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

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Views from the Choir Loft

Comedian Jimmy Fallon Wanted To Be A Priest

Jeff Ostrowski · February 19, 2014

780 Jimmy Fallon Priest HE FOLLOWING comes to us by way of the Musica Sacra Forum. Late-night comedy was a big deal when I was in 4th grade, but my parents didn’t allow us to watch it. To this day, I’ve never watched late-night comedy. (I’m told very few people do these days.) However, I’ve seen YouTube excerpts on occasion. I think Jimmy Fallon has a very nice smile — deep down, he seems to have a good heart. Granted, I have no factual basis for saying this, but when I saw him smile, that was my impression — take it or leave it!

How ironic, and how telling, that even a comedian realizes there ought to be reverence at Mass!


INTERVIEWER: So you went to Catholic school when you were young.

MR. FALLON: Oh yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have…

MR. FALLON: I wanted to be a priest.

INTERVIEWER: Did you really?

MR. FALLON: Yeah. I loved it.

INTERVIEWER: Why?

MR. FALLON: I just, I loved the church. I loved the idea of it. I loved the smell of the incense. I loved the feeling you get when you left church. I loved like how this priest can make people feel this good. I just thought it was, I loved the whole idea of it. My grandfather was very religious, so I used to go to Mass with him at like 6:45 in the morning serve Mass and then you made money too if you did weddings and funerals. They’d give you, you’d get like five bucks. And so I go okay, I can make money too. I go this could be a good deal for me. I thought I had the calling.

[ … ]

INTERVIEWER: Do you still go to church?

MR. FALLON: I don’t go to – I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was like kind of struggling for a bit I went to church for a while, but it’s kind of, it’s gotten gigantic now for me. It’s like too … there’s a band. There’s a band there now and you got to … you have to hold hands with people through the whole Mass now, and I don’t like doing that. You know, I mean it used to be the shaking hands Peace was the only time you touched each other.

INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm.

MR. FALLON: Now I’m holding now I’m lifting people. Like Simba.

(Soundbite of laughter)

MR. FALLON: I’m holding them (Singing) ha nah hey nah ho.

(Speaking) I’m … I’m doing too much. I don’t want — there’s Frisbees being thrown, there’s beach balls going around, people waving lighters, and I go this is too much for me. I want the old way. I want to hang out with the, you know, with the nuns, you know, that was my favorite type of Mass … and the Grotto and just like straight up, just Mass-Mass.

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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PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
7 June 2022 • FEEDBACK

From Chelan, Washington: “CCWatershed is a God-sent resource that I can’t function without! Such great work by the team to bring beauty back to our liturgy!” From Gainesville, Florida: “I am so appreciative of the work, of my brothers and sisters in music!” From Troutman, North Carolina: “Keep up the excellent work in service of the Liturgy!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

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— Dr. Roger Wagner (19 December 1960)

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