Church Madness 2016

Andrew Leung · April 13, 2016 ·

AM NOT SURE if many of you are aware of this: there is an online competition going on right now! Church Madness 2016—a contest which allows everyone to vote and select the most beautiful Catholic church in the country—is entering its final week.

The competition started back in March with sixty-four nominated churches around the country. It is now down to four churches called the “Ferial Four.” There will be two churches left after tomorrow, so put down your vote now! You can also check the result of the previous match-ups on the same website (Most of the nominations are great! But be warned; there are some really bad ones, especially from the west coast.)

The four churches that entered the semi-finals are: St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC, Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville and the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City.

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. He is also an artist and vocal coach at the Paul Phoenix Academy.

A quote from Fr. Valentine

Speaking of “nihil solliciti estis,” Fr. Valentine recently said: “I’ll bet that most people, including myself, have suffered more from things that never happened than from things that actually did happen.” Wise words!

—Jeff Ostrowski

Circle is complete

This is interesting! We have made it all the way around the liturgical year for Vespers organ accompaniments—which means all we have to do now is fill in the “holes,” such as Candlemas.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Fr. Valentine is very sick

I beg you to pray for Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, who I am told is dying (or may possibly have died already). He’s one of the most faithful & generous priests I know. There would be no CCWatershed without Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Discussion on Facebook

“The following few hints on the selection of voices may be useful: (1) Reject all boys who speak roughly, or sing coarsely; (2) Choose bright, intelligent-looking boys, provided they have a good ear; they will much more readily respond to the choirmaster’s efforts than boys who possess a voice and nothing more; therefore, (3) Reject dull, sulky, or scatter-brained boys, since it is hard to say which of the three has the most demoralizing effect on his more willing companions.”

— Sir Richard Runciman Terry (1912)