Views from the Choir Loft

Father Friel • Article Archive

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

Fr. David Friel · July 24, 2016

Priestly Musical Formation in a Low Mass Culture

Reflections from Dr. Jennifer Donelson at Sacra Liturgia UK

Fr. David Friel · July 17, 2016

Are the Readings at Mass Meant to Be Didactic or Doxological?

Reflections from the Fota IX International Liturgy Conference

Fr. David Friel · July 6, 2016

Pope Francis to Cardinal Sarah: Investigate an Official Reform of the Reform

Highlights from Cardinal Sarah’s Lecture at Sacra Liturgia UK 2016

Fr. David Friel · June 24, 2016

Colloquium 2016 • Day 4

Reflections on Offering a Colloquium Mass

Fr. David Friel · June 23, 2016

Colloquium 2016 • Day 3

The Organic Development of the Liturgy and the New Music Breakouts

Fr. David Friel · June 22, 2016

Colloquium 2016 • Day 2

Explanatory Images from Wilko Brouwers

Fr. David Friel · June 21, 2016

Colloquium 2016 • Day 1

A concert of early music by the ensemble “Pro-Arte Saint Louis”

Fr. David Friel · May 29, 2016

Priests as Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

A Duty That Is Not Ours to Surrender

Fr. David Friel · May 22, 2016

Guide for Large-Scale Celebrations

10 Points from a Newly Translated Document

Fr. David Friel · May 1, 2016

Regina Chesterton Academy

A Classical Education Track for Catholic High School Students

Fr. David Friel · April 24, 2016

Instruction on Sacred Music by Bishop John Doerfler

Introducing a Five-Year Plan for the Future of Sacred Music in the Diocese of Marquette

Fr. David Friel · April 3, 2016

Which Masses Would You Choose?

If you had the opportunity to add more festive music to selected feasts in the liturgical year, to which would you give preference?

Fr. David Friel · March 20, 2016

Baptisms in the Extraordinary Form

Reflections on a Recent Experience

Fr. David Friel · March 13, 2016

The Rite of Marriage, Second Edition

The release date has been set. What will be new in the new Rite of Marriage?

Fr. David Friel · March 6, 2016

Parish Lenten Programs • 15 Suggestions

Simply adhering to the liturgical traditions of the Church would be a wonderful Lenten program for every parish.

“Common” Responsorial Psalm?

I try to avoid arguing about liturgical legislation (even with Catholic priests) because it seems like many folks hold certain views—and nothing will persuade them to believe differently. You can show them 100 church documents, but it matters not. They won’t budge. Sometimes I’m confronted by people who insist that “there’s no such thing” as a COMMON RESPONSORIAL PSALM. When that happens, I show them a copy of the official legislation in Latin. I have occasionally prevailed by means of this method.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 5th Sunday of Easter (18 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Communion Antiphon was ‘restored’ the 1970 Missale Romanum (a.k.a. MISSALE RECENS) from an obscure martyr’s feast. Our choir is on break this Sunday, so the selections are relatively simple in nature.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)

This coming Sunday—18 May 2025—is the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (MISSALE RECENS). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON “Ego Sum Vitis Vera” assigned by the Church is rather interesting, because it comes from a rare martyr’s feast: viz. Saint Vitalis of Milan. It was never part of the EDITIO VATICANA, which is the still the Church’s official edition. As a result, the musical notation had to be printed in the Ordo Cantus Missae, which appeared in 1970.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker