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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Homeschooling (And Sacred Music) Snuck Up On Us

Veronica Moreno · June 14, 2019

84119 Homeschooling Catholic OMESCHOOLING kind of snuck up on us. When our oldest daughter approached school-age I thought, “How can I send her away to school so soon? She’s only five!”

To be honest, the seeds of our decision to homeschool were planted long before this moment, but here I had to face a choice: who was going to spend every day raising my daughter, helping her to be a saint? It had to be me. I was going to be the one to expose her to the good, the true, and the beautiful.

And so here I am, Veronica Moreno, mother of five, former special education teacher, wife, and cantor at the local parish. I’m not the most pedagogically-savvy, nor the most talented musician, but I currently live where education and music meet, and so I wanted to share some thoughts about that.

84116 homeschool BEFORE STUDYING ACADEMICS, but after teaching the Faith, I wanted my children to meet the sacred in all of the arts. For this reason, we listen to and recite Dickinson’s poetry, we have artist studies where we observe and live with Vermeer’s paintings, we have composer studies where our ears drink up Mozart’s sonatas, and we have a piano teacher who visits our two oldest once a week. But there is something different about sacred art.

Especially sacred music. Most astoundingly, when the music is for the Sacrifice of the Mass.

So, in preparing for this past year’s hymn-chant study, the materials provided by CCWatershed have been invaluable. As a busy homeschooling mom, having an easy-to-print pdf document of various ancient hymns and chants (especially those in neumes) has made my school planning easier. Additionally, there’s often recorded music to download or stream!

I am not the best sight reader, so instead of sitting at the piano plunking out the notes, these recordings help me and my children learn the hymn/chant much quicker.

At the start of this year, we learned “Ave Maris Stella.”

84177 ave maris stella
The chant might be easy to find, but where else can you versions like what CCWatershed provides? That may be four versions of ancient manuscripts; an accompaniment for keyboard; a 16th century part book corresponding to the setting by Victoria (a Spanish priest), a modern version; to say nothing of the practice videos they created for the Victoria Mass based on “Ave Maris Stella” such as this one.

My own children get to experience the rich tradition of our Church; they encounter the sacred. In turn, as a cantor I am also able to take these hymns and ancient chants to sing where they were meant to be sung: at the Holy Mass. In this way, we keep the faith alive at the kitchen table and at the altar.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: May 14, 2021

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About Veronica Moreno

Veronica Moreno is married to a teacher and homeschools five children. She has been cantor at her local Catholic parish for over a decade.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

The Princess of the Palatinate once described German Protestantism to Louis XIV with this formula: “In our country, everyone makes up his own little religion.” Every priest, or almost every priest, is at this point today. All the faithful have to say is “Amen.” They are still blessed when the pastor’s religion does not change every Sunday, at the whim of his reading, the foolery he has seen others at, or at his own pure fancy.

— Professor Louis Bouyer (1968)

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