"The touching practice was done in little ad-hoc groups of students with a teacher giving a demonstration. I think the point was to make sure the students showed the correct level of "veneration" in touching the holy relic. I guess it made sure they didn't just run up and give it a good slapping.
"There was a ludicrous level of excitement, which makes you feel like a terrible curmudgeon if you can't join in - the quintessential leper-at-the-feast sort of feeling. I didn't feel I could join in because I don't have a religious molecule in my body. I carefully kept a straight face - but I can't take it seriously.
"Besides, what was going on at the school with the cross had nothing to do with me. I was wedged halfway into the case of a broken computer while it was all just going on around me."
§2. Television is to be used only:
1) To watch the news so as to keep up with national and international events;
2) To watch debates, panels, and round table discussions on church, political, historical, economic or similar topics;
3) To follow extraordinary ecclesia or scientific events;
4) To watch scientific or cultural programs and classical music performances, but not theater or similar performances (opera, zarzuela, operettas, ballets, etc...) nor festivals of popular music;
5) To watch five sports events a year, unless there is an extraordinary world sporting tournament (Olympic Games, Soccer World Cup, etc...) in which case they can view six events during the course of it.
§ Radio is to be used as an alternative to television, following the same norms.
§ Our religious are absolutely forbidden to have radios, televisions or similar instruments in their rooms or offices.
[I watch fewer than six movies a year! I think the ban on opera and theatre are cos they try to discourage 'sentimentality'. There's also an emphasis on gender stuff - being masculine. I wonder if the women are banned from watching opera and ballets too? Probably.]
Dunno if it's accurate but it says it's a true account.
More than 300 pages of it (very spaced out) - done by members on a weekly basis.
Considering the founder was "a bit dodgy" (been described as a pederast, drug addict and duplicitious sociopath and fathered a child despite claiming to be celibate), I dunno how he found time to do this examen weekly and fit in all his extracurricular activities.
BXVI *must* have known when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I wonder if this has come up at the same time as the SSPX stuff so he can deal with it together? Or maybe Maciel's daughter has come out now independently to get $$$ for her story?
For BXVI to send Maciel to a life of penance for two years - how much did the Vatican know? I knew about it from that book, Vows of Silence.
From wiki:
On 19 May 2006, the Vatican published a press communiqué, inviting Fr. Maciel to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence". The statement said Maciel had been "invited" to withdraw to "a reserved life of prayer and penitence and not carry out his ministry in public". The statement said that no trial would take place because of his "advanced age [and] frail health."
In Mexico, the Legionaries said in a statement that he had "accepted the instruction with faith, total calm, with a clear conscience knowing that it is a new cross which God, merciful father, has allowed him to suffer".
Fr Maciel declared his innocence "and, following the example of Jesus Christ, decided not to defend himself in any way." He had a private funeral, and was buried in his birth place Michoacán, in early February 2008 instead of the tomb that had been prepared for him in Rome.
They walk past all the time with no reverence and tread over everything.
They even gawk at people who kneel down praying in the pews.
I think they should have signs up explaining basic customs and reverence. They should at least bow when walking past the tabernacle.
And they were making loud comments, like: "It's not as good as Notre Dame", etc, comparing it with other churches worldwide. It's just not the place to be insulting the architecture etc.
There's no entry fee for visiting - just a voluntary donation box. I wish they'd stay out with that attitude. It wrecks the ambience.
Unless you want to print it at work.
The content all looks great - she has three levels to represent beginner, intermediate and advanced: Angel, Archangel and Principality, and you have to complete spiritual and health tasks (eg. Bible readings, going for health checks, improving diet) before going to the next level.
Lots of tips: eg. use a Rosary ring or string with knots at the gym, or download the rosary with music in the background from iTunes. All the links are there for buying this stuff and more books on the Rosary.
Lots about the Rosary - its history etc.
Excellent content and detailed programs but my little black and white laser printer found it difficult to print. Most of the book is still on my PC!
http://www.rosaryworkout.com
From Cathnews:
"It was probably only a matter of time before an enterprising Catholic combined one of the greatest prayers, the Rosary, with physical exercise. The Rosary Workout advertises itself as a unique program to care for the body and soul together, blending Rosary prayer and meditation with the most modern principles of exercise science.
"The site is the brainchild of a "devout Catholic" and exercise fanatic, Peggy Bowes. The site is not a site for the casual visitor searching for information, it is the front-office for the author's products. http://www.rosaryworkout.com"
I tried ordering but the site (US one) claimed my address didn't match the address on my credit card. They don't seem to have set it up right to receive overseas orders. I sent a message. So frustratedly waiting for a reply.
It was incredible.
Am sleeping for the next four days.
zzzz....
Nicholas Rynne, 27, has been in the Good Shepherd Seminary, Sydney, for the past 3 and a half years and recently completed the Juventutem Gregorian chant workshops taught by David Molloy.
“I love the music,” Rynne says. “Chant encapsulates the artistic/aesthetic and spiritual traditions of the Catholic Church and I wanted to learn more about it.”
He’d first studied Gregorian chant at a workshop given by Tony Vaughan in
“I am excitedly anticipating the Mass at St Mary's Cathedral during World Youth Day for the dedication of the new altar when seminarians from
“This means we will chant for the reception of the Holy Father; the procession to the sanctuary; the antiphon and psalm when the relics are deposited in the new altar; the antiphon and psalm for the anointing, incensing and lighting of the new altar; and during communion and at the end of Mass.”
Rynne says he attended the Juventutem workshops because he wanted to learn how to read the medieval notation and review the “Sol-fa” system.
“An important thing I learnt was the use of tempo and phrasing (called the ‘arsis’ and ‘thesis’). A big problem is that many people perform chant slowly and without any dynamics – there’s no undulation in the sound. Consequently, many people think all Gregorian chant is depressing and dull. But the music is alive and full of subtle nuance if it is read and performed properly.
“When I sing Gregorian chant I feel it’s a deeply aesthetically and spiritually pleasing exercise.”
Rynne said he would like to further his chant studies by doing more work on the “Sol-fa” system, and learning the Gregorian “modes”.
“I’m being sent to a new seminary after World Youth Day - the
It was freezing in the church hall but we embraced the penance of the austere conditions, which are similar to those of Carthusian monks living on snowy mountainsides in stone buildings with no heating. Teacher David Molloy said stuff which I chiselled onto a solid block of ice.
HISTORY
+The monks used to learn 152 psalms in their first year in a monastery. They memorised everything.
+The dates marked on chant songs only indicate when the first manuscript evidence of the song was found. Chants are much older than those dates – they go back to the 5th century.
+The Ornate chants - offertories, alleluias and graduals – were much more elaborate so they were written down first.
+The Ordinary chants - Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Gloria – had unchanging words and were written down last.
Dom Cardine (1905-1988) developed the
+Chant is “soft singing” but support the breath with the diaphram.
+Strongest sound is the first line. Full sound at the beginning.
+Whenever you sing the word “Christe”, soften the “e” – don’t make it into a big operatic moment.
+Arsis and thesis. Beginning of a phrase is an arsis. Thesis = a gradual softening, fading away.
+U can have three arses in a row, then three theses. (It’s the only time u can say arses in church without getting into trouble.)
+An ictus is like a bar line.
+A liquescent is a reminder to clearly pronounce a Latin consonant. There’s never a liquescent in a melisma because melismas are always sung on a vowel.
+It’s important to pronounce consonants clearly so u can understand the text.
+There are formulas for lots of notes together – you get to recognise the set formulas. Many chants use long sections of established tunes and just change them a little bit, up or down.
You can use computer software programs [such as Chant Scribe or GregEdit] to churn out ancient notation that monks had done by hand with quills.
We sang Ubi Caritas and then David played a version of it from Durufle Meese “Cum Jublis” Op. 11 by Maurice Durufle. “This new interpretation shows chant is not unchanging. We can regard chant as our folk music and can build on that to make modern compositions.”
David gave us four pages of suitable chant books. “If you just get one book, get the Parish Book of Chant by the Church Music Association of America, $US14 from the www.musicasacra.com site.”
The most complete collection of chants is the Liber usualis, which contains the chants in the 1980s for the Tridentine Mass and the most commonly used Office chants. David had got a free copy in the 1980s from a seminary which had been using it as a doorstop.
+ “If your parish priest isn’t keen on Latin, get By Flowing Waters by Paul Ford, in singable English.
“This presents its own dilemma in that the English translations have never been ‘‘approved’’.
“We can sing Gregorian chant in church or ‘some other suitable song’ – problem is, the other ‘suitable song’ might have inappropriate words,” David pointed out.
Then R gave us glossy pamphlets celebrating the life of the Blessed Miguel Pro (martyred 1927).
This was the last class until WYD starts.
We started the lesson with a prayer, then, because we had a few new people in the class, teacher David Molloy went over a bit of the history.
This included how the Monastery Library of Sankt Gallen in Switzerland has surving remnants of the earliest forms of chant notation and how the monks of Solesmes were the first ones to clean up chant in the 1880s and produced a Gregorian Missal.
In the US, Justine Ward, established a method for teaching chant and donated money to the Catholic University in the US so chant courses would continue to be taught.
In Australia, Dr Percy Jones and Fr Albert Lynch learnt the Ward method when they went to Rome for priesthood studies, and they came back and taught it at St Mary's Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral choirs in Sydney and in Perth, WA.
Then we learnt how to sing a torculus, as it says in the "Square Notes Workbook", so it "floats like a feather in the breeze". When singing a dotted podatus, we had to imagine "letting your feather float away".
Other points included:
+Speed up unaccented notes and slow slightly at accented notes.
+Quicken up in the middle of the phrase and slow down towards the end, because that's the pace of the language.
+Even though a porrectus is drawn like "swooping" notes, don't swoop.
"We sing some words slower to highlight a theological point in the text. For example, 'The Lord said to me, you are MY son," Molloy said.
We practised the O Salutaris, Pie Jesu, Confirma Hoc, and Alma Redemptoris.
Some good websites to check out include the Church Association of America (www.musicasacra.com) and the New Liturgical Movement (http://thenewliturgicalmovement
Molloy recommended some chant CDs – FSSP in the US (http://www.fssp.com/main/chant
For homework, we have to practice the Alma Redemptoris and finish the exercises in the workbook.
Fr T dropped in from Melbourne, along with a newly ordained deacon, Andrew.
We finished class with the Angelus, then went to lunch at the London Hotel, where the bartender looked amazed when 20 people ordered tap water and soft drinks with our meals.
Discussion included a Gregorian chanter's nightmare situation: after days of hard slog rehearsals, singing at a Mass where the priest leaves his microphone switched on and sings the chant at a s-l-o-w pace. "Priests, please switch off your microphones when the choir sings."
Afterwards, the Juventutem choir members went back to rehearse for a few hours.
The next chant class will be held this Saturday, from 9am to 12.30pm, at St Augustine's Church, 3 Jane St, Balmain, and costs $30, which includes a chant textbook. The workshops are being sponsored by Juventutem in preparation for the group's big WYD08 event on July 16 - a chant masterclass by US Gregorian chant expert, Scott Turkington, followed by Vespers with Cardinal George Pell, at the church in Balmain.
For more information about Juventutem Australia, visit http://juventutem-australia.com. To study Gregorian chant after WYD, contact David Molloy, davidmolloy@bigpond.com. Ecclesiastical Latin classes, Joy Gray, joy.gray@optusnet.com.au. Traditional Latin Mass community, http://maternalheart.org.
This WYD08 will be the first one held after Pope Benedict XVI’s encouragement of the Latin mass and Gregorian chant in his letter to the Bishops that accompanied the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum in July last year.
This is seen as a positive development by Juventutem, a group of youth who celebrate the Latin rite, and first attended a WYD in
Juventutem’s two official WYD08 events will be held on Wednesday, July 16, at
The day will start with catechesis at
Later that evening, Cardinal Francis George of
Meanwhile, in preparation for the chant masterclass, 30 people from different parishes throughout
The sessions are being run by Australian church musician, David Molloy, an experienced organist, choir director and teacher who has spent more than 40 years learning sacred music. Over the years, his studies have taken him to
Once WYD is over, as a long-term goal, it’s hoped there will be enough interest generated to start a Gregorian chant organisation so sacred music could be taught on a larger scale.
“Pope Pius X in his famous motu proprio on Sacred Music written in 1903 requested that Higher Institutions of Sacred Music be established for the proper teaching of Sacred Music,” said David Molloy. “This request was again reiterated by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. It has been taken seriously in some other countries.
“In Austria, each diocese has its own church-run Conservatorium of Music to teach liturgical music. In
For information about Juventutem, visit http://juventutem-australia.com. For details about learning Gregorian chant, contact David Molloy at davidmolloy@bigpond.com.
Four workshops are being sponsored by Juventutem in preparation for the group’s big WYD08 event on July 16 - a chant masterclass by US Gregorian chant expert, Scott Turkington, followed by Vespers with Cardinal George Pell.
The first lesson began with a prayer. Then teacher David Molloy played the well-known Do-Re-Mi song from The Sound Of Music. The Do-Re-Mi scale (known as the So-Fa System) is used for Gregorian chant and for homework we have to memorise it forwards and backwards. Also, we learnt some of the history from our textbook, “Square Notes Workbook In Gregorian Chant” by Sister Judith OP. We were also given photocopies of early manuscripts made by monks – before music notes had been invented – where they drew the hand movements of choir masters as various swirls and arches at various heights to indicate the tune.
Other points included:
+Gregorian chant is named after St Gregory because he was the first person to standardise it.
+”Do” isn’t as in “Doe, a deer” – it’s as in “Do-minus.” “Re” isn’t a drop of golden sun, it was the first syllable of “Resonare”.
+Chant notes are square because they were drawn with quills.
+There are many technical terms, including punctums, neums and porrectus.
+Always soften the final syllable of each sentence so the sound dies away (“mora vocis”).
+You have to roll the “r” in Latin otherwise other Latin speakers can’t understand it.
+Alleluias and consonants shouldn’t be punched out and sung like Pavarotti – keep the words soft and smooth.
We practised a few rounds of Do Re Mi, then had a break for tea with jam and bread. Plus some freshly baked scones with cream.
In the second half, there was an emphasis on singing the chant by placing emphasis on the right words so it’s a meaningful prayer. “There needs to be internal participation – bubbling out,” Molloy said.
“Think about the words when you’re singing to keep your mind and heart engaged.”
It’s preferable to sing in old churches because the resonance smoothes out the flaws.
“Buildings constructed in the 1970s and 80s with low roofs, carpet, and cork tiles on the ceilings suck up the sound so the choir have to wear microphones.
“People feel more comfortable singing in older churches where the building is like an extra instrument and helps the choir sound its best.”
He says it’s a mistake to think Gregorian chant should always be slow.
“It can be sung fresh and brightly. The things that slow chant down include taking breaths and the congregation. It’s important to lock in the rhythm to counteract that.
“You have to fight against letting chant get slower and slower.”
Then we finished with a prayer and adjourned to the nearby
After lunch, the experienced choir members returned to the hall to do several hours of rehearsal for an upcoming ordination.
For more information about Juventutem
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brothers_keeperDear Lord Jesus, please forgive me for all the times I have not submitted to you. Forgive me for all sinfulness and for agreeing with the enemy and his lies. I now submit to you. Now I break every agreement that I have made with the enemy.
Lord Jesus, may your warring angels remove and bind to the abyss all demons and their devices that had access to me because I believed their lies. I ask you to establish a hedge of protection around me, over me, and under me, and seal it with your blood.
I choose to put on the full armor of God and ask that you cleanse me and seal me, body, mind, soul and spirit, with your blood. May your warring angels bind up and remove all demons, their devices, and all their power from within this protective hedge and have them sent to the abyss.
May your warriors destroy all demonic, occult, or witchcraft assignments directed against me including all backups and replacements. May your warriors remove all trafficking people and send them back to their own bodies and seal them there with your blood. May your angels stand guard over me and protect me from all the attacks of the enemy.
Amen
"Don't stand next to the walls!" They were still drying. It's lemon/white.
"U can sit on the floor - it's Holy Father Standard Carpet."
Food was sausages and buns and salad and soft drink. Pell was s'posed to talk about the Pope but he "was busy".
There are rumours Rome doesn't like Pell at the moment - no reason we know of.
The WYD peeps are so stressed out and saying: "We can't wait til it's over." They're under pressure cos they get so much negative press.
They've been working on it for three years. Met the girl tonite - looks like she's 25 - who's in charge of the sausage sizzle for 220,000 people. "Better start cooking now," someone said. She's freaking out.
No one has paid up yet. They have by June 30.
Didn't have to do Theology of the Body - we chatted about the Pope. And the Franciscans heard confessions. The Franciscans have two habits - winter and summer. "Ur outfit is great, and also the Dominicans."
"From the same era - we were first. This was normal wear back then."
The religious who wear nice habits tend to be pleased to talk about them.
Fr Y is ecstatic cos four nuns who wear the "boxy hats" are coming from Poland for WYD. "There are going to be religious wearing unusual outfits everywhere."
Fr Y asked for my Mum's address so he can write to her since she's so sickly - I'm really surprised but it must be part of their pastoral care. They take the pastoral care stuff very seriously. Amazing.
+++++++++++
Did gregorian chant class last week. and this week. and the women's spirituality meeting. Then WYD stuff. Don't have time to write anything down. And trying to organise tickets to the Mamma Mia film premiere for a group of ABBA fans. arrrggghh! We're trying to get costumes made up too - that's July 8, I think.
only 30 days to go to WYD and my head is spinning.
But everything going well and on track. It'll be great - the people are really nice to hang out with.
Am going to pop into town to buy a copy of Theology of the Body.
Do re me fa so la ti do! do ti la so fa me re do! (have to memorise that scale.)
"The Convalescent Unit at the Church of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in Darlinghurst has been detailed as the venue for the Pope's meeting with the handicapped youth on July 18 July, the Friday evening of the WYD week."
MEETING CALLED TO PLAN ACTION AGAINST THE POPE & WORLD YOUTH DAY!
Pope Benedict is coming to Sydney for "World Youth Day" which will be held from the 15th til 20th July. There will be a meeting to plan an appropriate "Action against the Pope" at the UTS Student Association on Wednesday June 11 at 6pm.
On the night all groups and individuals will voice their ideas and will work together to plan and coordinate appropriate actions.
Various groups have expressed interest in planning an action against his arrival on the basis that:
The Roman Catholic Church has an absolute ban on condom use whilst HIV/AIDS is on the rise and millions are suffering and dying everyday from the disease especially in third world countries.
* Pope Benedict is anti-gay, lesbian and anti- queer. He is anti same-sex/equal marriage and anti same-sex adoption.
Quotes from Pope Benedict:
"There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law."
"Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development. "
Join with Community Action Against Homophobia in raising our voices against the Pope's anti gay and anti-condom agenda. Join with us in discussing how to raise these issues when the Pope arrives.
Bring your friends, passion, brains and wit!
For more info contact CAAH
www.caah.org
X writes:
"I had a WYD Catholic experience this week. I was trapped in a Catholic primary school fixing a computer for five hours on Wednesday. There was great excitement because ''the CROSS was coming!''. Apparently they are driving a cross around the country, and that was our day. Some kid had to symbolically trudge it into the church, with much attendant fanfare.
"They had children practicing 'touch the cross' - personally I liked the reach-out-to-something-until-your-fingers-make-contact method of touching objects, and I mastered that when I was a toddler!
Four sisters from the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church, in Spokane, Washington, have been sponsored by Juventutem to attend WYD08.
These women had lived in a sedevacantist community for several decades, and have recently returned to the bosom of Holy Mother Church. They will become an approved Public Association of the Faithful on June 24. Formerly, the Sisters were members of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen.
Their website tells why the Sisters decided to leave their community and accept the authority of the Pope.
"Technology helped the Sisters’ decide to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church. For some Sisters, the internet made information from primary sources more easily available at any time. Sisters began following what the Pope was doing and saying, albeit at first to determine if he was Catholic. For others, Catholic radio provided the evidence and encouragement that there were real Catholics in the world today. The Sisters began to realize that everyone in the Church was not progressive-minded, but that there was a very strong conservative element in the Church, especially among younger people. Television allowed other Sisters to witness the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Seeing these ceremonies encouraged them to examine more closely what these men actually taught."
