Views from the Choir Loft

Articles

Jeff Ostrowski · January 20, 2013

Babies, Toddlers, And The Sacred Liturgy

I can only imagine what would happen if I brought home a friend home without preparation or planning.

Fr. David Friel · January 20, 2013

The Mass

Miracle or Magic?

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · January 17, 2013

In every age, the challenge is the same

A Bible passage that has always struck me very forcefully . . .

Richard J. Clark · January 17, 2013

St. Cecilia, Pray for Us

Why do we so intensely hand over our lives to the Church without fully realizing it until it is much too late?

Veronica Brandt · January 16, 2013

Biography • Veronica Brandt

Veronica has published a wide variety of Catholic publications . . .

Dr. Alfred Calabrese · January 15, 2013

Biography • Dr. Alfred Calabrese

Alfred holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Indiana University…

Corpus Christi Watershed · January 15, 2013

John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music

The Newsletter for January 2013 and questionnaire.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 14, 2013

Reflections On Playing The Piano At Church

Reflections on whether the piano ought be used at the Catholic Mass.

Richard J. Clark · January 14, 2013

Biography • Richard J. Clark

Richard serves as Music Director and Organist at Holy Cross Cathedral . . .

Jeff Ostrowski · January 13, 2013

The Need For Beauty In the Church

Artistic works often look “natural and easy” but their creation might have been by “blood, sweat, and tears.”

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 12, 2013

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #02

I will be releasing hundreds of these pictures for general use by Catholics everywhere.

Aristotle A. Esguerra · January 12, 2013

Aristotle A. Esguerra

Aristotle has served since 2009 as music director of two churches . . .

Wilfrid Jones · January 11, 2013

Biography • Wilfrid Jones

Wilfrid Jones went on to a choral scholarship at New College, Oxford, where he read music before completing masters degrees in theology at the University of Birmingham and in education at the University of Cambridge…

Cynthia Ostrowski · January 10, 2013

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #01

I will be releasing hundreds of these pictures for general use by Catholics everywhere.

Fr. David Friel · January 10, 2013

Biography • Father David M. Friel

Father Friel was ordained to the Catholic Priesthood in May 2011 . . .

“Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)

I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Proof Which All Can Immediately See!

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” as the famous maxim goes. Over the years, I’ve observed malicious attacks on the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal. Rather than scoring a ‘hit’ on the Brébeuf Hymnal, its attackers often reveal profound ignorance. I’ve been advised never to reply … but I break that rule today. Certain voices online assert that the Brébeuf Hymnal is “untraditional” because it includes both the Urbanite and pre-Urbanite versions of the hymns. But if only they would glance at a copy of the 1913 VESPERALE (printed by order of Pope Saint Pius X) they would see how mistaken such statements are.

—Jeff Ostrowski

New Bulletin Article • “8 June 2025”

My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for the parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article includes a few anecdotes about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Abraham Lincoln.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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