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Corpus Christi Watershed

“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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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

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —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

Why do we never sing “De Spiritu Sancto” (St. Athenogenes) in our churches? There are a dozen translations in English verse. Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

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