I wanted to learn how to chant. Those inky little square notes zigzagging across the four-line staff were as exciting to me as the markings on a pirate treasure map. My first attempts were in large scholas in which experienced …
Category: Culture
A Not So Silent Pandemic Attacking Our Wills
Twitter is stupid. Change my mind…in 280 characters or fewer. To that I add Instagram; Netflix; Snapchat; and, hypocritically, Facebook as being more or less worthless. Present a meme to convince me otherwise [i]. Our reliance on social media has …
Giambattista Tiepolo: Painting the Virgin, Evoking Music
On the night between March 26 and 27, 250 years ago, the great painter, interpreter of the splendors of the Venetian aristocracy, died suddenly: Giambattista Tiepolo (1696–1770). While the Vatican Post Office celebrates him with a stamp, we approach the …
Commemorating Raphael 500 Years after His Death
This year marks the five hundredth anniversary of the death of Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483–1520), the painter who left us a vast legacy of inestimable beauty and grace. This outstanding artist died, “having sunk under continuous acute fever which carried …
Good Catholic Books to Read While You’re Confined
Because many people are laid off from their jobs and unable to socialize, eat out, or even go to Mass for the foreseeable future, I’ve included a list of good Catholic books that you can read while you’re staying at …
Live-Streamed Catholicism and Feeding the Mass Addiction
Growing up in Bugnini’s liturgical reign of terror, for me, the only semblance of non–spiritually benumbed sanity at Mass came from watching EWTN’s daily Mass. I rejoiced at hearing hymns older than 1966, as well as encountering homilies void of …
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 …
Patrick of Ireland
Author’s note: there are many legends and stories of St. Patrick. In an attempt to view the saint from a different perspective, I offer a reflection on one of the most significant events in the life of the “Apostle to the …
Saints in Art: Teenage Nicholas Sings Repentance
This year — traditionally, he was born on March 15, 270 — marks the 1,750th anniversary of the birth of the bishop of Myra in modern-day Turkey, whose relics have been resting in Bari since 1087, equally venerated for his …
‘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 …