Views from the Choir Loft

We Need Assistance! Please Help Watershed Survive!

Jeff Ostrowski · April 5, 2016

HENEVER I HAVE MADE an appeal for funds—which is my responsibility as Watershed President—our readers have responded with great generosity. I recently created a 5-part series [01 02 03 04 05] asking for funds in a “sneaky” way.

Only a handful responded.

So the sneaky way seems to have failed; but I’m torn on this issue. On one hand, we’re doing just fine. We have generous donors who give $5.00 per month, and we pay our bills. On the other hand, there are important projects which we ardently desire to tackle.

Do you feel called by our Savior to assist?

* * CLICK HERE • Donate $5.00 per month

We’re a 100% volunteer organization—so why do we need funding? Because certain items require money, such as improvements to the website. ¹ You’ve probably noticed our website avoids many common pitfalls of Catholic blogs. It loads fast, lacks obnoxious ads, provides quality content, and utilizes graphics properly. This requires tremendous efforts, and the young man running our site (who lives in Mexico) gets paid when the website breaks and needs to be fixed. We also pay young Catholics to do certain tasks, ² such as scanning books—which is what Christian justice demands. We also have many bills you may not expect: web hosting, software, backups, and so forth. Occasionally, we purchase rare books for scanning. PayPal also takes money from us, which is called “the cost of doing business.”

Here’s the bottom line: if anyone wants to become a monthly donor, we need your help. But if God’s plan is for us to stay exactly where we are—even if it means neglecting some important projects and improvements—may His Holy Will be done.

THE FOLLOWING HAS NOTHING to do with our fundraiser—sorry to be random!—but listen to the 38:00 marker:

After those experiences, how cool is it that Dr. Scott Hahn still converted?

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 We’d be happy to use a volunteer webmaster, but such a person must demonstrate knowledge of DJANGO & PYTHON.

2 Watershed has scanned and uploaded something like 200,000 pages of rare books. I’ve done some scanning (as a volunteer) but I cannot do it all myself.

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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

‘Bogey’ of the Half-Educated: Paraphrase

Father Adrian Porter, using the cracher dans la soupe example, did a praiseworthy job explaining the difference between ‘dynamic’ and ‘formal’ translation. This is something Monsignor Ronald Knox explained time and again—yet even now certain parties feign ignorance. I suppose there will always be people who pretend the only ‘valid’ translation of Mitigásti omnem iram tuam; avertísti ab ira indignatiónis tuæ… would be “You mitigated all ire of you; you have averted from your indignation’s ire.” Those who would defend such a translation suffer from an unfortunate malady. One of my professors called it “cognate on the brain.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Father Cuthbert Lattey • “The Hebrew MSS”

Father Cuthbert Lattey (d. 1954) wrote: “In a large number of cases the ancient Christian versions and some other ancient sources seem to have been based upon a better Hebrew text than that adopted by the rabbis for official use and alone suffered to survive. Sometimes, too, the cognate languages suggest a suitable meaning for which there is little or no support in the comparatively small amount of ancient Hebrew that has survived. The evidence of the metre is also at times so clear as of itself to furnish a strong argument; often it is confirmed by some other considerations. […] The Jewish copyists and their directors, however, seem to have lost the tradition of the metre at an early date, and the meticulous care of the rabbis in preserving their own official and traditional text (the ‘massoretic’ text) came too late, when the mischief had already been done.” • Msgr. Knox adds: “It seems the safest principle to follow the Latin—after all, St. Jerome will sometimes have had a better text than the Massoretes—except on the rare occasions when there is no sense to be extracted from the Vulgate at all.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 9 Nov. (Dedic. Lateran)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 9 November 2025, which is the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the sensational feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of November (2025)

On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Gospel Options for 2 November (“All Souls”)

We’ve been told some bishops are suppressing the TLM because of “unity.” But is unity truly found in the MISSALE RECENS? For instance, on All Souls (2 November), any of these Gospel readings may be chosen, for any reason (or for no reason at all). The same is true of the Propria Missæ and other readings—there are countless options in the ORDINARY FORM. In other words, no matter which OF parish you attend on 2 November, you’ll almost certainly hear different propers and readings, to say nothing of different ‘styles’ of music. Where is the “unity” in all this? Indeed, the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared: “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community.”

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Our Father” • Musical Setting?

Looking through a Roman Catholic Hymnal published in 1859 by Father Guido Maria Dreves (d. 1909), I stumbled upon this very beautiful tune (PDF file). I feel it would be absolutely perfect to set the “Our Father” in German to music. Thoughts?

—Jeff Ostrowski