Views from the Choir Loft

Letter To The FSSP Choir In Los Angeles

Jeff Ostrowski · January 9, 2016

OW MANY OF YOU have gone door to door trying to convince strangers to vote for a political candidate? For that matter, how many of you have spent time trying to convince a friend or family member to vote for a political candidate? I suspect very few—and even when this is done, the results are usually disappointing, right?

Now consider our Catholic faith. How many of us go door to door to evangelize? How many of us ardently strive to convert our friends and family? I suspect not many—and we are quick to make excuses for our behavior. Certainly not everyone is called to every type of evangelization. And it’s true that few people convert to the Catholic faith because of arguments: most convert because of someone’s example.

However…

Did you know there’s something you can do to help spread the Kingdom of God that isn’t quite as scary? When you show up to choir on time, dressed nicely, with music prepared, and a happy attitude, you’re doing something important for the Lord.

CONSIDER : Suppose a nice family attends our Mass, looking for a welcoming, serious, prayerful, vibrant parish. When they see a professional, respectful, and well-prepared choir, they will know our parish is a good fit. Because we take our job seriously, their worship will be enhanced.

So please keep up the great work! When times get tough, please remember that your job is very important!

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

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).

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski