In my high school days, I used to listen to a wide range of rock music — bands like The Beatles, The Police, The Doors, U2, Rush, Van Halen, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, ELP, Steely Dan — and …
Time to Start Your Library of Classical Music
I’ve been asked many times for practical advice on how one should go about building up a library of classical music at home. (For the purposes of this article, we will use the term “classical music” to refer broadly to …
Four Marian Chants Every Catholic Should Know
Little things we do every day can transform our lives. Over time, these little things become habits. Good habits change us for the better; bad habits, for the worse. In past articles, I’ve encouraged daily mental prayer, the Rosary, and …
Beauty is a Salve: St. Mary Star of the Sea Schola, Jackson, MI
Sometimes, we get so used to war that we don’t remember what peace looks like. Sometimes, we fight so hard for every inch of ground we can’t quite remember home. This is why the question eats at me constantly: how can we …
The Beauty of a Requiem
While the wicked are confounded, Doomed to flames of woe unbounded, Call me, with Thy saints surrounded. – from the Dies Irae, sequence of the Requiem Mass One of the most profound moments of religious experience in my life was the first time …
Sacred Music as Occasion of Grace for Modern Man
Some months ago, Maestro Aurelio Porfiri approached me with the idea of authoring a statement in support of genuine sacred music, for the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Musicam Sacram. The statement would express in a clear and simple …
Is “Contemporary” Church Music a Good Example of Inculturation?
In our year-long course on music at Wyoming Catholic College, students read and discuss a chapter from Joseph Ratzinger’s book A New Song for the Lord, “The Image of the World and of Human Beings in the Liturgy and Its …
Conversion Through Art: The Music of Frank La Rocca
Saint John Paul II, in his prescient Letter to Artists, reminded us that “The Church needs art,” and that art needs the Church. While much of the Catholic world has forgotten about this document, it fell like a thunderbolt amongst …
Sacred Music vs. “Praise & Worship” – Does it Matter? (Pt. II)
Part I | Part II The fundamental problem with Praise & Worship In the first part of this essay, I offered a critique of the profane stylistic traits of Praise & Worship music, whether “soft” or “hard.”[1] Praise & Worship …
Sacred Music vs. “Praise & Worship” – Does it Matter? (Pt. I)
Part I | Part II Whenever the popes speak about sacred (i.e., liturgical) music, the very first quality they put forward is holiness or sanctity, which they describe as a certain worthiness of or suitability for the celebration of the …
