response to reading these inquiries is “Why doesn’t she just look in the Missal?” then you’re missing a key piece of information: most people don’t even know where to look for answers. It’s not that they’re trying to act poorly. On the contrary, most of the time they have nothing but the best of intentions and truly want to worship to the best of their ability and with the mind of the Church; they just don’t know where to start.

For the record, I double-checked the Missal, and learned something about the rubrics myself:

1. The Missal actually doesn’t prescribe a color for covering the images in the Church. I would assume and recommend violet simply because it’s Lent and that seems like good taste, but it is not explicitly given. (Side note: while the images remain veiled until the Easter Vigil, any crosses should be unveiled after the Good Friday liturgy, when the cross is unveiled and venerated.)

2. The color for the cross’s veil on Good Friday is violet, not red like the vestments.

The woman was very pleased with the information she was able to get from this experience, and I realized that most people really do want what’s best for the Church. Had she not asked, and just gone ahead and used red for the cross, she’d have been wrong, but not because she thought she knew better than the Church. All she needed was a bit of direction.

Charity demands that we assume the realistic best of people in all possible scenarios. We the “liturgical police” sometimes need to calm down, stop being so defensive, and realize that we are not always under assault. We can do far greater good by patiently explaining details than we can by expressing frustration over the average person’s liturgical ignorance. An entire generation has passed where people do not know their faith, and do not even remotely understand what is going on at the Church that they attend every Sunday. Case by case, we need get peoples’ minds in the game and understand the liturgy that they have inherited, so they can truly, fully, actively participate in it.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Andrew R. Motyka

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

For the Upcoming Choir Season!

Last week, I posted an SATB choral setting of the SANCTUS in a ‘contemporary’ style. You might want to consider this piece for two reasons: (1) It’s extremely brief; (2) Free rehearsal videos are available for each individual part. The piece is by Father Lhoumeau.

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • “Sunday Vespers” (22 pages)

When an organist accompanies Vespers, there is no time to think. It’s one thing after another: Bam – Bam – Bam. And that’s what makes Vespers difficult to accompany; there’s hardly even time to check the key signature for each piece! Therefore, although it’s far from perfect, I’m releasing this 22-page booklet:

PDF Download • SUNDAY VESPERS ACCOMPANIMENT

As time goes on, I will explain why I believe this booklet is important, my hopes for it, and why I selected the official edition, directly from the Vesperale Romanum. In spite of its imperfections, creating this (draft) booklet required much more effort than I had anticipated.

—Jeff Ostrowski
11 July 2022 • FEEDBACK

Someone who heard the CCW plainsong recordings with NOH accompaniment says: “For years I have travelled the continents and crossed the oceans of Gregorian chant in search of a composition and interpretation as sublime as this. The text and the melody are interwoven in a game of mirrors with the interpreters, the singer and the instrumentalist, so as to confer delicacy on the jubilation. The organ is soft, humble. This is what we hear from the singer. These artists have come together to produce beauty. In 1903, Pope Pius X, by motu proprio, restored Gregorian chant in the Latin Church. In his words: Sacred music must possess, to an eminent degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy, and notably the sanctity and delicacy of form, whence another characteristic spontaneously results, universality. I stress: the holiness and delicacy of forms result in universality, time and place. That is to say, sometimes the beauty of human hands gently caresses the face of the Eternal.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Pope Gelasius in his 9th Letter to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: “Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.” We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution “Etsi Pastoralis” (§6, #21)

— Pope Benedict XIV • Encyclical “Allatae Sunt” (26 July 1755)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Salve Regina” (32 Versions)
  • For the Upcoming Choir Season!
  • The continuity and vulnerability of the Novus Ordo
  • “Me? A Singer?” – Harrison’s Personal Testimony
  • Need Easy Organ Pieces? Try This Little-Known Composer

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant 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.