Society of Saint Gregory

If this is still available, I'd be delighted to take it off your hands!

Now, here Tom, is a point - a point for those parishes who condone the kind of gatecrashing of parish pastoral liturgies for the inclusion of children that quite likely , they will never see again. Children whose families will take away not a participation in the Mass but a participation in a ...

This really is wonderful news! James MacMillan is surely the greatest advocate of Catholic liturgical music in the UK today. Congratulations, Sir James!

oopsorganist wrote:Ah,
Blessed Tom
get ye to Summer School, free places still available. Meet real people and be argumentative. Ah, Blessed Tom.

Haha! Alas, oopsorganist, I can't; I'm at another conference that week. Maybe next year?

John, maybe you could explain to everyone why you've posted those links above? Looking forward to hearing from you

Do we judge composers just on their beliefs, or on the extent to which they practice Christian charity in their lives? (It's a rhetorical question, please don't answer it.) Answer this one, though: do you conscientiously forswear the music of Vaughan Williams, and do you feel that the Church is ...

The interview appeared in the 12th June 2015 edition of L’Osservatore Romano . In the interview, Cardinal Robert Sarah, who was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship by Pope Francis last year, called for a more faithful implementation of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution ...

Sorry, but I find these comments utterly absurd. Are you familiar with either piece that John proposed? Would you categorise either as 'pop' or 'rock', and if so which? If you're not familiar with either piece I'd respectfully suggest that you don't pass comment on them.

I'm sorry, mcb , that you ...

P.S. To be absolutely clear, I have never denied the possibility that some religious 'pop' music might, for some people, support their Catholic faith–––like looking at paintings and statues, or reading devotional literature. What I do deny is that this music has a place in the sacred liturgy.

By ...

Without going into detail, John, here are just two of the many, many reasons that music like the items you identified above are completely unsuitable for the liturgy...

On the one hand, there is pop music, which is certainly no longer supported by the people in the ancient sense ( populus ). It is ...

Of course, external actions—reading, singing, the bringing up of the gifts—can be distributed in a sensible way. By the same token, participation in the Liturgy of the Word (reading, singing) is to be distinguished from the sacramental celebration proper. We should be clearly aware that external ...

alan29 wrote:It does nothing for the peace and unity of the church for which Christ prayed.

Do you really mean to say that a unified liturgical practice, resulting from true adherence to Catholic tradition, would do nothing for the unity of the Church?

In haste, John... (I'll respond in more depth after the weekend)

Wherever an exaggerated concept of "community" predominates, a concept which is (as we have already seen) completely unrealistic precisely in a highly mobile society such as ours, there only the priest and the congregation can be ...

I think most of their music fits well in the context of what are sometimes called "renewal" gatherings (for which, I suspect, most of them were really written), I don't think it is appropriate for the solemn and sacred liturgy which the Mass is. Maybe it's pastoral music, but not necessarily for ...

Let me get this right, mcb . You're saying that liturgical music is "pastoral" in so far as it is popular, and for as long as it remains so. Is that a fair summary of your view?
No, as paraphrase and précis goes, this is not an accurate representation. I said "each individual item a piece that has ...