Views from the Choir Loft

Come to Sydney for a Retreat in Silence and Song

Veronica Brandt · December 15, 2016

ANUARY IS THE TIME for the Australian Sacred Music Association’s annual monastic retreat for men. The retreat lasts 5 days (4 nights) from January 2 – 6 and is held at the Benedict XVI Retreat Centre, Grose Vale.

Discover the heart of monastic life. Enter into and participate in a complete monastic Horarium and the Sung Monastic Office – the retreat is guided by the liturgy alone in an atmosphere of silence. Personal spiritual direction will be available each day. Day one will be devoted to workshops and training supplied by the Australian Sacred Music Association (ASMA). Day two the retreat begins at Matins with the Rule of St. Benedict from then being observed.

Fr Glen Tattersall is the chaplain. He is the Parish Priest of the Personal Parish of Bl. John Henry Newman, the Latin Mass community in Melbourne.

Grose Vale is in the North West fringes of Sydney in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. The Benedict XVI Retreat Centre is an amazing construction coming from the archdiocese of Sydney in Cardinal Pell’s care.

For more details download the brochure from the Australian Sacred Music website.

Also in January are two mens retreat run by the Benedictine Monks from St Joseph de Clairval Abbey in Flavigny, France. These are run at Hartzer Park in Bowral, about an hour’s drive south of Sydney.

The dates for 2017 are 16-21 January and 23-28 January.

Again the Traditional Latin Mass is offered daily, but there is less focus on the music and more on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.

Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola from New Ark Films on Vimeo.

These ones tend to fill up, so it’s good to get in early – their December bulletin said there were still some vacancies. They also run some short ladies’ retreats, but they book out even sooner.

The community is moving down to Tasmania. You can find more information including bank details for donations in this article from Sydney’s Catholic Weekly.

If you can’t decide between the Sacred Music retreat in Grose Vale and the Ignatian retreat in Bowral, maybe you could try both?

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

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

PDF • Our Lady of Guadalupe (12 Dec.)

The Responsorial Psalm may be downloaded as a PDF file (organist & vocalist) for 12 December, which is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. When it comes to the formulary for this Mass, it’s astounding how infrequently it’s included in official books. Prior to Vatican II, one had to search through “supplemental material” printed in the back of hand-missals and graduals. But since 1970, the feast is virtually nonexistent. According to the UNIVERSAL KALENDAR, 12 December is the “Feast of Saint Jane Frances De Chantal, Religious” (Die 12 decembris: S. Ioannæ Franciscæ de Chantal, religiosæ). Why should that feast overpower Our Lady of Guadalupe? In the United States, OLG is celebrated—and I’d assume in Mexico, Central America, South America, and Canada—but, as I said, the Propria Missae are virtually impossible to locate. I possess only three books which mention this feast.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Simplified Accompaniment (Advent Hymn)

Many organists are forced to simultaneously serve as both CANTOR and ACCOMPANIST. In spite of what some claim, this can be difficult. I invite you to download this simplified organ accompaniment (PDF) which in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal is hymn #661: “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” (for ADVENT). I’m toying with the idea of creating a whole bunch of these, to help amateur organists. The last one I uploaded was downloaded more than 2,900 times in a matter of hours—so there appears to be interest.

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “Music List” (Immaculate Concep.)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 8 December 2025, the feast of OUR LADY’S IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The fauxbourdon setting of the COMMUNION is exquisite. In Latin, the title of this feast is: In Conceptione Immaculata Beatae Mariae Virginis. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are available at the feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Leo XIV on Sacred Music

On 5 December 2025, Pope Leo XIV made this declaration with regard to liturgical music.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Translations Approved for Liturgical Use”

According to the newsletter for USSCB’s Committee on Divine Worship dated September 1996, there are three (3) translations of the Bible which can be used in the sacred liturgy in the United States. You can read this information with your own eyes. It seems the USCCB and also Rome fully approved the so-called NRSV (“New Revised Standard Version”) on 13 November 1991 and 6 April 1992 but this permission was then withdrawn in 1994.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

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