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Views from the Choir Loft

A Gentleman (Whom I Don’t Know) Approached Me After Mass Yesterday And Said…

Jeff Ostrowski · May 19, 2025

ESTERDAY AFTER MASS, a gentleman whom I don’t know approached me in the church parking lot. In an excited tone of voice, he exclaimed: “I read your article in the bulletin this week; it was superb. You’re an excellent writer, and I enjoyed every word. For that matter, your article last week also hit the ball out of the park.” I can’t deny: I was thrilled to receive such a compliment. A few months ago, my pastor asked me to contribute a short column to our weekly bulletin. In my heart, I had doubts as to whether anyone would read my articles. I do remember Father Valentine Young being astonished when someone told him they never read the bulletin. His response was: “What do you do during the homily?”

Feedback And Praise • The daily offering by Raphael Cardinal Merry Del Val says: “I am ready to accept indifferently from Thy hands, and in the way most pleasing to Thee: health or sickness; riches or poverty; a long life or a short one; friendship or hatred…” That means we must always do what’s right: Period. Saint John Bosco reminded his boys they must never commit sin in pursuit of “human respect.” Nevertheless, it’s really nice to get positive feedback. The gentleman—whose wife was seated in his vehicle—struck me as quite sincere.1

Bulletin Articles • If anyone would like to read the bulletin articles I’ve written so far, I have posted them (below). I tried to keep them pithy, and powerful. You can judge for yourself whether I was successful:

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  • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
    • 2025 04 13th • “Introduction to the Series”
    • 2025 04 20th • “As in Delirium a Man Talks”
    • 2025 04 27th • “Wouldn’t That Be Bizarre?”
    • 2025 05 04th • “Neither Tennis Court Nor Supermarket”
    • 2025 05 11th • “The Entire Hall Burst Into Uproarious Laughter”
    • 2025 05 18th • “Doesn’t the Church Want Us to Understand?”
    • 2025 05 25th • “Why Do We Sing in Both?”
    • 2025 06 01st • “The Church’s Oldest Latin Eucharistic Hymn”
    • 2025 06 08th • “Intriguing Invitation”
    • 2025 06 15th • “Hit the sack” doesn’t mean pound a bag.
    • 2025 06 22nd • Three Words in a Psalm
    • 2025 06 29th • Pope Leo XIV on Polyphony

(1 of 3) Jeff Is Ignorant • Truly brilliant minds such as Newman, Fortescue, Knox, or Skeris would laugh if they knew that I was putting myself forth as an author. And I certainly don’t pretend to know much! One thing that’s always confused me is the existence of contradictions in church law.

(2 of 3) Jeff Is Ignorant • For example, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal clearly states that “Songs or hymns may not be used in place of the responsorial Psalm” (§61). Yet we know that sometimes hymns are prescribed by the liturgical books themselves to replace the Responsorial Psalm. Moreover, the GIRM explicitly says one may replace the Responsorial Psalm “with a metrical psalm.” As a matter of fact, a “metrical psalm” is nothing more than a hymn; e.g. look up THE PSALTER OF JOHN DAYE in the famous edition by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins. How can such a contradiction be explained?

(3 of 3) Jeff Is Ignorant • Sometimes, a contradiction is the result of faulty translation. The document on the liturgy promulgated by Vatican II—“SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM”—contains some faulty English translations. Consider the following sentence:

Quæ totius populi plena & actuosa
participatio, in instauranda
et fovenda sacra Liturgia,
summopere est attendenda…

Here’s the usual translation:

In the restoration & promotion of
the sacred liturgy the full & active
participation by all the people is the
aim to be considered above all else…

But that’s a flawed translation. The actual meaning is:

In restoring and nurturing the sacred
Liturgy this full and active
participation of all the people
is very much to be considered…

But sometimes it’s not a matter of a faulty translation. For example, here’s a section from SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM which I struggle to understand:

34. The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions; they should be within the people’s powers of comprehension, and normally should not require much explanation.

It’s nonsense to say the rites should be “short.” Indeed, the post-conciliar reforms made the MASS OF THE CATECHUMENS much more lengthy than it was before! I’d be interested to know how readers interpret that sentence. If only the word “short” could be changed to “not excessively lengthy,” I believe I could live with that.

1 As church musicians, we almost never get compliments. I’m not sure why that is. As a result, those occasions when we do receive complimentary words feel especially meaningful and fulfilling.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Daily Offering Cardinal Merry Del Val, Raphael Cardinal Merry Del Val Last Updated: June 2, 2025

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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

Dom Vitry never claimed chant could not be used successfully with English words. No one need take my word for it. He was a pioneer on the matter of vernacular adaptation, and I need only refer you to the many publications of his own “Fides Jubilans” press. What he said was that adaptation involved some mutilation, and that we were faced with one or the other.

— Monsignor Francis P. Schmitt (1963)

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Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

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