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Views from the Choir Loft

Benedictines in Tasmania a Year Already

Veronica Brandt · May 19, 2018

Fr Pius and confreres FIRST MET FR PIUS MARY NOONAN when my mother talked me into a retreat at Hartzer Park. It was in a rare year when I didn’t have a baby needing me around the clock and it had been years since I had last made a retreat. I’m glad I did.

The two priests had come from France to Australia conducting retreats about every two years. At first they just gave week long men’s retreats, but they bowed to pressure and introduced shorter retreats for ladies. These were silent retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, with a Benedictine flavor. They were very popular and often booked out early.

Fr Pius has a surprising American accent and hails from Kentucky, though it’s hard to imagine him as anything but a Benedictine monk. He has a fire for God – indeed he publishes a monthly spiritual newsletter entitled “Afire” which begins with:


†
JESUS MARIA JOSEPH
I am come to cast fire on the earth,
and what will I, but that it be kindled?
Lk 12:49

And the fire is spreading! The demand for retreats developed into demand for pursuing religious vocations and Archbishop Porteous invited the order to Tasmania where they have received new postulants and continued to grow despite living in fairly temporary accommodation.

Their webpage has much more information including past newsletters. Recently they have found a fantastic property which seems like the answer to their prayers and need to raise $3.2 million quickly. More information Notre Dame Priory, Tasmania.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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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).

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Quick Thoughts

23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK

From a reader: “I wasn’t looking for it. But, I stumbled across your hand-dandy arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon. Jeff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I had to play a wedding on Saturday. The bride requested the Canon. There were 11 bridesmaids! The organ loft is a football field away from the communion rail. It’s so difficult to play and keep checking the mirror. Your arrangement is absolutely genius. One can skip and choose which variations to use. The chord names are handy so that when my eyes are off the music, I always know where I am at. A thousand times thank you for sharing this arrangement!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Church officials frequently asked Tomás Luis de Victoria for his opinion on cathedral appointments because of his fame and knowledge. He was faithful to his position as convent organist even after his professional debut as an organist, and never accepted any extra pay for being a chapelmaster. Held in great esteem, his contract allowed him frequent travel away from the convent, and he attended Palestrina’s funeral (in Rome) in 1594.”

— ‘Dr. Robert Stevenson, 1961 (mod.)’

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