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Views from the Choir Loft

Sacra Liturgia 2015 — Update I

Fr. David Friel · June 1, 2015

693 FATHER FRIEL HE FIRST DAY of Sacra Liturgia 2015 began at about 4:30 PM on Monday afternoon. After a few words of welcome from the organizers, Bishop Frank Caggiano of the Diocese of Bridgeport gave a wonderful opening talk. In his typically pastoral way, he called upon us to use our love for the sacred liturgy to promote the necessary work of the New Evangelization amidst the many people who consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious.”

The conference attendees then heard the first keynote address, given by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.

Even in just a few hours, several important points have been made, and I will share with you just three.

Among the words of introduction, a fine letter was read from the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW), Cardinal Sarah. His Eminence had many good things to convey to us, but one thing especially struck me.

Cardinal Sarah revealed that, when he was appointed to be Prefect of the CDW, he asked Pope Francis what he expected him to do in this new role. The response of the Holy Father, according to Cardinal Sarah’s letter, was twofold:

1. Implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council

2. Continue the liturgical vision of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Those are remarkable marching orders—orders that one might not have expected Pope Francis to give. At the same time, of course, these two directives are inseparable, since the liturgical movement championed by Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI is fundamentally a call to embrace the true vision of Vatican II.

Another highlight moment from today was the announcement of the next Sacra Liturgia conference, which is being planned for July 2016 in London. No further details have been given, but that is a very significant announcement. This movement is growing and spreading, which is already a sign of the fruit that is being borne.

Finally, allow me to recap a few of the many excellent points introduced by Cardinal Burke during his keynote address, entitled Beauty in the Sacred Liturgy and the Beauty of a Holy Life.

The cardinal spoke a bit about the nature & significance of the Transcendentals: Truth, Goodness, & Beauty. He paid special attention to their interconnectedness. Notably, beauty is a prerequisite for truth and goodness. Cardinal Burke observed: “Precisely because we have lost beauty, we have lost also goodness and truth.”

696 Cardinal Burke His Eminence also made the point that, in our modern world, “beauty is suspect.” By this, he meant that beautiful things, especially within the sacred liturgy (e.g., art, architecture, music, gesture, vestments, ars celebrandi, etc.), are commonly disregarded as frivolous, shallow, and “superficial.” I have often witnessed this suspicion at play, and I was very pleased that the cardinal encouraged us to challenge this charge of superficiality.

In the middle of his presentation, Cardinal Burke gave a heartwarming reflection on the Gospel passage wherein Mary of Bethany anoints the feet of Jesus with expensive spikenard. In our own day, many people make the same charge that Judas made: that the money lavished upon divine worship could have been better used in feeding the poor. Cardinal Burke responded firmly & gently to this objection, saying that Christian poverty is a thing most essentially of the spirit. Those whose poverty is physical/financial are those who, most of all, need true beauty in their lives. “The poverty to which we are called as Christians calls not for what is ugly, but for the most beautiful celebration of which we are capable.”

Tuesday will bring several more talks and exquisite liturgies. I will attempt to recap some of the highlights as the conference continues to unfold.


REMINDER FROM FR. DAVID FRIEL :   Any quotations I give in the course of my reporting on this conference should be understood to be inexact, as I am only taking notes during the live presentation. Nevertheless, I shall endeavor to be as exact as possible.


700 Father Friel

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Liturgy, Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis, Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke, Reform of the Reform, Robert Cardinal Sarah, Sacra Liturgia Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “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
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —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

Had the Church never spoken on this matter, it would still be repugnant to our Catholic people’s sense of what is fit and proper in the holiest of places, that a priest should have to struggle through the prayers of the Holy Mass, because of such tunes as “Alice, where art thou?” the “Vacant Chair,” and others of more vulgar title, which, through the carelessness or bad judgment of organists, sometimes find their way into our choirs.

— Preface to a Roman Catholic Hymnal (1896)

Recent Posts

  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension

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