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Views from the Choir Loft

“The Liturgical Hall of Shame”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 29, 2013

“And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’ s religion is vain.” —Epistle of St. James 1:26

COTT HAHN, DURING ONE of his presentations, invented the term “hall of shame” (a play on “hall of fame”). I already knew Fr. Godfrey Diekmann, OSB, belonged in the Liturgical Hall of Shame because of his incessant efforts to promote the “hootenanny Mass” following the Second Vatican Council.

Recently, however, I stumbled across these disgusting quotes by Fr. Godfrey Diekmann:

On occasion he would pound the desk and say, “Damn it! We are not like sons and daughters of God, we are sons and daughters of God.”

Many a time he would again pound the table and say, “Damn! It is not the resurrection, but the incarnation.” And here he often returned to the text of Athanasius, even in its crude exclusivist language: “God became man so man could become God.”

SUCH LANGUAGE is totally unbecoming of a Christian, especially when talking about Theology, and I don’t care what Fr. Diekmann’s intentions may have been. For a priest to speak in such a way is insufferable.

Some people like to point out that the Church wasn’t perfect before the Second Vatican Council. They exclaim: “There were major problems back then, too!” I couldn’t agree more, based on the scandalous example of Fr. Diekmann, who was ordained before the Second Vatican Council.

HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! I thought this was supposed to be a “positive” blog?!! Yes, it is. I’m sharing this anecdote to illustrate how revolting it is to hear Christians use distasteful language (especially when talking about holy subjects) so we can all try and do better in this area:

Lord Jesus Christ, please help us remember that people judge the Catholic faith by the way we, ourselves, act and speak. Amen.

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 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).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Worse, composers are now setting the introits of the missal [instead of the Graduale] to music, even to chant, though these texts were explicitly for spoken recitation only.”

— ‘Dr. William Mahrt (Fall, 2015)’

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