Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog

Ignatius Press best-sellers for the month and year

Current Ignatius Press best-selling books, films, and CDs for the month and year:

Top Ten Books of The Month	Top Ten Books of the Year
1. YOUCAT 2. The Light of the Faith 3. YOUCAT Study Guide 4. The Ear of the Heart 5. Ignatius Bible (RSV), 2nd Edition 6. The Transforming Power of Faith 7. YOUCAT Youth Prayer Book 8. In Him Alone Is Our Hope 9. 7 Secrets of Confession 10. He Comes! He Comes!	1. YOUCAT 2. Francis: Pope of a New World 3. The Ear of the Heart 4. YOUCAT Prayer Book 5. The Miracle of Father Kapaun 6. The Light of Faith 7. History of the Catholic Church 8. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week 9. Be A Man! 10. Ignatius Bible (RSV), 2nd Edition
Top Ten Films of the Month	Top Ten Films of the Year
1. St. Giuseppe Moscati 2. Pius XII: Under the Roman Sky 3. Padre Pio: Miracle Man 4. Saint Barbara 5. Who Is Pope Francis? 6. For Greater Glory 7. Popieluszko 8. The Miracle of Father Kapaun 9. Bakhita 10. In Her Footsteps	1. Pius XII: Under the Roman Sky 2. For Greater Glory 3. In Her Footsteps 4. Saint Barbara 5. The Greatest Miracle 6. Popieluszko 7. Bakhita 8. Padre Pio: Miracle Man 9. The Miracle of Father Kapaun 10. Powers and Dominions
Top Ten CDs of the Month	Top Ten CDs of the Year
1. Mater Eucharistiae 2. Angels and Saints at Ephesus 3. Then Sings My Soul 4. Chant: Music for the Soul 5. His Love Remains 6. Voice from Assisi 7. Advent at Ephesus 8. Harmony: The Priests 9.Gregorian Chant 10. Catholic Marian Classics	1. Angels and Saints at Ephesus 2. His Love Remains 3. Then Sings My Soul 4. Voice from Assisi 5. Chant: Music for the Soul 6. Alma Mater 7. Harmony: The Priests 8. Sacred Arias 9. Mater Eucharistiae 10. Through the Eyes of His Mother

The Arts—Agents of Change and Source of Enchantment

The Arts—Agents of Change and Source of Enchantment | Carl E. Olson | CWR

Dana and Ted Gioia discuss literature, music, education, business, culture, and the Catholic Faith.

Dana and Ted Gioia (pronounced JOY-uh) are authors, musicians, composers, critics, educators, and businessmen. They are also brothers, born and raised in Hawthorne, California, in an Italian-Mexican, Catholic family. Although both have been interviewed numerous times over the years, this marks the first time they have been interviewed together, answering the same questions.

Dana Gioia (www.DanaGioia.net), the eldest, is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet, and the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He received a BA and an MBA from Stanford University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. He has published four full-length collections of poetry (and several shorter collections), and the collection Interrogations at Noon won the 2002 American Book Award. His poetry has also appeared in numerous anthologies. His 1991 book, Can Poetry Matter?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award. His poems, translations, essays, and reviews have appeared in many magazines, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Dana has written three opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German. Renominated in November 2006 for a second term and once again unanimously confirmed by the US Senate, he was the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He left his position as Chairman in 2009, and in 2011 he became the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California, where he teaches each fall semester. He is also a member of the College of Fellows at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Berkeley). Dana has been the recipient of ten honorary degrees and has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Laetare Medal from Notre Dame. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons, and he divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California.

Ted Gioia (www.TedGioia.com), seven years younger than Dana, has published eight non-fiction books, most recently the bestselling The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire.  His book The History of Jazz was selected as one of the twenty best books of the year in 1997 by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post, and was chosen as a notable book of the year in The New York Times. His 2008 book Delta Blues was also selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 most notable of the year, and was picked as one of the best books of the year by The Economist. In 2006, Ted published two books simultaneously, Work Songs and Healing Songs, and both were honored with a special ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. His 2009 book, The Birth (and the Death) of Cool, was a work of cultural criticism and a historical survey of hipness, and his concept of post-cool, outlined in this work, was highlighted as one of the “ideas of the year” by Adbusters. Ted’s writings have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Salon, American Scholar, Hudson Review, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. Ted received a degree in English at Stanford (graduating with honors and distinction), served as editor of Stanford’s literary magazine, Sequoia. He also worked extensively as a jazz pianist during that time, and designed and taught a class on jazz at Stanford while still an undergraduate. After graduation, Gioia received a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, where he graduated with first class honors. He then received an MBA from Stanford University. Ted has also consulted to Fortune 500 companies, and has undertaken business projects in numerous countries on five continents. In the 1980s he established a formal jazz studies program at Stanford, and served on the faculty alongside artist-in-residence Stan Getz for several years. His first book, The Imperfect Art, published in 1988, was awarded the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award and was named a “Jazz Book of the Century” by Jazz Educators Journal. Ted has recorded several jazz albums, including The End of the Open Road, Tango Cool, and The City is a Chinese Vase.

Carl E. Olson, editor of CWR, interviewed Dana and Ted over the past couple of months, asking each the same questions about their childhood, their faith, literature and music, education, American culture, and the role of the Church in supporting the arts.

CWR: Is it accurate to say that two influences profoundly shaped your childhood years: your family’s Catholic faith and your uncle, Ted, who died before you had a chance to know him? What role did each play in your intellectual and cultural formation? What other influences are noteworthy?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Carl's Cut's (For the End of Summer, Start of Fall)

Carl's Cut's (For the End of Summer, Start of Fall) | Carl E. Olson | CWR blog

Commentary on matters big, small, light, heavy, ecclesial, secular, musical, and otherwise.

• A friend, whose alma mater is the University of Notre Dame, wrote me this morning: "Apparently, Pope Francis gave some crazy interview in which he implied that Catholics should not be 'obsessed' with ND football.  A sure sign the end of all things is nigh." He did not send a link to the original comment in Italian, so I cannot verify.

• It is rumored that the word of the month for September is "credibility". It's not clear how credible those rumors really are.

• In recent decades, there have been serious cuts to the funding of good, sharp satire. One reason is that it's difficult to satirize a culture that would make most forays into the satirical arts look like a pale imitation of the madness that holds sway. A recent example is the case of a former British soldier who is now, well, something else altogether:

A former trained soldier has swapped her Territorial Army beret for a veil and become Britain's first transgender Muslim woman. Lucy Vallender used to be called Laurens and says she is finally 'true to herself' after a sex change three years ago. The 28-year-old is now married to a Muslim man she met on an online dating site, but he did not know she was once a man when they wed.

 No, of course he didn't. Because that would likely exhibit some sort of "gender bias", right? Except I doubt that was part of the equation. But if this story were an equation, we'd have to use the "≠" sign as nothing adds up.

• Speaking of changes, the former Crystal Cathedral is undergoing many substantial changes:

The Crystal Cathedral was to [Robert] Schuller what Graceland was to Elvis. Now it has been bought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, which has long coveted having a cathedral that sat at the center of its vast footprint of 1.2 million Catholics. 

The name has already been changed to the Christ Cathedral. But the work of liturgical consultants, priests and architects to transform a temple so closely identified as a symbol of Schuller's sunny, uniquely Southern Californian theology into one that conforms to the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church has just begun.

"The exterior will always be the Crystal Cathedral, at least for a while," said Duncan Stroik, a professor of architecture at Notre Dame and editor of the publication Sacred Architecture Journal. "Catholic on the inside, but kind of Protestant on the outside."

Those who have taken on the project recognize that their assignment is a intimidating one, but they also have faith: They can turn the Crystal Cathedral into the Christ Cathedral.

Read the entire story on the LA Times site. It is heartening to read the comments by Dr. Stroik, who is leading the way in the revival of great Catholic architecture, as evidenced in part by his recent book, book, The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal, which was reviewed for CWR by Dr. Amanda Clark earlier this year.

• Is Hollywood out of ideas? Has it tapped out when it comes to fresh cinematic adventures for the masses? I'd say the answer is tilting hard toward “Yes” when there is a remake of Left Behind currently in the works. And it stars Nicholas Cage. Yes, the Apocalypse is upon us, and it will cost you $10.00 to experience for two hours.

• In light of recent events and the reaction of some, I propose that Matthew 16:18 (New Jerusalem Translation) be re-written as follows:

So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it, up and until a twenty-first century pope gives a lengthy interview which fractures the very foundation of said community and destroys the faith of millions and plunges the world into darkness and confusion not seen since said pope's comments about atheism a few months earlier.

A bit wordy, I suppose, but I'm sure the original Greek will flow like honey. (And, please, spare me the angry e-mails. Just leave angry comments. We need more comments. I get paid by the comment.)

• Clueless Cut of the Week comes courtesy of mushy, trendy, lefty “Evangelical” author and know-it-all, Brian McClaren: “We have a Catholic priesthood more concerned with keeping women out of the priesthood as the world is destroyed by carbon gases. … We have evangelicals with the audacity to say that homosexual people are ruining marriage. I think anyone who says that should be laughed off the stage. Heterosexual people do that on their own, thanks.” No word if McClaren and Jody Bottum are working on a book together yet.

• I enjoy reading nearly anything by the Anglican Scripture scholar N.T. Wright, and his recent interview with Christianity Today about the Psalms is not exception:

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord, All Ye Sisters

Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord, All Ye Sisters | Christopher S. Morrissey | Catholic World Report

A chart-topping album from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist serves up beauty so we may open our hearts to God.

These are the sisters who surprised even Oprah. Exuberant and radiant, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have been shining their light in the most surprising cultural venues. Oprah herself was amazed to learn about how young women have been attracted to this vibrant community, bursting with vocations, where the average age is under 30. Now as always, vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience bear fruitful witness. A life fully devoted to prayer and apostolic service is ever beautiful.

Capitalizing on that earlier media attention from daytime television, the sisters have just now released Mater Eucharistiae, a highly successful album of sacred music that has quickly ascended the classical charts since its release in August. Its calm and contemplative beauty brings the listener into the aural space where the sisters themselves pray daily. By sharing some of their favorite sacred music with the world, they make striking use of modern media to issue a special invitation. They want everyone to open their hearts to the peace and joy that they have discovered. This music is the way of beauty by which they make their appeal.

The sisters are a community of consecrated women canonically established in 1997 by Cardinal John O’Connor of New York. The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist follow the monastic observance given to them by their tradition. This Dominican tradition encompasses both common life and cloister. Thus they experience times of silence on a daily basis, as well as sing the Divine Office and attend daily Mass. In addition, the sisters have an active charism that blooms forth in their love for education and the formation of the young. They teach in and administer small, private Catholic schools, such as the Spiritus Sanctus Academies in Michigan.

Clearly, these Dominican sisters have used prayerful discernment and deployed their gifts wisely and judiciously with their album release. This simple and humble offering of a selection of music—a musical window into their life of joy—has obviously moved many people. I hope you will buy copies not only for yourself, but also as quiet and unassuming gifts to give to anyone. You never know what response a surprise gift may evoke. The sisters’ music could stir up a surprising response in someone’s heart.

What will someone hear when they play this album?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

The Feast of Two Remarkable Doctors

The Feast of Two Remarkable Doctors | Carl E. Olson

Today is the Feast of two Doctors of the Church, a man and a woman who are remarkable in many ways, including in how very different they are from one another.

First, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) was an Italian and one of the first Jesuits who became a leading controversialist and apologist due to his theological prowess. He worked closely with St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. Francis de Sales (the latter also being named a Doctor of the Church). Among Bellarmine's many accomplishments, his work in the realm of ecclesiology is especially notable, as Fr. John Hardon, SJ, pointed out years ago in a fine essay, "Communion of Saints: St. Robert Bellarmine on the Mystical Body of Christ":

It is significant that Bellarmine went out of his way to emphasize what seems so obvious to us—that the Mystical Body of Christ is also the established Church of Christ. Until his time, there were relatively few Christians not in communion with Rome who claimed that their organization was the Body of Christ of which St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "You are the Body of Christ, member for member" (I Cor., xii. 27). But with the advent of Luther and Calvin the situation changed. On the one hand, they preached an invisible Church founded on faith and predestination; on the other hand, they called their Church the Body of Christ. This was a new idea and challenge to traditional Catholic theology.

The Mystical Body of Christ, the predestinarians argued, is not unlike His tangible physical Body. And since the whole physical Body of Christ is in heaven and glorified with all its component parts, it follows that the Mystical Body should also arrive at heavenly glory in all its individual members. The statement looks harmless enough until we examine its implications. If every member of the Mystical Body is going to be saved and the Church of Christ is the Body, then the only members of the Church are those whom God has eternally decreed should enter heaven. Everyone else is a putative member only, deceived by God and deceiving himself that he is even a Christian, much less a part of the Mystical Body.
"My first reaction to this doctrine," Bellarmine observes, "is that the opposition has pushed the analogy between the mystical and physical Bodies of Christ far beyond the limits ever intended for them by the Apostle. They are certainly alive in general outline, but not in every detail. And besides, even the physical Body of Christ entered heaven and was glorified only in its formal constituents, but not in all its natural parts, many of which were lost and changed with the passage of time, as we notice happens in our own bodies.

So, it is correct enough to say that the whole Mystical Body will be saved in its constitutive elements, inasmuch as every class in the Catholic Church—apostles, prophets, teachers, confessors and virgins—will be represented among the saved. It is not true, however, that all its material elements, that is, every numerical member of the Mystical Body, will finally attain to salvation."

This same idea—that external membership does not, in fact, equal certain salvation—was clearly reiterated in Vatican II's Lumen Gentium:

Church Fathers and Church Music

Church Fathers and Church Music | Christopher B. Warner | CWR

The Fathers of the Church can help us refine our liturgical worship after 50 years of subjection to sentimental pop music.

At the beginning of this 50th anniversary year of Vatican II, Benedict XVI called for a renewed, authentic reading and implementation of the council documents. After suffering through many decades of vulgar, saccharine Church music, it is encouraging to note a rise of musicians who are serious about authentic reform of sacred worship. The recent Sacred Liturgy Conference in Rome was a great success, and there is a spirit of joyful, liturgical rejuvenation among the youth. Today’s composers are considering many facets of sacred music theory and history as they strive for the renewal of theocentric orthodoxy in liturgical worship. A brief look at the last 50 years in light of the early Church Fathers’ teachings provides a surprisingly relevant breath of fresh air.

Most Catholics are all too familiar with the folk music “reforms” to liturgical music of the 1970s and ’80s. Adopting secular music and the spirit of the age, untutored youth began setting music to pop-style rhythms and melodies, usually with acoustic guitar accompaniment. This style of liturgical music became immensely popular, spread rapidly, and was taken up by prolific composers such as Marty Haugen and David Haas. Michael Matheson Miller of the Acton Institute refers to this liturgical Candyland as the “suburban rite.” The problem with this music, noted by more than one critic, is that it is filled with fuzzy doctrine and the spirit of the sexual revolution: “peace,” “love,” and bad style.

On the other hand, many remember the Grammy-award winning CD Chant, which hit the music market in 1994 and became an overnight sensation. Chant, sung by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos, appealed to traditional Christians and New-Age listeners alike. It was considered the perfect antidote to a stressful, workaholic world exacerbated by paltry pop music. The perennial qualities of plainchant became self-evident to the listener of these recordings. But for the monks, plainchant was more than a musical expression that they appreciated and polished like curators of a museum; it was essential to their life of prayer. The monks explained in the jewel-case insert for Chant how they had become physically ill, suffering fatigue and exhaustion, while experimenting with post-Vatican II music for the Divine Office. The sentimental emotion of pop and folk melodies was not sustainable over a seven-hour worship day.

Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, noted that, in addition to recent pontiffs, the early Fathers of the Church also illuminate the function of sacred music. A deeper reading of the Fathers, beloved by Pope Emeritus Benedict, can assist us in liturgical renewal.

St. Basil the Great and charismatic music

Far from being distant and “out of touch,” the words of the Fathers are quite down-to-earth and often humorous.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Watch CBS News feature on Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist recently released their first album of music, Mater Eucharistiae , and it has quickly become a hit, reaching #2 on the Amazon.com bestseller's list.

Singing both a capella and with the accompaniment of organ, trumpet, and chimes, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have created a collection that is reflective of the music in their daily community life.

This album is produced by Blanton Alspaugh, 2013 Grammy Award Winning Classical Producer of Year. And engineered by John Newton, 3x Grammy Award Winner.

Here is a recent CBS News piece about the Dominican Sisters and their album:

The album is now available on the Ignatius Press website.

New: "Mater Eucharistiae" by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

Now available on the Ignatius Press site:

Mater Eucharistiae 

by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

Be transported to their Ann Arbor chapel and experience their beautiful and pure renditions of sacred music. The fifteen peaceful and serene songs of this debut release will include original compositions written by the Sisters that reflect their Dominican spirituality, along with a selection of modern and ancient hymns and chants in English and in Latin. Singing both a capella and with the accompaniment of organ, trumpet, and chimes, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have created a collection that is reflective of the music in their daily community life.

This album is produced by Blanton Alspaugh, 2013 Grammy Award Winning Classical Producer of Year. And engineered by John Newton, 3x Grammy Award Winner.

The Sisters will also be recognized due to their multiple appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and the extensive publicity they have received in the US and Canada through outlets such as The New York Times, The Detroit Free Press, The Washington Post, CNN, Fox News and beyond.The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, founded 16 years ago, also have teaching missions in schools all over the US. They chant the Divine Office throughout the day and their favorite hymns throughout the year, while also composing music of their own. They follow in the thirteenth-century footsteps of St. Dominic, while very much engaging the modern world. Their Motherhouse is in Ann Arbor, MI, and they are in the process of raising funds to construct a new priory in Texas

Track Listing:  

The Glorious Chant of "Angels and Saints at Ephesus"

The Glorious Chant of "Angels and Saints at Ephesus" | Christopher S. Morrissey | Catholic World Report

A beautiful new album from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, helps us make room in our lives for truth.

Everybody likes singing Sisters. I remember as a child hearing the music that my mother liked to play. They were vinyl records and sometimes my memory can still recreate the voices of those women religious.

Today the delivery method has changed. Direct digital downloads are now possible. Recently, some liturgical chants have been finding their way out from the Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus and into the world by way of the digital path.

The Sisters there live a life of union with God in prayer according to the Rule of St. Benedict. They have a love for the traditional liturgy and devote themselves in a special way to prayerfully interceding for the sacred priesthood and to making vestments and altar linens. Founded in 1995, this young, monastic order of Sisters sings together eight times a day, chanting the Divine Office in Latin.

Their previous album with De Montfort Music and Decca Records, Advent at Ephesus, was a big hit last year. This week, their new album, Angels and Saints at Ephesus, is released. It contains a nice selection of hymns and chants from various liturgical occasions.

Nine-time International Grammy-winning producer Christopher Alder (from Germany) and two-time Grammy-winning engineer Mark Donahue worked together to capture the sound of the Sisters in their contemplative environment. Because the music comes forth from the genuine liturgical life lived by the Sisters, it has an authenticity and purity that gives it a special charm.

I think that if we make a deliberate effort to integrate this sort of music into our own daily practices, we can, when we listen to it, create a space in our lives that helps us replace ugliness with beauty. We can thereby dwell in a place where we become better able to contemplate truth and to grow in our understanding of truth.

The reason I emphasize this link between beauty and truth is because Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, when he was still a cardinal, made a very important speech on this theme. It was called, “Wounded By the Arrow of Beauty,” and it is still available in a book from Ignatius Press.

“The encounter with beauty can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the soul and thus makes it see clearly, so that henceforth it has criteria, based on what it has experienced, and can now weigh the arguments correctly,” said then-Cardinal Ratzinger.

Beauty thus serves a great purpose. It educates our perceptions in order that we may proceed to grasp truth better. As Ratzinger explained it, beauty “brings us into contact with the power of truth.” The danger, however, is that an album such as Angels and Saints at Ephesus becomes just another commodity in the marketplace. And if we are honest, we will observe that such has often been the case with previous instances of hit records of sacred music. (Anyone remember the Gregorian chant craze from a while back?)

The problem is that people sample an exotic new thing only for a while. They enter into its spirit only in a superficial way. They soon move on to something else that becomes a newer source of distraction or excitement in their lives.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

The Renaissance of the Mass Propers

The Renaissance of the Mass Propers | J. J. Ziegler | Catholic World Report

After years of neglect in many American parishes, chanted Mass propers are making a comeback, thanks in part to new online resources.

The publication of the new English translation of the Roman Missal has helped revive interest in the use of chant in the ordinary form of Holy Mass. The Roman Missal includes many more chanted texts than did the previous edition, allowing clergy and people alike to “sing the Mass, rather than merely to sing at Mass,” as Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, executive director of the ICEL (International Committee on English in the Liturgy) Secretariat, said in a 2010 address.

The new Roman Missal includes a new translation of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), which also has fostered greater interest in chant. CitingSacrosanctum Concilium (the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) and subsequent curial documents, the GIRM states that “the main place should be given, all things being equal, to Gregorian chant, as being proper to the Roman Liturgy.… Since the faithful from different countries come together ever more frequently, it is desirable that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Profession of Faith and the Lord’s Prayer, according to the simpler settings” (nos. 41-42).

When Catholics think of Gregorian chant at Mass, many tend first to think of chants associated with the Ordinary of the Mass—that is, the parts of the Mass that tend not to vary from day to day—for example, the Kyrie, Gloria, Profession of Faith (Credo), Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

But there is also another set of chanted prayers at Mass: the propers, that is, five chants that are proper, or specific, to each Mass. The past two years have witnessed a revival of interest in the propers in parishes in the English-speaking world.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Benedict’s Finale with Beethoven: A “Heroic” Moment

Benedict’s Finale with Beethoven: A “Heroic” Moment | Msgr. Daniel B. Gallagher | Catholic World Report

Pope Benedict’s pontificate comes to a fitting musical conclusion with a performance of Beethoven’s magnificent Eroica Symphony.

The last weeks of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate will be filled with many “lasts.” Ash Wednesday was his last public Mass. February 14 was his last meeting with priests and seminarians of the Diocese of Rome. February 24 will be his last Angelus. His last general audience will take place on February 27 before his final transport to Castel Gandolfo via helicopter on February 28.

February 4 also marked a “last,” perhaps one that will not go down in the annals of history as it should. Everybody knew it would be the last Vatican concert for Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Italian Republic, before he finishes his term as Head of State, but nobody imagined it would be the last concert for Benedict XVI as Supreme Pontiff.

The Italian Embassy to the Holy See offers the concert each year in commemoration of the Lateran Treaty. The orchestra Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, directed by Zubin Mehta, performed the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s La forza del destino and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. It is a pity this magnificent concert will forever be overshadowed by the events that followed in its wake. Benedict and Mr. Napolitano, both avid music fans, enjoyed similar occasions in the past, most notably at Castel Gandolfo last July when Daniel Barenboim directed the West-East Divan Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.

As grand as those pieces are, they simply do not match up to Beethoven’s revolutionary Third Symphony in E-flat major, also known as the Eroica (“Heroic”) Symphony.

The “Great Man” and what lies beyond the grave

Too often sensational tales about the composer’s life distract us from his music. For one just getting into Beethoven, it would be best to listen to his symphonies before picking up a biography. Knowing something about his life would certainly help, but if we could go back in time and sit down with him, Beethoven would be much more interested in playing his latest composition than in rattling on about himself.

In no small part, his eagerness to play rather than chat would be motivated by the increasing deafness that began to assail him at the robust age of 30. It eventually prompted him to write a letter to his brothers Karl and Johann now known as the “Heiligenstadt Testament.” It is Ludwig’s excruciating apologia for a reclusive lifestyle and the terrible misunderstandings it caused. Ludwig begs his brothers to have his physician publically declare his condition after his death so that the world “may become reconciled to me.”

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Ignatius Press Sale | Save on Books, Films, Music

Great Books, Films and Music at incredible low prices!. Offer ends Monday December 31th, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. These prices are available online only through Ignatius.com

Ignatius Press has assembled a fabulous list of wonderful books, films and music for an incredible end of the year sale. Beautiful art books such as The True Icon, novels from Fiorella de Maria and T.M. Doran and books by and about Pope Benedict XVI are being offered at unbeatable prices. Films and music are also being offered at low prices! Hurry and take advantage of the sale today, offer good only until December 31 or while quantities last! To see the entire listing of sale items, click here.

Singing Star Collin Raye in Christmas Concert on EWTN Thursday night!

Join country music star Collin Raye this Thursday, December 20th at 11pm EST on EWTN as he presents some of the most cherished songs of the Christmas season. Andrea Thomas lends her beautiful voice to this uplifting Christmas special. For more showtimes, check your local EWTN listings.

(Sale items below the fold.)

Requiescat in pace: Dave Brubeck, jazz giant and convert to Catholicism from "nothing"

Dave Brubeck, legendary jazz pianist and pioneer, died earlier today on the cusp of his 92nd birthday. From the Chicago Tribune:

Dave Brubeck, a jazz musician who attained pop-star acclaim with recordings such as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," died Wednesday morning at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., said his longtime manager-producer-conductor Russell Gloyd.

Brubeck was one day short of his 92nd birthday. He died of heart failure, en route to "a regular treatment with his cardiologist,” said Gloyd.

Throughout his career, Brubeck defied conventions long imposed on jazz musicians. The tricky meters he played in “Take Five” and other works transcended standard conceptions of swing rhythm.


The extended choral/symphonic works he penned and performed around the world took him well outside the accepted boundaries of jazz. And the concerts he brought to colleges across the country in the 1950s shattered the then-long-held notion that jazz had no place in academia.

As a pianist, he applied the classical influences of his teacher, the French master Darius Milhaud, to jazz, playing with an elegance of tone and phrase that supposedly were the antithesis of the American sound.

The New York Times has a lengthy obituary that highlights Brubeck's long, active, and prolific life as musician and composer:

In 1954 Mr. Brubeck was the first jazz musician to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. That same year he signed with Columbia Records, promising to deliver two albums a year, and built a house in Oakland.

For all his conceptualizing, Mr. Brubeck often seemed more guileless and stubborn country boy than intellectual. It is often noted that his piece “The Duke” — famously recorded by Miles Davis and Gil Evans in 1959 on their collaborative album “Miles Ahead” — runs through all 12 keys in the first eight bars. But Mr. Brubeck contended that he never realized that until a music professor told him.

Mr. Brubeck’s very personal musical language situated him far from the Bud Powell school of bebop rhythm and harmony; he relied much more on chords, lots and lots of them, than on sizzling, hornlike right-hand lines. (He may have come by this outsiderness naturally, as a function of his background: jazz by way of rural isolation and modernist academia. He was, Ted Gioia wrote in his book “West Coast Jazz,” “inspired by the process of improvisation rather than by its history.”)

It took a little while for Mr. Brubeck to capitalize on the greater visibility his deal with Columbia gave him, and as he accommodated success a certain segment of the jazz audience began to turn against him. (The 1957 album “Dave Digs Disney,” on which he played songs from Walt Disney movies, didn’t help his credibility among critics and connoisseurs.) Still, by the end of the decade he had broken through with mainstream audiences in a bigger way than almost any jazz musician since World War II.

In 1958, as part of a State Department program that brought jazz as an offer of good will during the cold war, his quartet traveled in the Middle East and India, and Mr. Brubeck became intrigued by musical languages that didn’t stick to 4/4 time — what he called “march-style jazz,” the meter that had been the music’s bedrock. The result was the album “Time Out,” recorded in 1959. With the hits “Take Five” (composed by Mr. Desmond in 5/4 meter and prominently featuring the quartet’s gifted drummer, Joe Morello) and “Blue Rondo à la Turk” (composed by Mr. Brubeck in 9/8), the album propelled Mr. Brubeck onto the pop charts. ...

As a composer, Mr. Brubeck used jazz to address religious themes and to bridge social and political divides. His cantata “The Gates of Justice,” from 1969, dealt with blacks and Jews in America; another cantata, “Truth Is Fallen” (1972), lamented the killing of student protesters at Kent State University in 1970, with a score including orchestra, electric guitars and police sirens. He played during the Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting in 1988; he composed entrance music for Pope John Paul II’s visit to Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1987; he performed for eight presidents, from Kennedy to Clinton.

Much more about Brubeck's life and discography can be found on the All Music Guide site. As Deacon Greg Kandra points out (and I noted in this May 2011 post), Brubeck was also a convert, in 1980, to the Catholic Church. This 2009 article in St. Anthony Messenger states:

Musica Sacra: James MacMillan and his sacred music for our time

Musica Sacra | Kevin McCormick | Catholic World Report

James MacMillan and his sacred music for our time

In September 2010, when Pope Benedict made his historic and transformative visit to the United Kingdom, his first stop was Glasgow, Scotland. There, as he inaugurated the first-ever official state visit by the pope to the UK, he celebrated the opening Mass to the sounds of newly commissioned liturgical music. The music was thoughtful, joyful, singable, yet richly musical. It was the premiere of a work by a man well known in the contemporary classical music community but less known to those outside it: Scottish composer James MacMillan.

James MacMillan has accomplished the seemingly impossible for a contemporary artist of any medium. The Scottish composer and conductor has created a deep repertoire of compositions spanning from small chamber pieces to orchestral works and full-blown operas. His music successfully blends modern compositional expressions with a traditional musical understanding. His work is respected by the avant-garde and well-received by the customary classical concertgoer. His compositional style is praised by performers, conductors, and other composers. He maintains an active and internationally renowned musical life as a highly commissioned composer and heavily-booked guest conductor. And somehow he is able to reserve time to work regularly with his own parish choir in Glasgow.

All of this at the relatively young (for a composer) age of 52. The son of a welder and teacher, MacMillan’s childhood included study of piano and trumpet. He began composing at an early age, and by secondary school already had a penchant for the sounds of Renaissance church music. Eventually making his way to undergraduate work at Edinburgh University, he passed on the opportunity of the more focused conservatory life for the broader experience offered in the university setting. 

This early choice is indicative of MacMillan’s interest in a wider appreciation of the language of music, a trait which informs much of his writing. Like his British predecessor Benjamin Britten, he composes compelling vocal melodies with rich choral arrangements with ease. And like Debussy, he possesses an evocative musical vocabulary which allows him great latitude in his compositional structures. Perhaps not coincidentally he shares with both of those composers an enthusiasm for the sounds of the East Asian hammered-bell instrument called the gamelan, which sometimes overtly, other times more subtly, finds its way into his music. That is not to say that his music shares the trance-like meditative quality of much of the music of East. He infuses an intensity into his scores, one which reflects the fundamental struggle between good and evil inherent in the human drama.

Against the fad, with the grain

Though his early writings include Marxist leanings from liberation theology, MacMillan admits in his more recent interviews that he is a “lapsed lefty.” MacMillan has been courageous in confronting the “liberal assumption” that is often militantly and sneeringly guarded by captains of the “Arts élite.” Growing up in a community that he regarded as often hostile to his Catholic religion and its community, MacMillan knows the struggle of living in contradiction to the majority around him. 

Perhaps it was this struggle which allowed him, from the earliest stages, to compose more freely and with less concern for being blown by the whimsical winds of the avant-garde. Whatever the case, MacMillan’s solid grounding in classical compositional structures have provided him a freedom in blending styles and moods into a synthesis which is historically contiguous with past masters.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

20% off in preparation for Advent, plus newly released book, films, music

20% off in preparation for Advent, plus newly released Books | Offer ends Tuesday November 27th, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. These prices are available online only through Ignatius.com

Newly released books by Milton Walsh, Msgr. William Smith and William Kilpatrick are now available. The topics of these books range from the threat of Islam, writings of the Fathers of the Church to moral matters and all are so well-written, everyone should take advantage of them at 20% off! Also available at this discount are books, films and music to help prepare oneself for Advent. Whether you are looking for something for yourself, your children or a friend, we have something for everyone.

20% off Best-selling Books, Films and Music

20% off Best-selling Books, Films and Music  | Offer ends Tuesday November 13th, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST.
These prices are available online only through Ignatius.com

Each month Ignatius Press features top selling DVDs, books and music on our website. It's always interesting to see who's reading what, isn't it? Well, we've decided to take a selection of our top selling titles from the month of October, and are making them available to you at 20% off! From The Price to Pay, the highly acclaimed feature film The 13th Day, to the inspiring new music album His Love Remains by Collin Raye, we're excited to share some of our best-selling books, films and music albums at 20% off.

Two notable, upcoming events in the Los Angeles area

First, in early November:

The Magnificat Foundation, in association with the Diocese of Orange, is pleased to announce “The Magnificat Day of Faith” on November 3, 2012, at the Crystal Cathedral, the future Christ Cathedral, in Garden Grove, California.

This October the Church will enter into the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. In response, the Magnificat Foundation is offering a unique and historic day of prayer and communion—the first major Catholic gathering at the future Christ Cathedral. Under the leadership of Pierre-Marie Dumont, president of the Magnificat Foundation, the Day of Faith is a celebration of what the pope calls “the joy of believing” and will feature a series of presentations highlighting the faith in its many facets. Keynote addresses will be delivered by Mrs. Clara Gaymard, daughter of the Servant of God Jerome Lejeune, the father of modern genetics, and Fr. Peter John Cameron, o.p., editor-in-chief of Magnificat, the monthly Catholic worship aid. Other speakers include Dominican Father Michael Morris, professor of art history at Berkeley and a regular contributor to Magnificat, and Jesuit Father James Kubicki, national director of the Apostleship of Prayer. Father Robert Reed, president of the CatholicTV Network, will serve as master of ceremonies.

Music and song will be at the heart of this family Day of Faith. Music director Christopher Vath, a composer and choir director who has given a private piano recital for Pope Benedict XVI, will direct both the choir (with soloists) and the assembly in singing Morning Prayer, the Angelus, and Evening Prayer, accompanied by the Cathedral’s organ (the fifth largest in the world). Other musical offerings include a special performance of Bach’s Magnificat by the acclaimed Pacific Chorale led by artistic director John Alexander, and a rendition of the Benedictus by the De Angelis vocal ensemble. The Day will culminate with the singing of the Salve Regina by the choir and the assembly.

“The Magnificat Day of Faith” is a special opportunity to observe the Year of Faith and experience how “faith expands our hearts in hope” (Pope Benedict XVI).

For more information, and to register, please visit: www.magnificatday.com

And in December:

"Christmas 'Round the World" benefit concert

Saturday December 8, 2012 at 2 P.M., Wilshire Ebell Theater, Los Angeles, California
 
Featuring the combined choral efforts of the Kobzar Ukrainian National Choir, the Yevshan Ukrainian Choral Ensemble of New England, selected members of the Trembita and Koliada Ukrainian Choirs of San Francisco and the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra.  Never before have Ukrainian artists both both sides of the country joined together for such an inspirational concert program. For your enjoyment, several guest soloists including Elin Carlson of the Los Angeles Opera Company, Stefan Szkafarowsky of the New York Metropolitan Opera and Ivanna Taratula of the L'viv Opera Company will be joining the 175 + members of the choir and orchestra.  Also attending will be Hollywood starlets of Ukrainian descent.

All the performers are generously donating their talent to assist the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation to raise funds for the Ukrainian Catholic University.  All proceeds from this Benefit Concert are being donated to the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation. 

Tickets may be purchased by calling our ticket hotline at 909-860-2102.  For additional information please contact Gregory Hallick at [email protected] or by calling 951-234-2939. Poster and additional information online here.

20% off new Books, Films and Music from Ignatius Press

Offer ends Tuesday October 16th, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST.
These prices are available online only through Ignatius.com



20% off new Books, Films and Music!

Great new products are now available at 20% off! Included in these new releases is the latest album from Jackie Evancho, Songs from the Silver Screen. The young singing sensation from America’s Got Talent lends her voice to classic songs such as What a Wonderful World and more.  An inspiring and courageous story, The Price to Pay tells the story of Joseph Fadelle’s conversion from Islam to Christianity. Teach your children about their faith using the new DVD series featuring Brother Francis. Get these and other great new books and films all at 20% off!

This Thursday, October 11, 2012 marks the beginning of the Year of Faith as called for by Pope Benedict XVI. During this Year of Faith, we as Catholics are called to deepen our knowledge and practice of the faith.  These outstanding items can help you and your friends to grow in faith.

About those two new Doctors of the Church...

From Pope Benedict XVI's homily yesterday, given during the Mass, in St. Peter's Square, that opened the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation:

At various times in history, divine providence has given birth to a renewed dynamism in Church’s evangelizing activity. We need only think of the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxon peoples or the Slavs, or the transmission of the faith on the continent of America, or the missionary undertakings among the peoples of Africa, Asia and Oceania. It is against this dynamic background that I like to look at the two radiant figures that I have just proclaimed Doctors of the Church, Saint John of Avila and Saint Hildegard of Bingen. Even in our own times, the Holy Spirit has nurtured in the Church a new effort to announce the Good News, a pastoral and spiritual dynamism which found a more universal expression and its most authoritative impulse in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Such renewed evangelical dynamism produces a beneficent influence on the two specific “branches” developed by it, that is, on the one hand the Missio ad Gentes or announcement of the Gospel to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ and his message of salvation, and on the other the New Evangelization, directed principally at those who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church and live without reference to the Christian life. ...

At this point, let us pause for a moment to appreciate the two saints who today have been added to the elect number of Doctors of the Church. Saint John of Avila lived in the sixteenth century. A profound expert on the sacred Scriptures, he was gifted with an ardent missionary spirit. He knew how to penetrate in a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by Christ for humanity. A man of God, he united constant prayer to apostolic action. He dedicated himself to preaching and to the more frequent practice of the sacraments, concentrating his commitment on improving the formation of candidates for the priesthood, of religious and of lay people, with a view to a fruitful reform of the Church.Saint Hildegard of Bingen, an important female figure of the twelfth century, offered her precious contribution to the growth of the Church of her time, employing the gifts received from God and showing herself to be a woman of brilliant intelligence, deep sensitivity and recognized spiritual authority. The Lord granted her a prophetic spirit and fervent capacity to discern the signs of the times. Hildegard nurtured an evident love of creation, and was learned in medicine, poetry and music. Above all, she maintained a great and faithful love for Christ and the Church.

Read the entire homily. Also see some of Benedict's remarks on St. Hildegard, given in in September 2010.

Medievalist Sandra Miesel, in her CWR essay, "Hildegard of Bingen: Voice of the Living Light" (Jan. 25, 2012), remarked upon the visions of the great German mystic:

Nothing would have seemed extraordinary about Hildegard for the first half of her long life. She did not wish to publicize the visionary experiences she had been having since the age of three when a blaze of dazzling brightness burst into her sight. A diffuse radiance which she called her visio filled her field of vision for the rest of her life without interfering with ordinary sight. Hildegard came to understand this phenomenon as “the reflection of the living Light” which conferred the gift of prophecy and gave her an intuitive knowledge of the Divine.
 
Hildegard’s visions were not apparitions or dreams. She scarcely ever fell into ecstasy but rather perceived sights and messages with the “inner” eyes and ears of her soul. She dictated what she “saw” and “heard” to secretaries while fully lucid. Because the astonishing images she described and directed artists to illustrate feature sparkling gems, shimmering orbs, pulsating stars, curious towers and crenellated walls, modern psychologists have suggested that Hildegard suffered from a form of migraine called “scintillating scotomata.” The debilitating illnesses that preceded or accompanied her visionary episodes might have been migraine attacks. Because supernatural communications are received according to the capacity of the receiver, neurology can offer insights on Hildegard’s particular repertory of forms. But it cannot explain away her experiences or the religious meanings she assigns to them. These were genuine occasions of contact between Hildegard and God.   

And Dr. Christopher Morrissey penned, "A Beginner’s Guide to the Music of St. Hildegard of Bingen" (June 25, 2012):

It will cost you somewhat more to download Hildegard’s entire musical output from iTunes. But if you wish, you can start your downloading project with only a few selections taken from the Sequentia treasure chest. After all, unless you have the musical skills of a Mozart, being deluged with St. Hildegard’s lifetime musical achievement will probably be overwhelming for you. So why not start with a playlist of 12 of her best?

Allow me to give you that recommended playlist, below. I will list 12 downloads for which you need only pay about $0.99 each. This custom playlist introduction is the best way I can think of to get you started, short of recommending one of the “desert island” albums that I already mentioned above.

And this playlist is not just for beginners. This is my own custom “Hildegard highlights” iPhone playlist, and it probably resembles the playlists on the iPhones of other advanced chant enthusiasts.

By the way, if you ever do move from a beginning to an advanced comprehension of Hildegard’s entire musical corpus, you will want to compare the different recorded versions of every single one of her works. Thanks to the Internet, this task has never been easier, as an exhaustive and well-ordered discography of every recording of Hildegard’s music is available.

The 2004 Homiletic & Pastoral Review article, "Saint John of Avila and the Reform of the Priesthood" by Sr. Joan Gormley is a helpful introduction to this great reformer:

St. John of Avila was a parish priest and theologian in 16^th century Spain who exercised some influence over ideas concerning the reform of priestly reformation at the Council of Trent. Avila linked the priesthood closely to the Eucharist and regarded  holiness as the preeminent quality of a priest, who must serve as a mediator between God and man. To this end, he recommended painstaking selection of candidates followed by rigorous spiritual and intellectual formation within a community. For Avila, renewal of the priesthood demanded the priest's conformity to Christ as both Good Shepherd and High Priest.

Sixteenth century Spain was a golden age of sanctity during which a veritable procession of saints appeared on the scene before and after the Council of Trent and contributed in a multitude of ways to the reform and renewal of the Church. We might mention, for example, such saints as Ignatius of Loyola, Peter of Alcantara, Teresa of Avila, Francis Borgia, and John of God. All of these saints were religious who renewed the life of the Church by founding or reforming communities that became renowned for holiness of life and apostolic zeal. Less often noticed, but definitely a participant in the procession of sixteenth century Spanish saints is St. John of Avila,[1] a diocesan priest who labored as a preacher, confessor, spiritual director, catechist, evangelizer, educator, and theologian and knew and helped each and all of the saints mentioned above.

Venerated in Spain as the patron of diocesan priests, John Avila was a major figure in the reform of the life and ministry of parish priests who, as shepherds of Christ's faithful, have direct influence on the holiness of the Church. His teaching on the priesthood and its renewal continues to be illuminating for the Church, especially in the contemporary situation in which profound questions have been raised about priestly life and ministry. Avila was profoundly convinced of the holiness of the priestly state and of the holiness of life required of each and every priest. He considered the very holiness of the Church and its members to depend on the careful selection and formation of candidates for the priesthood so that they might be holy and exercise their office of sanctifying others.

Introduction to St. John of Avila

John of Avila was born on the feast of the Epiphany in 1499 in Extremadura in the ecclesiastical province of Toledo, the only child of his parents. [2] He spent four years at the University of Salamanca studying law (1513-1517), and then returned to his parents' home where he lived in seclusion for several years. On the advice of a Franciscan priest, the young man left his solitude and matriculated at the University of Alcala, an important center for humanistic studies in Spain, where he studied from 1520-1526. After ordination to the priesthood in 1526, Avila went to Seville to prepare for departure as a missionary to the new world. While waiting to set sail, the newly ordained priest engaged in catechesis and preaching, so impressing the priest with whom he lived and worked, Father Fernando Contreras, that he urged the Archbishop of Seville to keep Avila in Spain, where an enormous mission field had opened up with the end of Muslim domination. Thus, John Avila began the missionary work in Southern Spain that would earn him the title, "Apostle of Andalusia."

Read the entire piece on IgnatiusInsight.com.

Lord of the Dance

Lord of the Dance | John B. Buescher | Catholic World Report

Grounded in Gnosticism, dubious historical scholarship, and hyper-individualism, liturgical dance is by its nature unsuited to Catholic worship.

“Medicine-man, relent, restore—

Lie to us,—dance us back the tribal morn!”

—     Hart Crane, “The Bridge: The Dance”

Please take “Lord of the Dance” out of your hymnbooks, assuming you don’t attend a Gnostic church.

Sydney Carter wrote it in 1963, based on the apocryphal, second-century Gnostic Acts of John, where Jesus is supposed to have led his disciples in a round dance before his death. As the Lord of the Dance, he was simply an avatar of a cosmic principle.

In line with Gnostic thought, Jesus was not both true God and true man, but only a kind of pure spirit, who disguised himself in a cloak of matter. Because he wasn’t really a man, he couldn’t really be killed. So, for Gnostics, some kind of trick occurred at the crucifixion: some taught that a switch was made, so that a surrogate or disguised stand-in (some said Joseph of Arimathea) was crucified instead, while Jesus watched from far off.

Other Gnostics made Jesus’ body a kind of puppet that appeared to undergo torture and death, while in fact the “real” Jesus, residing in pure spirit, laughed at their foolishness, and eventually sprang away from the cross. (“I am the dance, and the dance lives on.”) This Jesus, a sort of cosmic trickster and shape-shifter, is captured in the Acts of John.

The round dance and its little song were supposed to be part of an initiation ceremony after the Last Supper, in which Jesus, standing in the middle of a circle, sang in order to achieve an ecstatic separation from his body in preparation for his Passion (thereby “supplementing” Matthew 26:30: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives”). This is the Gnostics’ secret teaching on the Last Supper, assumed by them to have been kept out of the Gospel accounts because it was the true heart of the events described, and could not be told to the unworthy.

Dancing in the sanctuary?

In Exodus 15, “Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing.”  In 2 Samuel 6:1-5, David “and all the house of Israel,” as the Ark of the Covenant was being rolled into Jerusalem, celebrated “with all their might before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.” And in Psalms 149 and 150, we read that “they shall dance in praise of his name, play to him on tambourines and harp!” and, “Praise God in his holy place…Praise him with tambourines and dancing.” This might in theory be an inspiration for dance as part of worship in His holy place, which is to say (in line with Exodus 32:19, in which the Jews dance before the idol of the golden calf), in the place where worship is directed to the true God. Nevertheless, there is no evidence that dancing was ever a part of Temple worship.

There was dancing at annual Jewish religious festivals (outside the Temple itself), and done in groups separated by gender. Certainly people danced after weddings, just as we do today (Matthew 11:16-17 says, “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn’”). Then there was the banquet celebration for the Prodigal Son’s return. And, of course, there was what Salome did for Herod, but that would hardly qualify as something to inform Christian worship. Apart from the spurious round dance in the Acts of John—that’s it, for dancing.

In medieval times and later, there was folk dancing at festival celebrations outside churches, drama reenactments of miraculous scenes in the lives of the saints or of Bible stories, and mystery plays. And there were pilgrimage processions, such as the Corpus Christi procession or the touring of neighborhoods by decorated statues or relics brought from churches, sometimes done with participants coordinating their steps or other movements, with everyone having a joyful time.

This is all quite robustly Catholic. But none of this dancing actually intrudes into the sacred liturgy of the Mass itself, just as dancing was not part of Temple worship in ancient Israel. Until recently, Catholics had always saved their dancing for outside the church—or at least not during the liturgy itself.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.