• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

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

  • Our Team
  • Catholic Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

An Overview of the Music Program at Our Lady of the Atonement Church & Academy (Part 1)

Guest Author · May 19, 2014

HAT I SAW AND HEARD at Our Lady of the Atonement during my all-too-brief visit went far beyond what I had gleaned about the place from other sources. Fr Christopher Phillips has helped to build a tremendous team who have created an atmosphere where the very air you breathe is Catholic! The care for the sacred liturgy and discipleship formation, the school, the music: I recommend to every priest, school principal and church musician that they make a long visit and learn from what they have accomplished there in such a short time. May their tribe increase: floreat atque vivat!
— Rev. Fr. Christopher Smith


502 Atonement ANY READERS will be familiar with Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas. As the founding parish for the Anglican Use Liturgy within the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, it was established as a Personal Parish under the terms of the Pastoral Provision promulgated by St. John Paul II (1980). It was canonically erected on August 15, 1983, the same date on which the founding pastor, Rev. Christopher G. Phillips, a former Episcopalian priest, was ordained to the Presbyterate. The title “Our Lady of the Atonement” originated in the Episcopal Church in the 19th century, and was brought into the Catholic Church by the Graymoor Friars and Sisters of the Atonement in 1909. It is the only parish in the United States under the patronage of this particular title of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

501 Atonement From its very modest beginnings — eighteen members in all including Fr. Phillips, his wife and their five children — the parish has grown to over six hundred households. Throughout its history, the parish has never lost sight of one of its most important founding principles: the preservation, nurture, and sharing of the Anglican patrimony. One of the most tangible elements of this patrimony is the reverence of the liturgies, as celebrated according to the Book of Divine Worship, as well as its extraordinary sacred music program. Since 2004, the music program of the church and school has been under the leadership of Edmund and Chalon Murray, a husband and wife team who left thriving music programs in Boston — Edmund at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, and Chalon at a large parish metrowest of Boston — to make a leap of faith and move their family to San Antonio. Together, with the support of the pastor, they have built a program of exceptional breadth and quality.

      * *  Young Ladies of Atonement — Live Excerpt from School Mass (Audio Recording)


The Atonement Academy

500 Atonem A significant element in the growth of the parish has been the development of the parish school. In 1993, just after the tenth anniversary of the canonical erection of the parish, permission was sought to establish a parish school. When permission was granted by the archbishop, the members of the parish were able to accumulate sufficient funds in just six weeks which would allow the building project to proceed. On August 15, 1994, The Atonement Academy opened its doors with an enrollment of sixty-six (66) students in grades Kindergarten through Third. Additional grades were added each year. The upper school opened in 2004 and today the Academy has over five hundred fifty (550) students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth. The Academy’s mission statement compels students “to strive for excellence in the physical, the intellectual, and the spiritual virtues through a challenging course of classical and Catholic education.”


499 Comm Music Curriculum

Since the very beginning, music has been an integral part of the curriculum. Part of Fr. Phillips’ vision in founding the school was to make the study of music available to every student and to become, in essence, though not in name, a choir school. However, unlike most choir school the students are not auditioned. Each student who attends The Atonement Academy receives choral music instruction four or five days per week for a total of approximately three hours per week. The curriculum includes age appropriate training in music theory, ear training, sight-singing and repertoire development. Elements from various music education methods are employed including Ward, Kodaly and Royal School of Church Music. The repertoire is founded on the English choral tradition, and draws from the best Catholic and Anglican sources. The Murrays are assisted by three additional faculty members: Miss Laura Johnson, Mr. Gary Marks and Mrs. Amy Zuberbueler, Director of the Ward Center of San Antonio.


Daily Mass

498 Communion Holy One of the most unique aspects to the education of students at The Atonement Academy is attendance at daily Mass. Each day the entire student body participates in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. On Monday through Thursday, the Mass is celebrated according to the Book of Divine Worship. On Fridays the Mass is celebrated in Latin according to the Ordinary Form. Each day, the music is provided by one of the school choirs which leads the singing of the hymn and the Ordinary of the Mass, and also sings an anthem or motet appropriate to the day or season. In addition, a schola of high school men sings a Communion antiphon taken from the Graduale Romanum, Graduale Simplex or one of the many collections of English propers. On feast days and solemnities the schola sings the complete Propers.


We hope you enjoyed this guest series by Mæstro Edmund Murray.


Atonement (Part 1)   •   Atonement (Part 2)

493 Gallery 489 Gallery 490 Gallery 491 Gallery 492 Gallery 494 Gallery 495 Atonement 496 Atonement 497 Atone
Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Graduale Romanum Roman Gradual Propers, Our Lady Of The Atonement Academy Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Here’s an audio excerpt (33 seconds) of a setting for Kyrie VIII which was recorded live last Sunday at our parish in Los Angeles. The setting (“Missa de Angelis”) is by composer Richard Rice, and you can download the free PDF if you click here and scroll to the bottom. I think Richard’s composition is marvelous. I missed a few notes on the organ, but I’ll get them right next time.

—Jeff Ostrowski
5 April 2021 • When Girls Sing

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

There is a lack of that kind of organization which favors mature judgment. Move on, move on, get it out. Schemata are multiplied without ever arriving at a considered form. The system of discussion is bad … Often the schemata arrive just before the discussions. Sometimes, and in important matters, such as the new anaphoras, the schema was distributed the evening before the discussion was to take place … Father Bugnini has only one interest: press ahead and finish.

— Cardinal Antonelli (Peritus during the Second Vatican Council)

Recent Posts

  • Not. Just. Catholics.
  • Did Solesmes Abbey Drink The 1960s Kool-Aid?
  • Fr. Thomas Reese • “Young People Should Not Be Allowed To Attend” Latin Mass
  • 10 Examples • “Diversity of Musical Styles” (Latin Mass)
  • Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Copyright © 2021 Corpus Christi Watershed · Charles Garnier on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.