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Views from the Choir Loft

Proclaim the Passion in a “Theatrical” Manner?

Jeff Ostrowski · April 18, 2014

662 Archbishop Sample E HAVE TALKED a lot about the sad state of liturgy these days, and often cited absurd statements by liturgy “experts.” We’ve also mentioned a contradiction which has never been explained: an attempt on the one hand to restore liturgy to a “pristine” state of the 5th century, while on the other hand changing liturgy to attract “modern man.”

But what exactly is LITURGY anyway?

The easiest way I can explain is to consider reading the Passion. Have you ever heard pious Catholics (who have all the best intentions) pray the Passion like this?

      * *  Incorrect Way To Pray The Passion

But why is that wrong? After all, picco logic says that the Passion is a “narrative” and ought to be read dramatically.

True liturgy — authentic liturgy — is prayer. It is proclaiming to the universe, in a new time and space, the wondrous deeds of Jesus Christ, in the same manner the saints did. The Gospel is not read at Mass because we’ve never heard it before. Consider the 1962 Missal Gospel Reading for January 1st, which is but a single sentence! The public proclamation of scripture is an act of worship: it is not purely didactic, nor is it a make-believe drama that we must re-enact with emotion.

The video below shows us the proper “tone” for liturgy. It must be serious, joyful, sorrowful, glorious, simple, authentic, and proclaimed with beauty and humility.


By the way, “humility” doesn’t mean what the unqualified secular journalists think it means: humility is truth. Again: Humility is truth! A Franciscan priest first told me that in 1998, and he was absolutely correct … but I had to think about it for a while to understand.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Reform of the Reform 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

14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski
Sound Familiar?

1 June 1579: “The chapter passes a rule that anyone ascending to the new organ without official permission shall be fined a month’s pay.”

26 October 1579: “The altar boys remain always separate and distinct from choirboys—the one group learning only plainchant and assisting at the altar, the other living with the chapel-master and studying counterpoint and polyphony as well. Father Francisco Guerrero postpones his departure for Rome and instead spends the entire year in Seville making ready for the trip. In the meantime he neglects his choirboys. On 16 November, after considerable complaint against their unruliness and ignorance, he engages an assistant, Bartolomé Farfán.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Partly on account of these alterations, and partly because I have been unable to ascertain the authorship of many compositions—which have come to me either in manuscript or through other collections—I have thought it right to publish the volume without appending the names of writers to their works. This, however, I confess to be a defect…”

— Benjamin Hall Kennedy (1863)

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