Dr. Mark Nowakowski is a scholar and composer whose music has been performed internationally and released on the Gramophone-praised Naxos Records album, "Blood, Forgotten." His writings on Catholicism, music, aesthetics, and music technology appear in numerous publications regularly, while he also maintains an active schedule as a composer and professor of music. A proud native of Chicago, he currently lives with his wife and three children in Ohio.
Author: Mark Nowakowski, PhD
Revenge of the Rigid: On Rejecting Grillo, Primitivism, and the Electric Slide
I often like to imagine how the radical liturgical reforms after Vatican II would have proceeded in the internet age. Certainly the quick availability of information and the means by which to network globally in seeking answers would have made …
Catholic Music: Revisiting The Unanswered Question
Can there still be an unanswered question in the great competition of metaphysical ideals? It may be that we are currently living in an era where clarity is available amongst the confusion of the questions of the modern and postmodern …
The Miniature Benedict Option: Recent Books to Cope with Chaos
I have lately witnessed some of the strongest Catholics I know shaken deeply by the visage of a society driving headlong into unnecessary strife and madness, and I would be lying if I did not number myself among them. This …
Music for Catholics: Henryk Górecki’s Opus for Instruments
When introducing the instrumental works of a composer to a musically untrained audience, a bit of trepidation naturally sets in. Tastes in music are often entrenched and become even more so where instrumental music is concerned. People are naturally more …
Music for Catholics: Rediscovering Henryk Górecki
There is a select group of composers who seemed to anticipate and ultimately embody John Paul II’s Letter to Artists, somehow also achieving great international prominence and influence despite their industry’s general hostility to all things Christian. They prove that …
‘Quo Vadis, Domine?’: Where to Hear a New Catholic Cantata
Those looking for an incredible upcoming musical experience that is also safe and edifying for the entire family should look here. Now I give you the background story of how this vital collaboration came about. Conversations I have had in …
A Review of the Mass of the Americas
Positive trajectories and luminous developments are a rare commodity in our current ecclesial environment, despite this being part and parcel of the mission of the Church. Therefore, it was with a surprised enthusiasm that I greeted the news of the …
Return to Lothlorien: When You’re Discouraged, Rest
There was a time before my own married and family life that a friend of mine slyly described this vocation as “a beautiful bed of roses … only that somebody forgot to de-thorn the roses.” I am told that much …
Formed by Beauty: Catholic Artists Plan the Way Forward for Our Culture
An unseasonably warm and moodily rainy November 4 in Chicago saw artists and patrons from around the nation gathering for the Second Annual Catholic Art Guild Conference and Gala. Titled “Formed by Beauty,” this event was an opportunity for artists, …
A War For Meaning: Anxiety, Eschatology, Rebellion, and Hope
As a person naturally prone to pessimism and yet equally geared for the long and stubborn grind of societal combat, I find it necessary to sort out my thoughts and observations towards a clear goal in these disorienting times. I …
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