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Views from the Choir Loft

Minimal Standards at Weddings and Funerals

Richard J. Clark · February 12, 2016

NEVER THOUGHT I would be advocating for minimal standards. It’s a sad moment. The highest standards should always be our aspiration and goal. God deserves our best. The people deserve better and are being served poorly on many fronts.

I cannot blame a wedding couple or a grieving family for being incredulous that I cannot include a pop song or Broadway melody. Why? Because their experience in the Roman Catholic Church tells them otherwise.

“But I’ve been to many weddings that had this song…” Or, “Father said it was ok…” etc., etc. We all have experience with such unfortunate stories and there is no need to rehash them.

But the appalling story is that the couple or the family has been victimized by horrifically low standards. They have lived a lifetime of exposure to mediocrity, ignorance, and defiance. Worse, they are done a great disservice because it is easier to capitulate than to educate. Catechesis takes great effort because it must be done with charity, love, and with finesse—especially for weddings and funerals which are so deeply personal experiences. Many of us have been on both sides of this experience and must be mindful of perspective.

That sacred music is a minimal standard for all liturgies would be an upgrade for a great many weddings and funerals. This is scandalous. That we find this impossible, that we fear doing so is equally scandalous.

I fear the spirit of another generation will atrophy in the blight of mediocrity. I won’t let that happen on my watch, and I know many of you won’t either. We are called to serve one another and God. We are called to implement the highest of standards with the resources at our disposal. Moreover, we are called to catechize though our actions, catechize by the way we live our lives, and catechize through sacred music.

I WORK IN A PARISH. This is a live recording of the Fauré Requiem with chamber orchestra by the choir of St. Cecilia Parish in Boston, a group of wonderful people that I am privileged to direct every week. They are almost entirely volunteer and mostly young people.

There are far better recordings of the Fauré Requiem by extraordinary conductors, choirs, and soloists. But I share with you here what can be accomplished in a parish (and there’s much more work to do!) Furthermore, this is a recording of people of faith who believe the words they sing. More important than any grandeur of the orchestra and organ is the simple reverence with which they sing. I hope this offering is a prayerful experience.

Soli Deo gloria.

Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 Gabriel Fauré
St. Cecilia Choir & Chamber Orchestra | Richard J. Clark, Director
Allesandra Cionco, soprano
Marc DeMille, baritone
Timothy E. Smith Organ
Tara Novak, violin

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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Richard J. Clark

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski
2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski
31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Pope Gelasius in his 9th Letter to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: “Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.” We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution “Etsi Pastoralis” (§6, #21)

— Pope Benedict XIV • Encyclical “Allatae Sunt” (26 July 1755)

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