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The ringing of bells. Latin wafting high into the church rafters. Women's heads draped in lace. There is a solemn aura to 9 a.m. Sunday Mass at Saint Mary Mother of God, a D.C. parish on Fifth Street NW where hundreds of Catholics who long for ancient ritual gather each week to celebrate what is among the most traditional and complex of Roman Catholic rites: the Tridentine Mass.... ...But mostly there is a powerful silence, a seriousness created by the absence of contemporary church: no responsive readings, no guitars, no congregants walking to a microphone to read from Scripture or...

Archbishop Raymond Burke, who previously consecrated his former Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is known as one of very few bishops in the United States who has sincerely been "wide and generous" (Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, by Pope John Paul II, June 1988) in allowing all of the Classical Roman rite sacraments in his diocese. He has begun to show his benevolence toward the Classical Roman liturgy and sacraments also in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, as will be shown later in this interview. Bishop Fernando Rifan, the only traditionalist bishop in full communion with...

A recent Vatican statement calls for parishes to revive traditional music at Mass?what Rome has been saying all along. By Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker A moving moment occurred at Pope Benedict XVI's outdoor inaugural Mass last April. During the recessional, the Marian antiphon for the Easter season, the ?Regina Caeli,? was sung by worshipers from around the world, including the pope himself. It was beautiful and inspiring but for one problem. Most American Catholics under the age of 60 can't conjure even the first notes or words of this once-popular hymn. Even the most basic of Catholic chants?"Ubi...

Interview With President of Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music VATICAN CITY, DEC. 24, 2005 (ZENIT.org).- Gregorian chant has been unjustly abandoned and its place in the life of the Church should be recovered, says a Vatican aide. Monsignor Valenti Miserachs Grau made this declaration at a recent encounter organized by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments at the Vatican. Monsignor Miserachs has been president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music since 1995. This Spanish musician, who has composed more than 2,000 pieces, is also the canonical chapel director of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome....

Gregorian Chant Is Returning from Exile. Maybe Valentino Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, is calling for its revival. Pope Joseph Ratzinger wants it, too. But the path is full of obstacles by Sandro Magister ROMA, December 7, 2005 – As on other occasions in the past, this year on December 5 the Vatican Congregation for Worship dedicated one day to the study of sacred music, on the anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy, “Sacrosanctum Concilium.” The previous days have never produced any significant results. But now there is a pope, Benedict...

Echoes of Catholic MilitancyA recent book titled, No More Christian Nice Guy, outlines a prevalent error in society. The book’s author, Paul Coughlin, explains that Christianity has been divorced of masculinity to such an extent that many Christian men feel stifled and even suffocated when trying to practice the Faith. However, this emasculated Christianity is opposed by the teachings of Christ and two thousand years of Catholic tradition. Indeed, Christ gave a supreme example of manliness when he railed against the Pharisees and again when He drove the money changers from the Temple. Following His example, pious Catholic men throughout...

Catholic musicians are haunted by the question: Is the music in our parishes getting better or worse? Supposing we agree on what that means (and granting that some members of an aging generation are still attached to guitars and folk styles), it is a very difficult question to answer. The experience of the local parish reveals only so much. However desperately many of us hope and pray for a return to sanctity in music, along with chant and music especially suited for the liturgy, there are very few markers available to tell whether progress is being made. What about commercial...

De Musica Sacra, the 1958 instruction on sacred music for the liturgy, is an oft-ignored document in the Catholic music culture wars, usually due to the fact that most of the battles take place on the aesthetic level. My heart will always prefer chant, and in its absence, well-crafted sacred music. However, having made my intellectual peace with musical taste, I want once again to highlight the fact that the music reforms of the twentieth century were moving not only towards authentic sacred music, but also towards an expanded role for the psalms. De Musica Sacra 27a-c gives the explicit...

Ralph Stanley singing "Angel Band," the strains of "Amazing Grace" and "Just as I am," often sung at the altar call, are the sort of sacred music most often heard in Northwest Arkansas, given the region’s deep associations with evangelical Protestantism. But for some people in the area, the ancient form of music known as Gregorian chant has a unique power and appeal. "The chant has proven itself over the centuries to be a powerful way to bring oneself into a spiritual state," said Roger Gross, a drama professor at the University of Arkansas. "Nothing has ever been so conducive...

St Gregory,St Vapianus and st Domitilla ST. BEDE THE VENERABLE St. Gregory the Great Tradition has assigned the name Great to only two Popes, St. Leo I (440-461) and St. Gregory I (590-604). The latter is perhaps best remembered for his efforts to promote the conversion of the English. The following account is from St. Bede's classic work (written before 731) on early English Church history. In the year of our Lord 605, having ruled the apostolic Roman Church most illustriously for thirteen years, six months, and ten days, the blessed Pope Gregory died and was taken up to...

Director of Sistine Chapel Choir Views the State of Affairs ASSISI, Italy, AUG. 30, 2002 (ZENIT.org-Avvenire).- Post-Vatican II reform opened great possibilities for composers "so long as they enter into the spirit of the rite," says the director of the Sistine Chapel Choir. For the past 10 years Monsignor Giuseppe Liberto has been the official composer of the national Liturgical Week, which was just held in Assisi. Here, he evaluates the liturgical evolution since the Second Vatican Council. Q: Next year the liturgical reform will be 40 years old. How do you evaluate it, from the musical point of view?...