Views from the Choir Loft

Cynthia Ostrowski • Article Archive

Cynthia Ostrowski holds a bachelor's degree in Geographic Information Science and a minor in Computer Science from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (2005). She is currently a stay-at-home mother of two children. A former GIS analyst, Cynthia's interests include photography, french horn, and singing polyphony.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Cynthia Ostrowski · September 15, 2020

(Installment #8) “Catholic Hymnals” • Cynthia Ostrowski

According to Bishop Sheen: “Christianity, unlike any other religion in the world, begins with catastrophe and defeat.”

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Cynthia Ostrowski · September 14, 2016

New Release • Contemporary Motets for SAB

Kevin Allen has released a collection every Roman Catholic choir will treasure!

Cynthia Ostrowski · August 15, 2016

Catholic Bulletin Art • Installment #71

If you’re confused about what’s happening, search google for “Dormition of Mary.”

Cynthia Ostrowski · May 23, 2016

Los Angeles: Less Than A Week Away!

A phenomenal event which involves our District Superior & Archbishop Gomez.

Cynthia Ostrowski · February 3, 2016

“Ad Orientem” Image You’ll Want To Download

This high resolution image portrays a priest offering Mass with the Holy Trinity above.

Cynthia Ostrowski · December 29, 2015

Popular Posts From 2015

In case you missed any of these!

Cynthia Ostrowski · October 19, 2015

Catholic Bulletin Art • Installment #70

The feast of Christ the King approaches!

Cynthia Ostrowski · September 16, 2015

Catholic Bulletin Art • Installment #69

Today’s installment is a picture of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri.

Cynthia Ostrowski · September 15, 2015

To God Who Giveth Joy To My Youth

“Old age steals on with its rich harvest and its peculiar trials, yet the same lips pronounce the same exultant words…”

Cynthia Ostrowski · August 24, 2015

Christmas Gift Idea • Unbelievable Made-By-Hand Wood Carvings!

“Creating these etchings reminds me of my mother’s deep spirituality.” —John McCarthy

Cynthia Ostrowski · March 1, 2015

Permission Needed to Replace the Propers?—(6 of 7)

The wife of a Church musician weighs in…

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 28, 2015

Catholic Bulletin Art • Installment #68

Today’s installment is a third picture of the Epiphany—different than the two we’ve previously posted.

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 19, 2015

Catholic Bulletin Art • Installment #67

Today’s installment is a third image for 8 September—totally different than the two we’ve posted in the past.

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 12, 2015

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #66

Today’s installment is a rare image of Our Lady’s Nativity.

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 5, 2015

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #65

Today’s installment is a rare image of our Lord’s Resurrection.

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 1, 2015

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #64

Today’s installment is a picture of the angel Raphael.

Cynthia Ostrowski · December 25, 2014

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #63

Today’s installment is from the first Mass of Christmas.

Cynthia Ostrowski · December 16, 2014

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #62

Today’s installment is a rare image of the Last Supper.

Cynthia Ostrowski · December 2, 2014

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #61

Today’s installment is a rare image of the “Immaculate Conception.”

Cynthia Ostrowski · November 21, 2014

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #60

Today’s installment is a rare image of the “Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” — but it’s not the “Presentation” you might guess…

PDF Download • Vespers for the Dead

Mr. Albert Bloomfield kindly sent me “Vespers for the Dead”—which does not fulfill a priest’s obligation to pray the Divine Office, yet is often prayed when a loved one dies. Here is formatting A, and here it is again with formatting B.

—Jeff Ostrowski

20 October 2020 • “What we can’t share”

Almighty God has given to us the example of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, whose feast day we celebrated yesterday. Of course, along with those eight martyrs we honor their associates, e.g Father François Bressani. I can’t share with you the torments Father Bressani underwent at the hands of Iroquois: it is too brutal. It would tear your heart out. But I will share what Bressani’s Superior said, after receiving a letter from him: “The letter is soiled and ill-written; because the writer has only one finger left on his right hand, and cannot prevent the blood from his wounds—which are still open—from staining the paper. His ink is gunpowder mixed with water, and his table is the earth.” If you have the stomach for it, read what Father Bressani (d. 1672) underwent for Jesus Christ. Let his example help us never fall into sins of impurity, avarice, ingratitude, or envy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

13 October 2020 • Chopin talks Bach

My “pianist pedigree” goes from my teacher through Wiktor Łabuński through Felix Blumenfeld, who studied with Anton Rubinstein. I always considered myself part of the “Bach-Mozart-Chopin school” as opposed to the “Handel-Beethoven-Liszt school.” (Needless to say, there’s great overlap between these schools.) Before giving a concert, Frédéric Chopin would always shut himself up in a room and play through Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. The year Chopin died, he spent considerable time with the painter, Eugène Delacroix (d. 1863), who recounts hearing Chopin launch into a monologue on the transcendence of J.S. Bach, insisting that “the fugue is like pure logic in music,” and that “to know fugue deeply is to be acquainted with the element of all reason and all consistency in music.”

—Jeff Ostrowski