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Views from the Choir Loft

Breaking News! Pope Francis Refuses To Adopt “Narrative” Of Progressive Liturgists

Jeff Ostrowski · August 18, 2014

945 Pope Francis VER SINCE HIS ELECTION, irresponsible and sensationalistic journalists have created a particular “narrative” for Pope Francis. (The irony, of course, is that if they’d simply stuck with the facts about the man, they’d be amazed & inspired.) What I especially hate is when they slobber over Pope Francis, yet ignore his message, in which he glorifies Jesus Christ … not himself.

The distortions about Francis might have been created with malicious intent, but more likely result from ignorance, laziness, and (most importantly) greed. After all, it’s difficult to sell newspapers and magazines without giving stories an “angle,” and journalists don’t seem to care how genuine their angle is.

A number of picco-liturgists have subscribed to this fictitious narrative, and wake up every morning hoping Pope Francis will insert “progressive” elements to the Roman Missal. From the beginning, some have pointed out how improbable such a development would be, but the “progressive” liturgists refuse to give up hope.

At this point, it seems they’re grasping at straws.

I recently came across an article in The Tablet dealing with the recent document by the CDW on the Sign of Peace, which (though helpful and welcome) is fairly inconsequential, containing absolutely nothing new or surprising. The Tablet article could best be described as “ill-informed gossip” by a totally unqualified author with too much time on his hands; yet one can easily find hundreds more just like it!

I’ve attempted to write a parody, but I fear it’s so similar to what passes for journalism these days, it hardly qualifies as satire:

TEINWAY HAS RECENTLY BEGUN constructing pianos with a slightly different alloy than they had used before. Some say this new alloy might be cheaper than the old one (but this hasn’t been confirmed yet). If so, the Steinway corporation might have more money to spend on helping the poor, and this would obviously be a response to the pope’s initiatives. After all, Pope Francis is the first church leader ever to encourage helping those in need. Indeed, this new alloy epitomises Pope Francis’ approach to life, the Church, and the sacraments, and suggests that Pope Francis will soon make vast changes in the Church, such as allowing women’s ordination and eliminating all dogmas.

As I mentioned already, it’s highly unlikely Pope Francis will make sweeping changes to the liturgy. In spite of what some have claimed, 1 Pope Francis is not as interested in the liturgy as B16 was.

I have a secret … but please don’t tell the “progressive” liturgists. If they want to learn about a pope who made sweeping changes to the liturgy, they should study Pope Paul VI. They would be amazed at the great number of changes he made. (In fact, he left very few items untouched.) Again, please don’t tell them, because it’s quite amusing to watch them go crazy every time Francis does something, assuring us that his “secret fingerprints” are on such-and-such, and he’s secretly intending to do such-and-such, and he’s poised to make massive changes, ETC.

I HAVE TO ADMIT, there was a good deal of ignorant sensationalism about Benedict XVI, as well. People who knew absolutely nothing about how the Church operates would notice B16 wearing some vestment (which popes have worn for centuries) and declare that “big changes” are coming to the Church. Yet, when I’d walk into a local Church, nothing had changed. For example, we still had disrespectful musical styles with horrible lyrics, like a Communion meditation I heard recently at Mass:

We are the Church, we are the chosen.
We are the poor, we’ll suffer no more.
We are the victors, we’re here and we’ll triumph.
We’ll come to the light, we’ll be there with might,
and accept our cup of blessing.

(Those are the actual lyrics of the song.)

But all this has been taken to another level with the “Francis Myths.” How can people take this stuff seriously? Maybe Fulton Sheen was right. “The problem is not that modern people believe too little; the problem is, they’ll believe anything.”

By the way, if you haven’t read Fr. Friel’s article about Benedict XVI and Francis, please do so.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Fr. Anthony Ruff, who frequently presents at “progressive” gatherings like Call to Action, asserted in 2013 that Pope Francis is “more interested in liturgy” than Pope Benedict XVI.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Pope Francis 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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    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
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    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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“In my capacity as the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, I continue to remind all that the celebration toward the East (versus orientem) is authorized by the rubrics of the missal, which specify the moments when the celebrant must turn toward the people. A particular authorization is, therefore, not needed to celebrate Mass facing the Lord.”

— ‘Robert Cardinal Sarah, 23 May 2016’

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