Showdown in Arkansas over “Ad Orientem”

Jeff Ostrowski · July 17, 2016

The Bishop of Little Rock has sent a letter (14 July 2016) forbidding his priests to celebrate Mass “ad orientem.”

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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).

Music List • “Ascension of the Lord”

Readers have expressed interest in examining my “music list” for this coming Sunday.

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—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF Download • “For Pentecost Sunday”

There’s a triple ‘allelúja’ and I just love the chord at the end of the 2nd iteration.

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—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF Download • “Organ Accompaniment”

The following declaration will probably smack of “blowing my own horn.”

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—Jeff Ostrowski

“Thee” + “Thou” + “Thine”

Regarding approval for the “Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition).”

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—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of May (2026)

Since a new month has arrived, it’s my pleasure to remind you that…

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—Jeff Ostrowski

Simplified Version • “Canon in D” (Pachelbel)

I don’t care what people say; I love this piece!

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—Jeff Ostrowski

Had the Church never spoken on this matter, it would still be repugnant to our Catholic people’s sense of what is fit and proper in the holiest of places, that a priest should have to struggle through the prayers of the Holy Mass, because of such tunes as “Alice, where art thou?” the “Vacant Chair,” and others of more vulgar title, which, through the carelessness or bad judgment of organists, sometimes find their way into our choirs.

— Preface to a Roman Catholic Hymnal (1896)

Showdown in Arkansas over “Ad Orientem”

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