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Views from the Choir Loft

A Paragraph that Caught Attention

Andrew Leung · August 26, 2015

CTL Fr David Carter 2 AST WEEK, I posted a report on the Summer Sacred Music Workshop in Jasper, Georgia. At the workshop, Fr. David Carter, JCL, presented his paper as the keynote. Fr. Carter is the Pastor and Rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has been singing in choirs since his youth. While he was at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, he studied Sacred Music with Fr. Pierre Paul, OMV, choirmaster of Capella Giulia at St. Peter’s Basilica and Fr. Cassian Folsom, OSB, from the Monastery in Norcia. His talk was entitled: Re-discovery of the Church’s Sacred Tradition: II Kings 22. Here is a paragraph, on his discovery of the Church’s traditions, from his speech:

At first I felt betrayed by all this—why had they kept this such a big secret? Why did they hide this from me? When I expressed my amazement at the riches I was finding in these books and rubrics, I encountered people who were viscerally angry! Angry that I had found joy in our own tradition. Angry that I was ‘undoing Vatican II’; angry that I wasn’t buying what they had spent so much time and effort building.

Didn’t I know how bad the old days were? “No, I don’t. I’m only 35—Marty Haugen and Dan Schutte are the ‘bad old days’ for me! Now I get to sing awesome things like Ambrosian Hymns composed in the 4th century and Kyrie’s that are even more ancient. I get to sing Pange, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium, and Adoro te devote, latens Deitas.”

It still boggles my mind that this was not taught to us as some of the greatest things we would every be able to utter on our lips! And yet here we are. With my own two eyes I have read what the Church asks of us and it is nothing short of truth, beauty, and goodness. How could the Church ask for less? What so many had relegated to the waste bin, I have come to see as some of the greatest treasures the world knows…

Fr. Carter spoke on the mystery in liturgy, the joy of tradition, and his experiences in parishes. He also offered practical wisdom for those who wishes to provide authentically sacred music for the liturgy.The PDF file of his whole paper is available for download:

    * *  PDF • RE-DISCOVERY OF THE CHURCH’S SACRED TRADITION: II KINGS 22

HIS WORKSHOP is just the beginning. More workshops are being prepared for musicians in the South. The St. Ambrose School of Chant on the campus of Our Lady of the Mountains, Jasper, GA, will present a workshop for all those interested in learning the music that is an essential part of the Catholic Funeral Rites on Saturday, October 3rd. The Requiem Chants are some of the most beautiful and profound texts of the Gregorian repertoire and sadly they often go unheard. I will share more about this workshop when more information is released.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Andrew Leung

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

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
29 March 2021 • Condemned?

On Palm Sunday, the Passion was read. Immediately after mention is made of the betrayal by Judas, the Holy Eucharist is introduced. Is this not a condemnation of “Christians” who deny the Church teaching on the SANCTISSIMUM? Here is Matthew 26: And Judas that betrayed him, answering, said: “Is it I, Rabbi?” He saith to him: “Thou hast said it.” And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West.”

— Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

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