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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

I’m tired of tribalism.

Richard J. Clark · September 29, 2025

N THE 1970s and 1980s there existed among musicians a distinct tribalism in popular music. As an adolescent, I most definitely sided with the “disco-(stinks)-rock-rules” clan. Forget about rap! That was out of the question. Today I listen to all of it and admire the best of the best — albeit much has been vetted by time and discernment. In sports the mentality is called “rooting for laundry.” It doesn’t matter who is playing for one’s team. As long as they wear the preferred colors, they represent all that is good, right, and worthy. Everyone else is the enemy. Much the same can be said for politics with no room for nuance, moderation, or reason.

Forgive this recounting of my personal background: Difficult to discern from my cherry-picked online profile (never believe everything you read on the internet!), I have an unusually broad background in music. I was heavily involved in pop song writing for decades. It still holds influence. I was deep in jazz, classical, and pop all at once. This is part of what drew me to the Berklee College of Music in the late 1980s. Bach fugues in one class, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane in another, Stravinsky and Bartok in yet another. Sometimes these topics arose all in the same day. I loved it.

Eventually the pipe organ and Gregorian chant sucked me in for good and for life. But my feet remained simultaneously in many musical worlds.

This taught me to appreciate diverse and sometimes unconventional approaches to the creative process. While insanely passionate about the pipe organ, chant, and traditional liturgy, (I don’t apologize for that) my vantage point is disparate; my journey circuitous. Where some draw boundaries and refuse to explore, I encounter multiple vantage points. My hope is that this experience has been somewhat beneficial in serving God.

Saint Paul Warns Us

“I MEAN THAT EACH of you is saying, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 12-13)


Tribalism found its way into the Church from the very beginning, hence a few letters from Saint Paul! Among many controversies in the Church, music is not immune. In principle, we can agree there is no “traditional” vs. “contemporary” in that there is no “versus.” There is only “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Ephesians 4:5)

Keys to the Kingdom

THERE IS A DIFFICULT lesson, and it is one of manipulation. This sadly manifests in music, liturgy, politics, and the Church. It is not prayer or service. It’s tearing us apart, and a cause for great anxiety and sadness. And quite likely, we are being played like a fiddle.

Let me explain with a story I call the “keys to the kingdom.” In 1990 or 1991 I attended the “New Music Seminar” held in Times Square in Manhattan. It was for pop artists, record company executives, song writers, and a lot of “wanna-be” pop-star musicians.

At one session, several artists and song writers expressed their dismay to a panel of radio and record company executives about what they perceived as the poor quality of music being played on mainstream radio. Maybe they were mad their music wasn’t being played. Who knows.

One radio executive on this panel in front of maybe 1,000 people exploded everyone’s minds. He dropped the veil with some harsh truth. And it was one of the most valuable lessons I ever learned. What he said shocked many musicians. But now it’s embarrassingly obvious.

He stated without a trace of compassion: “I need to remind you that in radio, we are not in the music business. We are in the business of selling advertising.”

What sells the most advertising dollars is what gets aired. Nothing personal. It’s business. And this explains much — if not all — of our polarized world, one perhaps divided by design. Division and anger — especially self-righteous anger — is good for business. Very good, especially in our click-bait world. It is also good for control. No middle ground. No Venn diagram. No dialogue. No kindness and courtesy especially. Extremes, once the outliers, become normative.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.

KEEP YOUR EYES wide open. Do not allow yourself to be manipulated. Think for yourself. Be mindful of visceral reactions whether one’s own or of others, especially responses caused by “rooting for laundry.” Do not get sucked into the vortex of tribalism, no matter how ingrained in humanity’s DNA.

More importantly, give oneself over to the service of God. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. One must rise above, forgo power, and serve the mission.

I write these things to remind myself. Stay grounded in God. The promise of truth outside of God is all a lie.

I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
*one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4: 1-6

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: September 30, 2025

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About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(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

“A penalty is decreed against clerics, who, being in sacred Orders, or holding benefices, do not wear a dress befitting their Order. […] In these days, the contempt of religion has grown to such a pitch that—making but little account of their own dignity, and of the clerical honor—some even wear in public the dress of laymen…”

— ‘Council of Trent (Session 14, Chapter 6)’

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