From the Director of Sacred Music & Liturgy - June

We celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi the first weekend in June with a trio of singers performing simple music that spanned a thousand years: from 10th-century Gregorian chant paired with a 16th-century polyphonic Kyrie to a 21st-century setting of a 14th-century Communion prayer. The breadth and depth of the Catholic musical tradition is one of our greatest inheritances as Catholics. It is a tradition that, to borrow from the Church Fathers’ reflection on sacred Scripture, is shallow enough for children to wade into safely while at the same time being deep enough for elephants to swim.

Throughout the summer, we will continue to have occasional performances by small groups of singers. The kickoff of our fullfledged choral program will come in September, once many students and parishioners have returned from their summer vacations. My intention is to establish two choral ensembles at St. Thérèse Little Flower: 1) a large ensemble open to anyone (as a “training choir” of sorts), especially those people who would love to learn to sing but haven’t sung publicly in a long time (or ever). I consider it part of my responsibility as the Director of Sacred Music & Liturgy to teach any interested person how to sing well for the glory of God; and 2) a smaller, auditioned ensemble (a “schola cantorum”) that will sing more advanced music on fewer rehearsals.

Hymnals will come back as soon as the pews do (right now we’re looking at mid-July), and in the meantime we will continue to print weekly programs with the requisite texts and music. We may continue printing them on a seasonal basis even after the return of the hymnals, in order that we can continue to draw from more of our Cathollic musical inheritance than the contents of any single hymnal allow.

Peace,
Daniel