HIS ARTICLE IS ONE I didn’t want to write. I knew it was coming, and avoided it, but it is time. We have to say goodbye to Jeff. It was a blog post similar to this one that (in 2014) started my family on a journey that is now ending. There is an important story about how we started in Mr. Ostrowski’s choir and how we moved to start attending the FSSP parish—but that’s for another time. Here I wanted to mark the end of a season for our family in a very special decade-long experience singing in the very choir you see and hear on this blog. The point of this post is:
(a) to encourage any choir members reading this to think of the long-term support of your choir and parish communities, and
(b) to express a deep appreciation for choir directors and their families.
When I Was Younger • I was a young(ish) mother of 32 when we started singing with Mr. Ostrowski and since then my family has not only added an entire decade, but also two rambunctious children, bringing our total to five. There remain quite a number of us who have been a part of this experience from the very start in 2014-2015. Choir members sometimes ebb and flow; they return and break away. Below you see an image of our choir’s early days. You’d be very happy to know that our next choir director is in one of the pictures!
Rigorous Repertoire & Rambunctious Brood • Mr. Ostrowski’s departure, the summer, a pilgrimage, and other personal items mean that we have decided to spend some time recharging, resetting, and reconfiguring our family’s rhythm and routine. This is quite personal to state, but it isn’t easy to be a wife and a homeschooling (!) mom while finding the requisite time to learn and practice rigorous repertoire. To make matters more difficult we have an enormously long commute across southern California for rehearsal and Sunday Mass. There is the sacrifice of figuring out dinner on practice days, sharing responsibilities for practicing my music, and most importantly, experiencing Mass separated from my rambunctious brood.
Hidden Sacrifices For A Decade • For anyone who’s spent years in the same choir or in the same parish ministries, there has to be a certain “pace” to maintain. We survived for ten years because we had an eye on a long-term prize. I am sure to sing again, and surely, my children, whose liturgical life has been formed by this specific choir, will figure out a way to make this parish ministry a part of their lives. For us, it was a decade of dedication to this singular ministry, as a family. The success of this parish and choir was the goal. I have to admit that while the commute was a cross to bear, we tried to always remember that it was an air-conditioned pilgrimage—“annoyed on the freeway” isn’t too onerous a martyrdom.
Time Has Passed • Take a look at the pictures above. Some of those children no longer have baby faces. Some of those little kids have many more younger siblings.1 Some of those young adults in the pictures are far-flung across the nation (the globe!), some are married, some have started families. All have suffered some heartbreak and loss—and hopefully have found solace. We cannot remain the same people for so long.
Let Me Be Clear • Lest my sermon last longer than eight minutes, let me be clear: this post is to express deep gratitude to our choir director (and all choir directors). Here, specifically a deep thank you to Mr. Ostrowski. A second, heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Ostrowski and the children. Thank you for being “the wind beneath his wings” (she’ll appreciate the 80s reference). Deep thanks for taking a gamble to build a life in Los Angeles and leaving us many riches and blessings.
“Dead” Churches Without Music • I write this in the midst of a real pilgrimage to Europe. (Without air-conditioning sometimes!) We’ve seen more choirs than you’d expect for such a short period of time. We’ve seen that churches truly are museums when they’re quiet. Churches are built for sacred song, that’s when they’re most alive.
I write this today, 20 June 2024, the day after the feasts of Gervasius and Protasius. Today we prayed at their tomb. Like Saint Vitus, they were early martyrs.
The Time I Said “No” • Now I’m not saying choir directors are martyrs, but they sure have to put up with a lot of personalities, mine included! Forgive me Mr. Ostrowski for refusing to sing the introit verse that ONE time! And only ONE time in ten years!
Moving Memories • This afternoon, I am moved by memories of how this choir started, mixed with nostalgia for what time does to us, and inspired by knowing we belong to a Church that Ambrose built. That Augustine wrote for. In the space where those two were moved by music, let us all say a personal Te Deum, an Ambrosian hymn, for the gift that musicians bring to the Church.
Seems like we might need some strength.
Here’s what this space looked like a decade ago when this choir started. Click the links to see more from 2014:
- I HAVE NOTICED A STRANGE assumption woven into almost all of the writing done by liberals, progressives, modernists, and aging hippies on the resurgence of the traditional Latin Mass. They seem to think of this Mass as a rarefied museum piece of Baroque fastidiousness, celebrated by unfeeling rubricists, for congregations of uncharitable nostalgics, in an atmosphere of dogma and superfluous income. But maybe it is not surprising that such stereotypes thrive among those who have so little experience with the contemporary traditional scene.
- WHILE IT’S TRUE THAT TOO MANY Catholic churches employ inappropriate music, the good news is that—against all odds—the traditional music still triumphs in one important area: parishes run by “no-nonsense” priests. Whenever I encounter serious parishes, I notice they choose authentic Sacred music without exception.
- Positive Liturgical Fruits Of Vatican II: Second Part I mentioned what I consider to be an important and positive fruit of the postconciliar reforms. Today, I’ll speak of another positive development, but this one’s a bit tricky, because it’s in potentia. 1 In other words, Vatican II called for it, but it hasn’t yet been fully implemented.
- WHY DO WE COMPLAIN about the sufferings of this world? Nobody has ever lived in such luxurious times as ours. Can you imagine trying to provide lunch for your family in the year 1300AD? How about 600AD? How about 50BC?
- DREAMING IN LATIN Don Bosco’s dreams were startlingly thought-provoking. He was not allowed to forget them. His dreams were structured, usually with a guide to lead him and explain things (and to tell him to stop taking notes). They often provided guidance for his work, giving him material for talks and also letting him know the spiritual state of the boys in his care.
These were posts about our choir and parish from early on:
Progress Beyond Belief • If you’ve been following this blog for the last few years, can you believe how far we’ve come? I certainly cannot.
Beg God For Strength • Friends, barbarians sacked Rome and we survived. We lost church buildings and we thrived. The Arians had what seemed like entire bishop national conferences! If our institutions are martyred, future Saint Ambroses will find us! And as one of my favorite mentors would often say, “¡Siempre Adelante!”
(If anyone in Rome is reading this, we are faithful! This mother and her children be there soon to kneel at the tomb of Peter! Don’t exclude these traditions! Don’t exclude us!)
P.S. One last thing. To the new choir director and his wife: welcome! Be assured of my family’s prayers in this new endeavor.
1 Including another little Ostrowski! Praise God!
