Corpus Christi Watershed

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.”

Views from the Choir Loft

Jeff Ostrowski • Article Archive

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He completed studies in Education and Musicology at the graduate level. Having worked as a church musician in Los Angeles for ten years, in 2024 he accepted a position as choirmaster for Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Michigan, where he resides with his wife and children. —Read full biography (with photographs).

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The Gather Hymnal

Excuse me, but . . . Say what? “If Christ entered the room, we’d be on our feet in an instant. We would not kneel.”

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Letter To Hans Küng . . . in 1963!

“Where on earth do you come up with the notion of omitting the Gradual? You talk about the necessity of going back to the very oldest of the Church’s traditions.” — Msgr. Francis P. Schmitt

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(Live Interview) Cardinal Burke on the New Translation

“We had in the Church when I was growing up . . . there was a kind of special language we used in Church, and I was sorry to see it go . . . There wasn’t anything wrong with that. It was a language we used in talking to God.” — Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

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Nobody Can Answer My Question?

I have an important question, but nobody seems to care. It has to do with the famous: “When it falls on a Saturday or a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is abrogated.”

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Choir Members’ Behavior In The Year 1596

On 24 December 1596, Nanino records that the singers missed a response of “Amen,” which they were supposed to make after the pope said the Gospel at Matins. But the books were marked so that the same thing would not happen the following year, as it might if they depended only on memory.

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