Views from the Choir Loft

Biography • Mark Haas

Mark Haas · June 4, 2025

ARK HAAS is a composer and speaker who promotes sacred music of the Catholic tradition. His liturgical music has been sung in over 600 parishes, in 10 countries, including musical settings for various ordinations and dedications. In 2017, his orchestration of Michael Accurso’s I Will Praise Your Name Forever was presented by the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra during the Dedication of the HOLY NAME OF JESUS CATHEDRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mark has also contributed over 30 articles promoting various Catholic topics published by Aleteia.org (a website connected to the Vatican), ChurchPOP.com, CatholicExchange.com, Crisis Magazine, CatholicVote.org, and The Patrick Madrid Show. In 2025, he became a full-time contributor for Corpus Christi Watershed.

* Mark Haas • PUBLICITY PHOTO

Additional Details • In 2016, his original choral piece, Prayer of Saint Francis, was sung for Mass at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy. In 2024, Mark again collaborated with the Diocese of Raleigh for their 100th Centennial Mass, performing his arrangement of At the Name of Jesus (KING’S WESTON) for mixed choir and full orchestra. His YouTube Channel with over 18,000 subscribers promotes Catholic life and culture. Mark holds a BFA in Music Composition from Marshall University, and an MFA in Composition from UNC School of the Arts. He currently serves as the Director of Music at Ave Maria Catholic Church in Ave Maria, Florida where he lives with his wife and their seven original compositions.

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

About Mark Haas

Mark Haas is a composer and speaker whose music has been sung in over 600 parishes and 10 countries. He serves as the Music Director at Ave Maria Parish in Ave Maria, Florida where he lives with his wife and seven children.—(Read full biography).

(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

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