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Views from the Choir Loft

“Missa de Jerry Seinfeld” and Praying as a Family

Richard J. Clark · July 19, 2013

NE OF MY GREATEST LAMENTS as a full-time church musician is the inability to go to mass with my family with any regularity. With Saturday and Sunday evening masses and rehearsals, this precludes most any possibility. We get to attend mass together as a family perhaps four or five times a year, so when we do, it is a rare and special treat.

My wife and I met at church. Until we had children, she played clarinet at most every mass that I directed. Meanwhile, she has been quite saintly in handling our children by herself at our local parish, as it is now sometimes impractical for them to attend mass where I work. For example, she must negotiate with my three-year-old son, “the liturgist” who apparently knows exactly when mass should be over. Around the fifty-five minute mark, he expresses “in his own special way” the “dismissal.”

My son is also quite an expert in liturgical music, once yelling only a few rows behind the organist at another parish, “I want Daddy’s music! I want Daddy’s music. DADDY’S MUSIC!!” (I love my son. He’s a very good boy.) My poor wife, horribly embarrassed, was trying to quiet him, but little could be done to mitigate this social faux pas. I’m not sure if they’ve ever been back to that parish.

I digress.

Recently, we had such an opportunity to attend mass together as a family. It was even more extraordinary; while traveling with my wife’s extended family, we were all together at mass—all nineteen of us!

When traveling, of course, it is difficult to be picky about where to go. This particular mass that we attended (in an unnamed and undisclosed parish somewhere in America…) presented some “challenges” for me. The game show atmosphere and steady stream of jokes throughout mass grossly distorted the flow and shape of the liturgy. This included a well-timed joke about celibacy from the celebrant that drew riotous laughter. The music had nothing to do with the liturgical calendar, but was a list of “Catholic top-40” and was more closely related to the secular calendar. (OK, so the Lalemant Propers were out of the question.) The cantors were in fact quite talented and excellent, if for Broadway.

However, looking around, the church was full and the congregational singing was quite robust despite microphones set to eleven. (I’m dating myself again with the “Spinal Tap” reference.) The homily was in fact quite prayerful and intelligent despite the stand-up routine from the celebrant throughout the rest of the mass. The people seemed very happy to be there. The atmosphere was welcoming, if bereft of reverence and very much not my cup of tea. (Btw, welcoming and reverent environments are NOT mutually exclusive!)

In all of my dismay, in which I felt I was doing great penance to endure such a mass, I must remind myself that I am a huge sinner and far from perfect. (My great sinfulness has and will continue to be a regular topic in this blog.) Plus, I must be mindful that I wasn’t such a great liturgical musician twenty years ago. (Although the “Missa de Jerry Seinfeld” from a clearly intelligent celebrant is disheartening.)

(Please forgive me for this obnoxious post, because I am the luckiest man alive; I have the love of my family. Furthermore, the love of Christ should be good enough for me.) And therefore…

Someday, what I will remember most about this mass are none of its misguided liturgical abuses, however well received they were. What I will remember is that I knelt side by side with my daughter during the consecration. I will remember reciting the Creed in my fidgety three-year-old son’s ear as I held him. I will remember singing with my children, even if the music was not the best the Church has to offer. I will remember that I married a most wonderful woman from a wonderful family—that all nineteen of us made it to mass together. I will remember that we are united in the Eucharist—that the love of Christ is the center of our prayer, of our Universal Church, and of our family. For this unique time with God and with my family, I am deeply blessed and most grateful beyond words.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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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).

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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

“The free space which the new order of Mass gives to creativity it must be admitted, is often excessively enlarged. The difference between the liturgy with the new liturgical books, as it is actually practiced and celebrated in various places is often much greater than the difference between the old and new liturgies when celebrated according to the rubrics of the liturgical books.”

— Cardinal Ratzinger (1998)

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