Cultivating Love for Beauty in the Liturgy

It's not exactly "news" anymore, but last month I took a group of students (7th & 8th graders, as well as some altar servers) to St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Chicago for their celebration of High Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Ascension of the Lord. We arrived at the church in the afternoon of Ascension Thursday, where we were given a tour by one of the canons of St. John Cantius, followed by dinner at a local restaurant, and then back to the church for Mass.

I believe it is very important that the priest work to instill and cultivate in our young people an understanding and appreciation for the beauty of the Sacred, whether it be in art, music, or architecture. To that end, I have periodically tried to introduce the children at our parish school to different aspects of sacred art and sacred music: for example, I have brought an iconographer to the school to give presentations on sacred art and iconography, and guest musicians to introduce the students to different instruments and kinds of sacred music. This is "on top of" the program in liturgical music that I introduced to the school two years ago, which has produced results like this:


School Children Singing the "Regina Coeli"

But this trip to St. John Cantius is a step to giving the kids exposure to the Sacred beyond their own parish and school. Also, this was, for most of the school children, their first experience of Mass in the Extraordinary Form. I have been gradually introducing the use of Latin and Gregorian Chant over the last 3 years, so these things would not be alien to the children, but to experience these things in the usus antiquior was new for most of them.

And what an experience it was! We arrived and entered the church just as the brothers were beginning Vespers. The children were quite impressed by the church itself, as well anyone should be:


(all photos may be viewed full-size by clicking on them)

I enjoyed watching the kids crane their necks around trying to take it all in. Most of the kids have never been to a church as large, impressive, and chock-full of art as St. John Cantius.

After Vespers, Br. Joshua, one of the Canons of St. John Cantius, gave us a tour of the church.


Br. Joshua Explaining Various Aspects of the Sanctuary

Among the artistic beauties of the church is the Wit Stwosz Altarpiece replica. Done in carved wood, gold, and other precious materials, it is a one-quarter size replica of a famous altarpiece in Poland.



The tour was quite complete, even including a trip up to both lofts. Like many great Polish churches built in this period, St. John Cantius has a double loft - one for choir, one for the great organ. the kids were impressed both by the organ and by the view from the loft:



As I mentioned above, after the tour we went out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant nearby, and then returned to the church for Mass. I gave the kids a brief introduction to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass before we left the school in the morning, and Br. Joshua gave some "preview" information as well. The kids were already familiar with the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, from our usage at St. Stanislaus, and I prepared for them a little handout with the propers so that they could follow those as well.

The Mass was glorious! The choir sang Tomas Luis de Victoria's Missa Ascendens Christum in Altum, as well as an impressive modern work, Colin Mawby's O Rex Gloriae, during the Offertory. The kids were entranced by the singing - that was one of the things that came up repeatedly in the days after the trip.

I had told the children beforehand that it wasn't so important to try to follow along in the Mass exactly, so much as to "take in" the whole experience and unite themselves in prayer to the priest offering the Sacrifice during the Canon. On the bus ride home, they readily confessed that they lost track of things during the Canon. A number of them wanted to know why the Canon was silent in the Extraordinary Form, which I explained. But none of them seemed unduly bothered by the fact that they lost their place here and there. I think the experience put them on such "sensory overload" that they were borne along by the whole sacred movement.


The Whole Crew after Mass

So, the kids had an experience they will remember, and some were intrigued enough to say that they wanted to go to an Extraordinary Form Mass again. (Yea!) A taste of sacred beauty does indeed inspire the thirst for more!

Introductory Chant Workshop!

Last fall, Fr. David Grondz of St. Philip Neri House in Kalamazoo and myself offered an Introductory Chant Workshop. It was a great success - so much so that we're doing it again!

So, Catholics in Michigan - come and learn the music which is most truly that of the Liturgy!

Chant for Beginners

An Introductory Chant Workshop

Presented by Fr. Rob Johansen and Fr. David Grondz.

The Workshop will include presentations on:

Reading Chant Notation
History and Spirituality of Chant
Some Fundamental Chants of the Roman Rite

No previous knowledge of Chant required - This is truly for beginners!


Saturday, March 28, 2008
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Participants will have the opportunity to put to use what they have learned, as we will be singing for the parish 5:00 PM Vigil Mass.

St. Bernard Catholic Church
555 E. Delaware
Benton Harbor, Michigan.

For more information call SS. John and Bernard parish at (269) 925-2425, or e-mail me at frrob AT earthlink DOT net.

(Benton Harbor is located approximately 40 minutes West of Kalamazoo, off of I -94.)

Cost: $30.00 per person (includes lunch and a copy of the Parish Book of Chant).

Co-sponsored by the Diocese of Kalamazoo: Office of Christian Worship, St. Philip Neri House, and SS. John and Bernard Catholic Church.


Fr. Rob Johansen has an extensive background in music, having studied voice, ‘cello, and conducting at the University of Illinois. He studied Chant at the Catholic University of America, and continued his Chant studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary under Calvert Shenk. He has degrees in Religious Studies, Classics, and Patristic Greek and Latin. He currently serves as Pastor of St. Stanislaus parish, Dorr.

Fr. David Grondz received his S.T.B. from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained to the Priesthood in 2006. Fr. Grondz has studied Chant for 13 years, and served as assistant organist at the Pontifical North American College. He is currently the Parochial Vicar of St. Mary Church, Kalamazoo, where he regularly celebrates the Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Thomas More College: Giving New Life to Catholic Culture

Tonight, Thomas More College in New Hampshire will host a lecture on the "Restoration of Gregorian Chant in the 20th Century", by Samuel Schmitt. This is just one of a series of speakers and events that Thomas More has sponsored, all directed at inculcating a broad and Catholic understanding and appreciation of Culture.


Some of you will recall, a few months ago, that Thomas More instituted a program in Sacred Art, headed by English artist and iconographer David Clayton. I had David visit my parish last year, where he gave several presentations to my parish and school. I can say firsthand that David is both an outstanding artist and teacher. I have no doubt that this program, called the "Way of Beauty Art Program" will accomplish great things.

But as I said, these efforts serve a larger and broader vision: the restoration of a living and creative Catholic culture. To be truly Catholic and creative, it must be rooted in the Tradition of the Church, which is the wellspring of all Western culture. To this end, students at Thomas More not only read the "Great Books", but experience the fruits of that Catholic tradition through the "Way of Beauty" program and it's programs at Rome and Oxford.

The President of Thomas More College, Jeffrey Nelson, is the source of the vision which has brought about these initiatives at the College. I've known Dr. Nelson since my graduate school days at Catholic University, when he was working for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He had then, and has brought to his post at Thomas More, a vision of the Liberal Arts as part of the great Catholic tradition of learning, cultivation of beauty, and pursuit of virtue which constitute Catholic culture. These elements all complement one another, and Dr. Nelson and the faculty at Thomas More are working to bring them together in a program which, when it reaches fruition, will be perhaps the finest Catholic Liberal Arts curriculum in the country.

It's places like Thomas More College where the "Catholic revival" are happening. It's places like this where we will see the vision of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI for a "new springtime" in the Church come to its fulfillment.

Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form!

I will offer a



Ecce Agnus Dei...


Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the
Roman Rite
(Missa Cantata)

Sunday, March 22, 2009
Laetare Sunday
(Fourth Sunday of Lent)
1:00 PM

St. Stanislaus Catholic Church
1871 136th Avenue
Dorr, Michigan

I will be the celebrant.

Music will again be provided by the Schola of the Chair of St. Peter


Let us come and worship!

(Arch)Bishop Vigneron on Liturgy


I'm coming to the party a bit late, but I am very excited and happy that Bishop Allen Vigneron, late of Oakland, California, has been named as the next Archbishop of Detroit.

I know Bishop Vigneron from his days as rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, where I had the good fortune to complete my studies for the priesthood from 1998-2001. He is an outstanding teacher and pastor. He is loyal to the Church and her Magisterium, and patient and generous as well.

Bishop Vigneron is deeply concerned with the state of the liturgical life in the church in the country, and as rector of the seminary tried to inculcate in us seminarians a sense of reverence and a respect for the liturgy as something given. Toward that end he implemented significant reforms of the seminary's liturgical practice, most notably introducing and establishing as normative the use of the Proper antiphons at seminary Masses, and moving away from the use of hymnody. He brought the late Calvert Shenk to Sacred Heart, and one of his specific charges to Cal was to restore the Propers to their rightful place in the liturgy. This move was not at all popular in some quarters of the seminary faculty (though it was quite well received by the overwhelming majority of seminarians), and provoked a storm of criticism and outright attack from certain elements of the Archdiocesan establishment. But Bishop Vigneron persevered and continued these reforms in spite of the opposition.

I am confident that we will see good things happen in the Archdiocese of Detroit, and eventually beyond, as a result of Bishop Vigneron's accession to the see. This is good news for all who want to see the liturgy celebrated according to the authentic vision and mind of the Church, and good news for all who value fidelity to the Church's teaching and discipline.

Back in 2000, while I was still a seminarian, I wrote an article for Adoremus based on an interview I had with Bishop Vigneron. The article, titled "Liturgy as Ecology" discusses the liturgical formation and training offered by the seminary. However, it provides insight not only into Bishop Vigneron's approach to the liturgical life of the seminary, but into his broader liturgical vision as well:

The single greatest problem is the tendency to turn the Liturgy into a focus on the self, rather than on God. Bishop Vigneron believes these tendencies are misguided, because they "obscure the Christological and Trinitarian focus inherent in liturgy."

"Liturgy", he says, "is not entertainment, it is not self-validated. Liturgy is the experience of heaven, not something that happens to me in some sort of emotional-personal state."

Bishop Vigneron has a great deal more of importance to say in this article, please read the whole thing here.

Pray for him, and for the Archdiocese of Detroit! Ad multos gloriosque annos!

People Look East!

As I have mentioned before, I write a monthly column on liturgical matters for the newspaper of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, The Good News.

For this month's column, which appeared this past Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, I wrote about the use of Ad Orientem:

(I am indebted to Fr. Cavanna Wallace of Oceanside, CA for some of the material in this column.)

Living the Liturgy

“People, Look East”

One of my favorite Advent hymns is the old French carol “People, Look East”. It has always seemed to me to exemplify the joyful expectation of the Advent season. While I’m not sure what, if any, expert consensus there may be on the matter, I’ve always thought of it as a late Advent hymn – one to sing in the week or two before Christmas, and maybe even on Christmas eve. The hymn urges us to get ready: Love, in the Christ child, is on the way! He’s almost here, as the last verse tells us:

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ, who brings new life to earth.
Set ev’ry peak and valley humming
With the word, “The Lord is coming.”
People look East, and sing today:
Love, the Lord is on the way!

Christ is the light of the world, as Simeon prophesied in the temple (Luke 2:32), and as John wrote in his Gospel (John 1:4-5). He illuminates the souls of those who belong to him. So the Church, from the earliest times, has seen the light of the sun, particularly at dawn, as a symbol and image of Christ. Zechariah refers to the coming Messiah as the “daybreak from on high” (Luke 2:78). At the end of the book of Revelation, Jesus describes Himself as the “bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16). The early Church, reflecting on this symbolism, attached great importance to worshipping Christ at dawn, especially on the first day of the week, which was also the day of resurrection.

The early Church attached great importance to facing towards the dawning light in its prayer as well. Early churches were built so that, when the assembly gathered for prayer, they faced the East. When Mass was celebrated, priest and people faced not each other, but together faced the altar, toward the East. St. Clement of Alexandria (150 – 216 AD) explained:

... And since the dawn is an image of the day of birth, and from that point the light which has shone forth at first from the darkness increases... In correspondence with the manner of the sun’s rising, prayers are made looking towards the sunrise in the east. (Stromata Book IV, ch. 7)

Even when, as the Church grew, it was no longer possible to build every church so as to have the altar facing eastward, the custom remained of having priest and people together face the altar during the Eucharistic liturgy, facing the Daystar who came to be with His people on that altar.

This posture of priest and people facing the altar is known as ad orientem, which is the Latin for “toward the East”. Most Catholics who are aware of this posture would probably associate it with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, that is, the Mass as it was celebrated before the liturgical reforms of the 1970’s. Indeed, one of the liturgical changes most associated with Vatican II is that of turning the priest around so that he faced the people. Many Catholics would probably imagine that this change was mandated by Vatican II, and that the former posture of ad orientem had been abolished. But this impression, widespread though it is, is incorrect. In point of fact, no document of Vatican II and nothing in the rubrics of the modern Roman Rite either requires the priest to celebrate Mass facing the people or abolishes celebrating Mass ad orientem.

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict, while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote of the desirability of returning to the ancient practice of ad orientem celebration, expressing himself very strongly:

...A common turning to the East during the Eucharistic Prayer remains essential. This is not a case of something accidental, but of what is essential...What matters is looking together at the Lord.
(Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 81)

As Pope, Benedict has gone so far as to publicly celebrate Mass using the ancient ad orientem posture. And many priests and parishes, all over the United States and indeed, the world, are beginning to take up the Pope’s lead in restoring this tradition. At my own parish we have begun using it from time to time, and several other parishes in the Kalamazoo diocese have adopted ad orientem, some even doing so entirely.

What this ancient posture underscores is the essential message of the liturgies of Advent: We are all to be turned toward the Lord, waiting for His coming. For some two millennia the people of Israel waited for the coming of the Messiah. He has come, but we still have the experience of waiting expectantly for Him, every time we celebrate the Eucharist. And if we are turned towards Him, if we are oriented in the direction of His coming, then we can have blessing which was given to the shepherds on the night of His birth – the glimmer of a faint purple light in the East, growing to the ray of light from the Daystar. A light shining not from the sky, but from an infant, who is Himself the Light of the World. People, look East! Love, the Lord is on the way!

Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form In January!

I will again offer a




Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite
(Missa Cantata)

Sunday, January 11, 2009
(Feast of the Holy Family)
1:00 PM

St. Stanislaus Catholic Church
1871 136th Avenue
Dorr, Michigan

I will be the celebrant.

Music will again be provided by the Schola of the Chair of St. Peter


I hope that Catholics from Michigan and beyond will come and participate in this beautiful offering of the most perfect Sacrifice of worship and praise.

Catholics and Politics: A Faustian Bargain

My article "Our Faustian Bargain: Catholics Caught Between Parties" appears today over at Inside Catholic. The article is the fruit of my observation of, and growing impatience with, Catholics seeming to accommodate the principles of our Faith to the two dominant political parties. We, and the faith, are the losers in this process:

Many of us are volunteering to cooperate with evil, because we see no way out of the dilemma of aligning ourselves with one party or the other. In essence, faithful Catholics are forced to accept whatever bones the major parties and candidates throw us: If we think the Democrats offer more compassionate social policies and the prospect of ending the war in Iraq, we must tolerate their embrace of abortion and same-sex unions. If we think the Republicans offer the best hope of eliminating abortion-on-demand and defending marriage, we have to be willing to tolerate their embrace of "preventive" war and so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. Catholics, it would seem, are being forced to make Faustian bargains every time they enter the voting booth.

It seems to me that we are giving up too much in our willingness to play the political game by the rules the two parties give up. Rather than transforming our parties and politics, as our faith teaches we should, we are compromised and co-opted, and end up transformed (and not in good way) by our politics.

It seems to me that if we were serious about transforming our parties and policies by making the gospel the starting point of our politics, things would look a lot different:

If Catholics were really serious about "transforming" our parties and politics, things would look much different than they do today. For example, where is the Congressional Catholic Caucus? There is a Congressional Black Caucus, a Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a Serbian Caucus, and even a Congressional Boating Caucus. So where is the caucus devoted to bringing Catholic representatives and senators together across party lines to promote, defend, and advance Catholic teaching on matters of justice and the common good?

Where are the Catholics in politics? We have Republican Catholics, and Democrat Catholics. How many of us are willing to be Catholic, first, foremost, and without compromise?

Read the whole piece.

Extraordinary Form Mass a Success!

Last Sunday, as previously mentioned, we offered a Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form here at St. Stanislaus. I am happy to say that it was a wonderful occasion: We had a good turnout - approximately 80 people assisted. The Schola of the Chair of St. Peter sang very well, and my servers, who have been working to learn the Mass since the beginning of August, acquitted themselves wonderfully. I'm also happy to be able to report that, while I made a few mistakes, they were relatively minor ones (for example, once I raised my arms in the orans posture when I shouldn't have). I found celebrating the Mass an exhilarating experience.

Unfortunately, in my busyness in preparing for the Mass, I forgot to bring my camera over and have someone take photos! So I have no pictures of the Mass. I'm hoping that some of those in attendance took pictures.

Starting next Sunday, November 9, I will begin offering the Extraordinary Form regularly, on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. So in November, we will have Masses on the 9th and the 23rd. Masses on both dates will be at 9:30 AM.

As I mentioned, my servers worked for a couple of months to learn to serve the Traditional Latin Mass. And they did a superlative job on Sunday, due in large part to their preparation and work. Last Friday, October 24, we had our final practice and run-through for the Mass. Fr. Scott Haynes and Br. Robert of the Society of St. John Cantius in Chicago came up for the evening and helped me with rounding out their training. Fr. Haynes has also been good enough over the last month or so to work with me and give me some advice and criticism in developing my own ars celebrandi. I'm very grateful for all their help.

So, while I don't have any photos of the Mass, I do have some photos of our server training marathon from last Friday, which I hope will be of some interest:


Fr. Haynes and I work with the boys on the Gospel Procession
click on the photos to enlarge

One of the things that really pleased me about my servers was their ability to deduce for themselves some of the principles of serving the Mass without having to be told every detail repeatedly. For example, once they were shown how to move around the sanctuary for the incensation of the altar at the beginning of Mass, they simply went right into applying the same patterns for the incensation at the offertory. To see them thus anticipating and truly learning how the Mass works was a real pleasure.


Fr. Haynes demonstrates the use of the communion paten

Here's the whole crew of us:



I am very proud of my guys!

Update on Extraordinary Form at St. Stanislaus

As previously announced, next Sunday, October 26, I will celebrate a Missa Cantata at my parish of St. Stanislaus. This is my first public celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, and the first such celebration at my parish in nearly 40 years.

I am very happy to announce that, starting on Sunday, November 9, I will begin offering the Traditional Latin Mass on a regular basis. I will offer the Mass twice a month, on the Second and Fourth Sundays of each month.

On Sundays when Low Mass is celebrated, Mass will be at 9:30 AM. On Sundays when Mass is sung, Mass will be at 1:00 PM.

The Masses on November 9 and November 23 will be Low Masses, and therefore will be offered at 9:30 AM. Complete schedules of Extraordinary Form Masses will be published periodically in the parish bulletin, on the parish website, and here at Thrown Back.

I hope, eventually, to be able to offer Mass in the Extraordinary Form every Sunday. If we develop good turnout and support for this effort, that will certainly move things along! I hope that many people, both from St. Stanislaus parish and beyond, will avail themselves of this opportunity to participate in the worship of the Church as it has been experienced by countless generations of our ancestors.