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Corpus Christi Watershed

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Views from the Choir Loft

Richard J. Clark • Article Archive

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He is also Chapel Organist (Saint Mary’s Chapel) at Boston College. His compositions have been performed worldwide.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Richard J. Clark · February 20, 2015

Permission Needed to Replace the Propers?—(1 of 7)

“Tacit approval” alone isn’t getting the job done. It is abdicating authority to composers and publishers, pastors and liturgists.

Richard J. Clark · February 13, 2015

Choir Rehearsal Is Prayer

It is quite possible we won’t get to sing the music we rehearsed — a problem everyone in Boston is facing this Sunday. But choir rehearsal itself is a prayer.

Richard J. Clark · February 6, 2015

World Day for Consecrated Life and Leadership from the Laity

Priests and musicians need each other and must mutually support each other. Both are immersed in the work of the liturgy, the most important act of evangelization.

Richard J. Clark · January 30, 2015

Liturgy of the Word and Paraphrasing the Responsorial Psalm

Would a lector paraphrase a reading from Isaiah or Paul? Would a deacon or priest change the words while proclaiming the Gospel of St. Luke?

Richard J. Clark · January 23, 2015

The Blessing of Daily Mass – Saint Mary’s Chapel, Boston College Reopens

I am at daily mass, but through no virtue of my own. God has a way of drawing us toward him even when we resist.

Richard J. Clark · January 16, 2015

Reviving a Music Program & Ryan Lynch on “Sounds from the Spires”

Good-hearted and talented people respond quite positively to the philosophy of service to God and others.

Richard J. Clark · January 9, 2015

Saint Cecilia and an Angel Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Lanfranco

The Lowest Musical Aspiration Possible – Or the Highest?

Is being a church musician the lowest musical aspiration possible? Or the Highest?

Richard J. Clark · January 2, 2015

Christmas Season and the New Year

This is a profession that is in fact, unfriendly to families, i.e., working all weekend long, nights, holidays, low pay, etc. Yet we persist through an act of will as much as an act of loving service.

Richard J. Clark · December 26, 2014

Scripture, Sacred Music, and the Actions of Our Lives

Let’s not minimize the role of the psalms in the mass to the Responsorial! Plus a FREE download of the Epiphany Communion antiphon.

Richard J. Clark · December 19, 2014

I am a fraud: A Life of Service

The richness of liturgical worship is what draws may of us in –- for life.

Richard J. Clark · December 12, 2014

Saint Paul’s Choir School ~ Top 5 on the Billboard Charts

“Christmas in Harvard Square” opened on the No. 2 spot on Billboard Magazine’s Classical Traditional Chart and has remained in the top 5 since.

Richard J. Clark · December 5, 2014

Marian Meditations on RJC Cecilia Music

When I was young, I never viewed the Blessed Virgin Mary as a great source of inspiration for composition. How wrong that turned out to be!

Richard J. Clark · November 28, 2014

A self-fulfilling prophecy and why we don’t sing the Creed

But how many times have we heard: “We shouldn’t use that that because nobody can sing it.” This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, is it not?

Richard J. Clark · November 14, 2014

I’m not here to make you or me happy. | Music as a Virtue

It is not the point of sacred music to make individuals or even the Music Director happy.

Richard J. Clark · November 7, 2014

Can’t sing? Sing the dialogues!

Reverence, prayer, and internal participation increased through this act of external participation.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    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

Random Quote

Dom Vitry never claimed chant could not be used successfully with English words. No one need take my word for it. He was a pioneer on the matter of vernacular adaptation, and I need only refer you to the many publications of his own “Fides Jubilans” press. What he said was that adaptation involved some mutilation, and that we were faced with one or the other.

— Monsignor Francis P. Schmitt (1963)

Recent Posts

  • Bishop François Charrière Vs. Hannibal Bugnini
  • 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • “My First Year with the Latin Mass” • A Music Director’s Perspective
  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”
  • Now Available! • “Hymns of Cardinal Newman: Kevin Allen’s Legendary Choral Settings”

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Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

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