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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

Wilbur Wright and the McCarrick Report

Fr. David Friel · November 15, 2020

AST MONTH, I read David McCullough’s fascinating historical book, The Wright Brothers. 1 (Actually, I listened to the CD audio version, read by McCullough, himself.) I have always loved flying and airplanes, and I thought I knew a lot about Wilbur and Orville Wright. This engaging account, however, taught me all kinds of new things about them, their family, and their engineering feat. I was particularly interested to learn more about the Wright family. One of the other children, for example, a sister name Katharine, played quite a significant role in the success of Wilbur and Orville.

The father of the family was Bishop Milton Wright, who was a prominent leader in the United Brethren Church until 1899, when an institutional struggle over the acceptance or rejection of Freemasonry led Bishop Wright to establish a new church, known as the “Old Constitution Church.”

Bishop Wright delivering an invocation at his sons’ 1909 homecoming celebration

In 1901, Bishop Wright discovered that a clergyman in his new church was using church money illicitly to pay his own personal expenses, amounting to some $7,000. The suspected offender was Rev. Millard Keiter. Bishop Wright enlisted the help of his son, Wilbur, to perform another audit of the finances. Wilbur concluded that Keiter had, indeed, mishandled the finances, using church money to pay his insurance premiums, buy clothes, and build a home. Bishop Wright and his son, Wilbur, had a hard time convincing the church’s board of trustees that their charges against Keiter were valid. The discrepancies were chalked up to mere carelessness, not dishonest dealings.

Wilbur was steadfast in encouraging his father to expose the criminal activity of Keiter. For the good of the church, itself, Wilbur felt that it was necessary to let the truth be known. In a letter to Bishop Wright, Wilbur wrote pointedly:

The question of whether officials shall rob the church and trustees deceive the church for fear of injuring collections, must be settled now for all time. In the long run nothing can be gained financially by deceit. To cheat the people by lying reports is more dishonest than Keiter’s stealing, and so far as church interests are concerned, the penalty will be greater. 2

Bishop Wright continued his pursuit to expose the truth about Keiter’s misdealings. As a result, he was much maligned and ostracized. In the end, though, Bishop Wright was proven right, and by 1904 he was exonerated of the counter-charges Keiter had brought against him. The bishop had spoken the truth, suffered greatly as a result, and ultimately won vindication.

The straightforward sense expressed in Wilbur Wright’s letter, quoted above, strikes me as especially pertinent in the wake of the sorrowful McCarrick Report.

This is not the place for an exhaustive assessment of the report, with its various strengths and weaknesses. If one thing emerges clearly from its pages, however, it is the value of truth telling. Saying what one knows to be true—without any shade of deception or massaging or elision—is a simple, but immensely important habit of Christian living. Failing in this habit can have dastardly effects.

May the Church, our Mother, be renewed by bringing the truth to light!

Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vineyard;
protect the stock which Thy right hand hath planted.
They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance!

Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand,
upon the son of man, whom Thou has confirmed for Thyself!
We shall never depart from Thee;
Thou shalt quicken us, and we shall call upon Thy name.
O LORD God of hosts, convert us,
and let Thy face shine, and we shall be saved.
— From Psalm 80 —


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 All the historical information in this post is drawn from David McCullough, The Wright Brothers (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 72-75.

2 McCullough, The Wright Brothers, 73.

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

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    (Part 2) • Did they simplify this hymn?
    Choirs love to sing the resplendent tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1929, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. Their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1929 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. As always, the Germans added an organ INTRODUCTION. For the record, I posted a different harmonization a few months ago which was downloaded more than 2,000 times.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF • “Lectionary Comparison Chart”
    Various shell corporations (in an effort to make money selling Sacred Scripture) have tinkered with the LECTIONARY texts in a way that’s shameful. It’s no wonder Catholics in the pews know so few Bible passages by heart. Without authorization, these shell corporations pervert the official texts. Consider the Responsorial Psalm for the 1st Sunday of Advent (Year A). If you download this PDF comparison chart you’ll notice each country randomly omits certain sections. Such tinkering has gone on for 60+ years—and it’s reprehensible.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Monsignor Klaus Gamber Speaks!
    An interesting quotation from the eminent liturgist, Monsignor Klaus Gamber (d. 1989): “According to canon law, a person’s affiliation with a particular liturgical rite is determined by that person’s rite of baptism. Given that the liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI created a de facto new rite, one could assert that those among the faithful who were baptized according to the traditional Roman rite have the right to continue following that rite; just as priests who were ordained according to the traditional Ordo have the right to exercise the very rite that they were ordained to celebrate.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The replies to this committee (of which Mgr Bugnini was the secretary) reveal a desire to reform the liturgy. In what sense? Out of 2,109 responses from bishops, just three expressed the desire to restore Communion under both kinds. There was a sizable demand for limited use of the vernacular, but only one French bishop wanted the entire Mass in French.”

— Fr. Dominic Allain (2019)

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