• 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)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

“Chronicles of Narnia” by Msgr. Richard Schuler

Jeff Ostrowski · April 5, 2013

ANY TIMES IN THE PAST, I have mentioned that our blog is a positive blog. However, from time to time we will publish documentation of realities in the Church, so that we can be “armed with knowledge.” This ought not be viewed as “negativity.” Reality is reality, and we are called to be aware of reality. The true title is not Chronicles of Narnia (it is actually A Chronicle of the Reform), but sometimes the information related is so wacky it feels like reading a fantasy novel:

      * *  Part V • Schuler’s Chronicle of a Reform [pdf]

I don’t always agree with Msgr. Schuler about every subject. One of my biggest disagreements has to do with using “Viennese School” music at Holy Mass. Msgr. Schuler admits that such music (by Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven, etc.) has a compositional style indistinguishable from secular music. However, he claims that such music can be used during Mass because it was sacred “in language and intent.” In other words, Msgr. Schuler claims that so long as the composer “intended it for use in Church” and it does not alter the text, it is fine to use at Mass. At some later time, I shall examine in greater detail the articles he wrote defending this theory.

However, when it comes to historical facts in the above article, there can be no disagreement. Everything is documented in the footnotes. Msgr. Schuler was very knowledgable about such things, and served in many high level positions. So often in today’s world we “skim” articles. We do not carefully read each word. However, the above is one of those articles that can be read and re-read year after year with profit. If you care to read the entire series by Schuler, you can do so here [pdf].

[ P.S. The good news is, a few years ago, the terrible document Schuler cites in that article was gotten rid of. It has been replaced by Sing to the Lord, which is a real improvement. ]

A few thoughts about that article . . .

There is much that could be said about the article. I will basically “hold my tongue” so the reader can draw his own conclusions.

ABOVE ALL, I am struck by the HORRIBLE SITUATION the Church found herself in during the 1960s. I used to think that the major problems set in at the beginning of the 1970s. This article clearly documents unbelievably terrible things happening in the 1960s.

Here are a few items:

1.

In fact, in some dioceses, their use was prohibited by local legislation that forbade the use of Latin. For a partial list of dioceses in the United States with regulations against the use of Latin, see Johannes Overath, ed. Sacred Music and Liturgy Reform after Vatican II, Rome 1969, p. 22-23.

Can anybody provide this 1969 article? I’ve heard that some Bishops did this, but seeing documentation would be great.

2.

See Richard J. Schuler, “By Whose Authority?” The Wanderer, April 4, 1968, p. 3.

Can anyone provide this article from 1968? I didn’t even realize The Wanderer was around in 1968 !!!

3.

“Music, more than any other resource, makes a celebration of the liturgy an attractive human experience.”
“The faith of those present accomplishes the marvelous change called transubstantiation.”
“The primary sign of the Eucharist are (sic) people gathering together, not the bread and wine or words.”

Say what??

4.

“The hootenanny Mass can give explicit eucharistic and christological specification to youth’s intense involvement in the movements for racial justice, for control of nuclear weapons, for the recognition of personal dignity.”

Say what??

5.

Some of the “top ten” of the liturgical hits in the late sixties were: Michael, Row the Boat; Blowing in the Wind; Gypsy Rover; and Kum-bay-a. Often these had newly composed words whose literary worth was worse than liturgical value of the melodies. Others were totally secular in both words and music, e.g., Hush Little Baby; There is a Ship; Try to Remember; This Land is Your Land, etc.

This is the music of my childhood during Holy Mass . . . but I had no idea such drivel was already around during the 1960s.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

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

* indicates required

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

It was thought important that the song should actually accompany the distribution of Communion. A Carolingian explanation of the Mass remarks that during the Communion “soft melody should touch the ear [of the faithful] so that hearing this sound they would busy themselves less with distracting thoughts and … their hearts would be moved to humble love for that which they receive.”

— Father Josef Andreas Jungmann

Recent Posts

  • Did Pope Francis Just Publicly Rebuke the Prefect of Divine Worship?
  • Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “The Normal Syllabic Value” (6 Feb 2023)
  • Hymn by Cardinal Newman
  • Church Music Shouldn’t Be “Headache-Inducing”
  • Introit • Candlemas (2 February)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 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.