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Views from the Choir Loft

Facebook, Scammers, and the Economy of Words

Aurelio Porfiri · July 28, 2014

218 Francis VERY TWO OR THREE DAYS I receive a Facebook message from different (good looking) girls using these lines: “Do you want to know more about me? Please write me at my personal e-mail.” I would like to take this occasion to answer all of them, even if I am a little doubtful that they are reading these articles.

No, dear girls, I do not want to know more about you, but maybe it would be good for you to know something more about me. If you know more about me you will realize that a person like me does not believe you can know someone using words, words and more words (and in your case, I suppose… scams), rather, you should enter into contact with another through deep emotional communication. I want to call this testimony.

Now, I digress to arrive to another point: today we have an inflation of words everywhere. Some people think they can convince us only with the sound of their voices. Of course this is true up to a point: rhetoric is serious matter and works well in our daily life. But when we come to Mass we should allow rhetoric to give space to spiritual involvement. So, indeed, the verbal excesses should be considered against the very purpose of the Mass: giving space to the Presence, that is shown to us through an apparent absence (at least in a physical sense).

I do not want to touch too much on the issue of the homily, but I should say something about that: some priests think that the Mass is the background that gives space to their rhetorical skills. Hey, wait! Rhetoric can be useful for the time of the homily (no more than 7 minutes would be perfect) but if the Mass becomes the excuse to contain the speech of the priest it means we are missing a point. Indeed we need testimonies, priests that show with their example, more than with their words, what it is to be a follower of Christ. Saint Francis is often credited for saying: preach with every means, if necessary with words. What is meant by this is that we should preach with our life more than with thousands of words.

There is also the danger of priests that adopt the homily with extensions. Those priests, besides the half hour of the homily in the canonical place, benefit us also with introductions to every other part of the Mass. But shouldn’t the Mass shine for noble simplicity according to Vatican II? And if you explain every part of it every Sunday it means that it is not so simple (and for sure not so noble either). There is a joke about the homily that would not be out of place here after the way I started this article, it says that the homily should be like a miniskirt: short, adhering to reality and giving a glimpse to the mystery. So girls, even pretending you are not scammers, you will never conquer my heart even with a very long e-mail. And to our dear priests, please stop submerging us in the ocean of your words, and make space for the only Word that is really worth listening to.


BOTTEGA • Aurelio Porfiri is where you can discover
many of Mæstro Porfiri’s compositions in PDF format.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: St Francis of Assisi Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Aurelio Porfiri

Renowned as composer, conductor, theorist, author, pedagogue, and organist, Aurelio Porfiri has served the Church on multiple continents at the highest levels. Born and raised in Italy, he currently serves as Director of Choral Activities and Composer in Residence for Santa Rosa de Lima School (Macao, China).

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President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

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“In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man’s mind to God and to higher things.”

— Vatican II Council

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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