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Views from the Choir Loft

United in the Eucharist — Conservative, Liberal, or Universal?

Richard J. Clark · May 16, 2014

RJC_852_St_Pauls_Harvard St. Paul’s, Harvard Square – Photo courtesy of George Martell/The Pilot Media Group ONGREGAVIT NOS IN UNUM Christi amor. Together we are united in the love of Christ. This is the second line of the Holy Thursday chant “Ubi Caritas.” Is this idea Liberal or Conservative? Does singing it in Latin make it conservative? Does a new setting in the vernacular make it liberal?

These questions are nonsense of course, and we are beyond all of this.

Recently, much has been written, said, and done with regard to Harvard University allowing a Black Mass and its last minute cancellation. (Here is a MUST READ article by Fr. David Barnes, What This Priest Saw At the Harvard Eucharistic Procession, in which he writes about the genuine faith of so many college students.) Faith and action of Roman Catholics all around Massachusetts and beyond spoke loud and clear. No one asked who was “liberal” or “conservative.” We were united in the Eucharist. The response of the people was the Universal Church sending a clear message as one voice.

When confronted with a true enemy of faith -– disguised in whatever innocuous or attractive façade — we see through it and gravitate toward unity. Thousands took action praying, processing, singing, and defending the faith despite ridicule and criticism. Why? Because present in our midst was a serious dose of perspective—a spiritual wake-up call.

ET WE FIND IN LITURGICAL MATTERS a great deal of infighting and division. Liturgy is not unimportant as it fosters the universality of truth. The Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal is not a “conservative” idea. (Actually, I think it’s rather “progressive” – as I toss about another ambiguous term.) The liturgy should be universal as the Eucharist is its center, lest we forget. In that light, here are a couple of stories:

Recently I taped a radio interview with Dr. Jennifer Pascual in which we spoke of singing the mass and singing the propers. The seemingly benign use of the description of “young conservative priests” supporting chant was a description I would hope to do without. I would pray that the idea of singing the mass is neither conservative, nor liberal, but universal and prayerful. Dr. Pascual was certainly in agreement. If the liturgical music in question is indeed universal, then it will stand on its own merit.

Another simple anecdote exemplifies the need to unify and work together in the face of a “wake up call.” Back in the 1990’s, while studying organ with James David Christie, I also became hooked on Gregorian Chant. Growing up in the 1970’s I had little exposure or experience in chant. There was no YouTube to listen to chant and no Corpus Christi Watershed in which to download many resources. (I like to scare students in my choirs by telling them that “when I was in college, I had a typewriter.” The horror!)

As such, we were one of the very few local parishes in the 1990’s singing Gregorian chant on a weekly basis outside of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross or St. Paul’s in Cambridge. Yet, as human nature goes, there will always be individuals who may agree with most of what one does, but will complain unceasingly anyway with little constructive criticism to offer. (Msgr. Wadsworth is fond of saying, “Put three experts in Gregorian Chant in a room and you’ll have three different ways of singing it.”) Yet, when traditional sacred music was threatened by inevitable changes in the structure of the diocese, such individuals, now with eyes wide open from a dose of reality have became big supporters. They experienced a wake-up call and realized they were in an oasis in the desert.

INALLY, I HAVE OFTEN FOUND that I can work with people with whom I disagree, yet sometimes can’t accomplish much with individuals with whom I have much in common. Why is this? Usually, those who are self-confident and happy with themselves do not feel threatened. One can accomplish much despite disagreement. Those who feel threatened or insecure, even if there is 95% agreement, are often difficult to work with because of perceived nonexistent threats. Sadly, this is human nature.

Therefore, let us be united in the love of Christ and in the Eucharist. It is easier said than done. Perhaps we should pray and be vigilant for the perspective we need and a wake-up call that may actually be grace from God.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Unity 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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    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.
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    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
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    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!
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It is clear the Church is facing a grave crisis. Under the name of “the new Church” and “the post-conciliar Church,” a different Church from that of Jesus Christ is now trying to establish itself: an anthropocentric society threatened with imminent apostasy which is allowing itself to be swept along in a movement of general abdication under the pretext of renewal, ecumenicism, or adaptation.

— Cardinal Henri de Lubac (29 August 1967)

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