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Views from the Choir Loft

“Ministerial Creativity” by Bishop Donald Trautman

Jeff Ostrowski · December 19, 2013

921 Trautman Inculturation URING HIS LONG career, Bishop Donald Trautman published a whole host of liturgical articles, and most are available online. As Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Liturgy, he was a major proponent of the following:

“inclusivity” & “pastoral considerations”

“cultural sensitivity” & “inculturation” *

“ministerial creativity”

avoidance of “rubrical rigidity”

For the average Catholic in the pews, what have the results been? To mention just one, 99% of today’s Catholic parishes can lawfully use horrible song texts set to secular tunes instead of the ancient Propers assigned by the Church. Sometimes, the hymns are heretical, but not all are. Usually, they’re just colloquial, lamentably uninspired rubbish, like these typical examples from modern hymnals like GIA’s Worship IV.

ON THE OTHER HAND, BISHOP TRAUTMAN had absolutely no tolerance for the Extraordinary Form or the Ordinary Form said in Latin, no matter how ardently certain members of the faithful desired it. He even issued a special set of incredibly rigid rules in an attempt to prevent his priests from celebrating the Extraordinary Form. I’m probably the last person in the world Bishop Trautman would have consulted, but if asked, here’s what I would have said:

Bishop Trautman, your efforts should not be spent persecuting priests and faithful Catholics who ardently desire a more reverent form the Mass, allowed by the Church. These are venerable rites. With regard to the Extraordinary Form, it nourished so many saints over the centuries. With regard to the Ordinary Form in Latin, the Second Vatican Council specifically ordered that Latin be preserved. You’ve said we must be “pastorally sensitive to the liturgical assembly.” You’ve condemned “rigid uniformity in matters that do not involve the faith.” Shouldn’t your rules be applied equally to all Catholics?

BISHOP TRAUTMAN HAS MADE STATEMENTS which conflict with official statements by the Second Vatican Council:

      * *  Verified Statements • Most Rev. Donald Trautman, Bishop Emeritus of Erie

Why were such bizarre statements made? Some have suggested that “his generation” could get away with it, since average Catholics had no access to the conciliar documents — after all, the internet only became popular in the 1990s. I suppose that’s possible. Another possibility would be that he never studied the documents of Vatican II. After all, his writings are full of errors. For example, Bishop Trautman implied the first Mass was in the vernacular — it wasn’t! — and seems unaware of the “Pauline” origin of et cum spiritu tuo.

Here’s the bottom line: we shouldn’t assume that, because a person is elected to chair the USCCB Committee on Liturgy, he automatically knows everything. For instance, consider these recent words by the former Executive Director of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, who served just two decades after the liturgical reforms. The reason he can’t find that musical setting is rather simple … the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar were never sung!


* Unfortunately, when Bishop Trautman cites “inculturation,” he ignores the specific requirements given in Sacrosanctum Concilium, interpreting it in warped, one-sided way.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Hymns Replacing Propers, Reform of the Reform Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

“It would be a grave error to imagine that the principle orientation of the sacrificial action is towards the community. If the priest celebrates «VERSUS POPULUM», which is legitimate and often advisable, his spiritual attitude ought always to be «VERSUS DEUM PER JESUM CHRISTUM», as representative of the entire Church.”

— Official Vatican Statement (25 September 2000)

Recent Posts

  • Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
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  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?

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