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

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Vocation Directors Immersed in Chant—Immersed in Prayer

Richard J. Clark · October 7, 2016

HIS ISN’T ABOUT chant. This isn’t about a style of music. This is about scripture. This is about prayer. This is about vocations.

The National Conference of Diocesan Vocations Directors (NCDVD) recently held its fifty-third annual convention in Boston. A gathering of approximately three hundred priests, nuns, and laity, its daily schedule was appropriately anchored in prayer: Lauds, Vespers, and Mass. This is no small matter. All service to God is best supported and sustained by prayer—hence the great importance of preparing beautiful liturgies.

Notable in all the liturgies was the predominance of Gregorian Chant in Latin as well as new settings in English of the Entrance and Communion Chants. For a national event, one would surmise that few experience liturgies like these on a regular basis. However, from the incredibly robust singing, who would not know it? Whether in English or Latin, modern or Gregorian notation, it mattered not. Credo III in Latin and Gregorian notation? Not a problem. Nor was anything else.

Again, this is not about chant or a style of music. Roman Catholic sacred music is rooted entirely in scripture. This is most obvious in the Liturgy of the Hours. Using Fr. Samuel Weber’s settings, any novice to chant could pray the scriptures. While some hymns were sung at Mass, they were secondary to singing the Mass.

It was decided to use contemporary settings of the Entrance and Communion chants in English as a bridge and an element of catechesis. Sung were settings by Christoph Tietze and Adam Bartlett, plus some settings of my own for the optional memorials.

Here is a sample from one liturgy: (Forgive the recording with an iPhone near the organ.) Note the singing grows dramatically with each repetition of the antiphon:

      * *  Mp3 Download • Adam Bartlett’s Entrance Antiphon • 27th Sunday (Lumen Christi Missal)

Instead of an organ prelude, we sang the corresponding Introit from the Graduale Romanum as a matter of connecting the contemporary settings with our ancient roots.

ITURGIES IN HOTELS are always a challenge. But the primacy of chant created a prayerful and reverent environment in a challenging space. Whether this was everyone’s favorite music or not was not the point. I’m sure for many it was not. Most conferences attempt to please the diversity of people present—a difficult to impossible task. But here, the simplicity of the music leant to its prayerfulness.

But this week in Boston, praying for the success of vocation directors was paramount. Everyone recognizes the urgency we face across the country with regard to vocations.

Once again, none of this is about chant. Preached from the sanctuary multiple times was this reminder: success for vocation directors is not simply about numbers. It is about quality. For only Jesus can call men and women to religious life. Success is in how well we respond to God’s call, and how well we assist those in their formation.

OU MAY BE SURPRISED to see that actor and Boston native, Mark Wahlberg created a video to welcome those in attendance at the conference. His reflections on the sacraments and the importance of good priests in his life are beyond beautiful. You can read about it and watch the video here in The Pilot.

Such events take an enormous amount of teamwork and support. Fr. Jason Jalbert, Bishop’s Priest Secretary Office of Vocations/Sacred Worship in the Diocese of Manchester put in untold hours to make the liturgies beautiful and sacred. Organ builder Richard Pelland graciously donated the use of a Makin Thirlemere digital organ, which was key to the success of the liturgies, keeping three hundred voices in a very dry space together. Enormous thanks is due to cantor Marc DeMille who sings the scriptures so prayerfully. In addition, organist Ryan Lynch was of great assistance. Dr. Janet Hunt directed the seminarians of St. John’s Seminary in Boston in a special Mass with Cardinal O’Malley.

I am personally very grateful to have had the honor of praying with so many this week. it transformed me. My hope is that this past week’s conference and prayer will transform countless lives in ways we may never know.

Soli Deo gloria

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

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

* indicates required

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).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
    “Jeff, I wanted to personally thank you for your spiritual witness at the Symposium & often blogs that you write too. Praying that prayer in the mornings My God, my Father and my all (by Cardinal Merry Del Val), mentioning saints’ stories of Brébeuf, Jogues, John Vianney, monks who fought in WWII, their hard work in spite of terrible conditions, their relentless zeal for the faith, their genuine love for the laypeople they served, etc. Overall though—more than anything concrete I can point to that you did or said—it was your demeanor at the Symposium. I could tell you really absolutely love and believe the Catholic Faith. You don’t get that everywhere, even in Church circles. And your humility is what then makes that shine even brighter. It is super inspiring! God is working through you probably way more than you know.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
    Those who head over to the Symposium Website will notice the tentative schedule for 2023 has been released. This is all very exciting! Very soon, we will begin accepting applications, so please make sure you have subscribed to our mailing list. If you are subscribed, that means you'll hear announcements before anyone else. (It’s incredibly easy to subscribe to our mailing list; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.)
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
    The editor of the Sacred Music Magazine recently made available to the public this splendid article by our own Charles Weaver. It includes an edition of polyphony for the GOOD FRIDAY “Reproaches.” Renaissance composers often set the various offices of Holy Week; e.g. readers will probably be familiar with the beautiful TENEBRAE setting by Father Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611). From what I can tell, Ludwig Senfl (d. 1543) was originally a Catholic priest, but eventually was seduced by Luther and ended up abandoning the sacred priesthood.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”

— ‘His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI (11 May 2005)’

Recent Posts

  • 26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
  • Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
  • What is the Tonic Accent?
  • Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
  • PDF Download • 1909 “Modern Notation” Gradual (Extremely Rare) — 712 Pages

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 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.