AN OUTSIDE VIEW

Have have several friends who have long been Catholic but are slowly drifting away. First they stop going to confession, then they stop going to Mass every Sunday, and eventually they attend less and less often. But it does not stop there. Eventually, some of them have made contact with Protestant sects such as the Mormons or Jehovahs Witnesses and are even thinking of joining. When asked why they are going it, the answer that tends to come back is, "What does it matter so long as you love the Lord?". This raises important issues, the key one of which was addressed at a meeting I went to this evening. The Catholic church is the channel of God's grace, through its sacraments, which are the work of the Lord Himself. So if one really loves the Lord one will, first of all, make it one's business to receive the sacraments of Confession and Communion regularly. A fundamental point about the sacraments is that they are ex opere operato. The grace of a sacrament is al...

A couple of weeks ago we tried out a piece I had not sung before. It was the sort of music that would make me turn off the radio immediately if I heard it broadcast. It left a sour taste in the mouth. Literally. It was not particularly discordant, so what was this about? I discussed it with the lady who runs the choir, who was puzzled by my strong reaction. Given that some people "see" sounds as colours, the possibility of crossover between the senses is not so strange. I have almost perfect pitch which means that I could be more than usually sensitive. But what was it about this music that caused the effect? The music was played through on the piano. The first issue was the tempo, which was erratic rather than regular. But then we got to a real ouch chord, over the threshold of pain. It was similar to the sound of a distressed baby. It was a particular combination of notes. When the offending note was changed, it was no longer painful. This should not be surprising. Th...

Spela på högst möjliga völym! Jag tycker att kompressors gnäll är verkligen spännande. Jag skulle hellre stå på någon perrong på en järnvägsstation än sitta i en kyrka och bli tvungen att lyssna på tråkig 70-tals kyrkomusik.

A week ago I was asked to sing the Proper for an Extraordinary Form Mass today because the regular cantor was going to be away. Rather foolishly I agreed, but I had no options. I obtained good clear copies of the music, rehearsed well, and was note-perfect an hour earlier whilst sitting on the train on the way. I ended up singing the Proper on my own. The sparse congregation joined in the Ordinary of the Missa de Angelis, though I sang alternate verses of the Kyrie solo. The Vidi Aquam, Introit, Kyrie and Gloria were fine. Then I messed up the Gradual and Alleluia verses, though I am not sure anyone noticed. Credo III went all right, and the Offertory was done to a psalm tone, which was not a problem. I started the Sanctus much too high, the Agnus Dei went all right but I bungled the Communion verse, again I am not sure that anyone noticed. What went wrong? I have near perfect pitch and had a tuning fork with me as well. I was a bit nervous and there was a lot to do besides, keepi...

There is a certain type of church music written in the 1970s and 80s that I find irritating in the extreme to listen to. There is a clutch of composers who were producing this kind of thing then, particularly in the Catholic church. If I hear it on the radio I will turn it off. Fast. If I think there is a risk of hearing it in a service, I will travel a considerable distance or get out of bed early on a Sunday morning to avoid it and find at least a silent service somewhere. Why this is so I cannot understand. It is not discordant. It is actually quite tuneful. Perhaps there is something about the tonality of the music itself? Perhaps it stirs up an unpleasant memory? All I know is that I do not want to be around when it is being performed. Even less do I want to sing it. I know also that I am not alone in my dislike of the works of these composers. I think, however, that it is a technical thing to do with the music, or even a biological effect, because it actually makes my flesh creep...

I have always been disturbed by concerts in Catholic churches. The Blessed Sacrament remains in the tabernacle and has to be treated with due reverence. There is also the matter of what should, and what should not, take place on the Sanctuary. The latter can be solved if the choir is in the gallery. There remains the matter of the music itself. This is often liturgical music of some kind, for example, a setting of the Mass. Yet it is rare in most parishes these days to find classical Mass settings used within the liturgy itself, which is precisely the purpose for which they were written. A classical Mass setting in an authentic liturgical context would not consist of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei (ie the Ordinary) sung straight off without a break, but would include the Proper and readings. Thus, before the Kyrie would come an Asperges or Vidi Aquam, followed by the Introit, and after the Gloria would come the Epistle, Gradual and Alleluia, then the Gospel, Creed, Offertory,...

The old Mass with the priest turning his back on the congregation and mumbling to himself in a language nobody understands. If that is how one views the Traditional form of the Mass, it suggests not only a lack of proper catechesis but also a need to review how the Mass is celebrated in the Ordinary form. It is not a re-enactment of the Last Supper but a re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Priest and people are praying to God together, a point that perhaps has got lost with the practice of celebrating facing the people. As for praying silently - both priest and people are meant to be joining in the prayer. The use of Latin is a matter of practicality, since the Catholic church exists across all national boundaries. The priest can recite silently in Latin whilst the congregation, irrespective of where they come from, can join in the prayers silently in their own languages.

Having been used to a traditional liturgy and being plunged over Easter, into what is a 1970s-style of liturgy, I am suffering from culture-shock. It has led me to ponder where the Catholic church is going. What are the implications for the New Evangelisation? Whether it was intentional or based on a misunderstanding, the Catholic liturgy took a battering after Vatican 2, to the point that it can best be described as stripped-down. Several things happened simultaneously. Latin was got rid of . This meant, first of all, that the liturgy was no longer the same wherever one went. The church, and even some parishes, split up into language groups. This has become a more acute problem with the passage of the years, as people have become more mobile. In some instances, the translations into the vernacular were so inaccurate that new translations have had to be introduced, for example into English where a new ICEL version came into use last year. The traditional music was got rid of . With the...

For 45 years these vehicles were iconic for London. Whether the "Borisbus" can achieve the same status remains to be seen. Design icons cannot be created out of nothing but require a particular integrity on the part of all of those involved in the design process. Unfortunately, since the 1980s, design has become an adjunct of marketing, being reduced to little more than styling. Once that happens, the possibility of creating a genuine design icon is slight. The danger is that design icons are one of the means by which society creates the narrative about itself which helps it to understand what it is. If it cannot do this, the end product is a widespread and generalised sense of alienation and unfocussed discontent. This is why the privatisation of the Post Office is going to be so damaging - as an ancient institution like the church, it is part of the cultural landscape. Destroy it at society's peril. Sadly, the intellectual pygmies now running Britain have no inkling of ...

Libertarians are on dangerous ground when they try to defend private ownership of land. If I enclose a piece of land and call it MINE, then I am preventing anyone else from gaining access to that land except on MY TERMS. Sooner or later this creates a situation when all land is enclosed, and anyone who has not got in on what is in effect a scramble, has not option but to pay rent or work for wages or become a slave or accept whatever terms the LAND “OWNERS” choose to offer, merely to stay alive. And there is the libertarian dilemma in a nutshell. Worse still, a claim to ownership, for it is nothing more, demands the existence of a structure of government that will defend that claim to ownership through its structures of law, administration, defence – all the apparatus of the big state that libertarians so abhor. It also creates the existence of a class of have-nots who have to receive a minimum level of subsistence if they are not to starve or rise in revolt. This ultimate...