• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

We’re a 501(c)3 public charity established in 2006. We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and run no advertisements. We exist solely by the generosity of small donors.

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

A Church Music Issue Nobody Will Touch

Jeff Ostrowski · March 21, 2016

650 Footwashing OR A THOUSAND excellent reasons, we never delve into politics on this blog. The issue of abortion, however, is different because it’s a human rights issue, not a political one. On 7 March 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders was asked if abortion at any stage during pregnancy—even the moment of birth—should be prohibited. Sanders replied that an unborn child is part of a woman’s anatomy, and women can do as they please with their bodies. The moderator then continued to another subject.

In my view, more questions should have been asked, such as:

(1) You’ve said that children in the third trimester—even though they possess their own DNA and can live independently of the mother—are “part of the woman’s body.” At what specific point do these unborn children become human? Are they still part of the mother’s body when partially delivered?

(2) Based on your answer, is it correct to say that you believe the rights of innocent (unborn) boys and girls can be ignored once another human being decides to end their life?

(3) You say an unborn child has no rights, but others disagree with you and believe every human life matters. They feel the government should protect ALL innocent humans from violence, even those not strong enough to defend themselves. How would you feel if things were reversed, and your views were discounted?

As far as I know, Senator Sanders has never had to answer questions like these. The subject of “questions never asked” always calls to mind a certain liturgical abuse…

MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about Cardinal Sarah’s recent “foot washing” documents. Yet, this tiny (optional) ceremony is insignificant compared to another liturgical issue, about which questions are never asked. I speak of an abuse that touches every single Ordinary Form Mass in the United States. Specifically, on 12 November 2012 the Bishops’ Liturgy Committee said that certain sections of the GIRM can be ignored. 1 But if that’s true, what other sections of the GIRM can be ignored? And what was so unacceptable about the Propers, which are ancient antiphons from Sacred Scripture? Was not the whole point of the liturgical movement to help people “sing the Mass” instead of singing during Mass?

We can ask these questions all day, but they’ll never be answered. That is why we have a situation where 99% of parishes replace the Propers with texts lacking the approval required by the GIRM. I’m at a loss to know why journals, blogs, and institutions claiming to care deeply about the liturgy refuse to address this so-called “tacit” approval. A more accurate description would be “imaginary” approval. 2



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The GIRM requires that substitute texts must first be approved by the local bishop.

2   The Bishops’ Liturgy Committee has also made additions & modifications to the GIRM. For example, they claim that whenever a bishop approves a song for his diocese, that permission automatically extends to every other diocese in the USA; whereas the GIRM says a bishop’s approval only holds good inside his diocese. If only the FSSP had known how to bend the rules! During the 1990s, our priests visited each bishop, asking permission to start an Apostolate. Imagine if the FSSP had simply said, “The bishop of Kansas City has approved us, so his permission automatically extends to every other diocese in the United States.”

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Hymns Replacing Propers Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “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
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —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

Random Quote

“Abbat Pothier’s great accomplishment is having returned to the Catholic world—along with the traditional melody—the traditional way of performing it. The foundations laid by this providential man have been accepted by all those who practice Gregorian chant.”

— Dr. Peter Wagner (Commissionis Pontificiæ Gregorianæ Membrum)

Recent Posts

  • “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
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up