This Is Why I Joined the Schola

...because we get to sing cool stuff like this:

"Alma Redemptoris Mater" for SATB and sleeping baby by Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina.

!!Breaking News!!

Did that get your attention? I hope so! The news isn't actually all that breaking, but I just wanted to make sure you were listening.

For those loyal readers (hi Mom!) in the Southern California area, I have an important announcement.

Well, not actually that important. I just want to make sure you're paying attention.

Anywho, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church's Latin Schola, of which yours truly is a member, will be performing our first ever concert on June 24 (the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist) at 8:00pm. The concert will begin with a low Mass in the extraordinary form (in Latin, priest faces ad oriens (that is, he is oriented correctly, in the same direction as the people, so the Mass isn't a staring contest)). This will be followed by actual singing. Our showpiece is the "Messe Secunda" by Fr. Michael Haller, a 19th century Palestrina scholar, who wrote this gorgeous 3-part (SAB) Mass in the style of the great Renaissance sacred works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Other works we will be performing are: the chant "Ut Queant Laxis", a chant to St. John the Baptist, from which the solfège "do re mi..." originates; César Franck's "Panis Angelicus"; and maybe one or two others (if you're lucky!).

(Did you notice all the bold text? I put it there. It was designed to subtly catch your eye and make you more interested. Did it work?)

So, come and bring a friend, why don't you? Bring ten friends. Bring a hundred friends! You probably won't regret it™! (That's my personal guarantee!)

Oh, yeah, and we also have this cool flyer.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "wow, Joe, that's a cool flyer! How could the concert not be awesome if it has such a cool flyer?" (Yes, I know you think in bold text.)

Well, you, that's a good question. How could the concert not be awesome if we have such an awesome flyer? The answer is: there is no conceivable way the concert could not be awesome with such a cool flyer. This has been rigorously proven by science-type people, like this guy.

This Guy? Tell everybody why it will be awesome:

The concert will be so awesome, because it has a cool flyer. I have proven this scientifically!

You know you can trust him because he wears glasses. That means he's got, like, +5 to science!

And that's why you need to come! You probably won't regret it!™

The "Death" of the Faith

When Pope Benedict XVI issued his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum in 2007, there was criticism that the only people who would attend the Mass in the extraordinary form (in Latin, where the priest faces ad oriens, in the same direction as the people) were old people who grew up before the new "proper" Mass was instituted, and would only attend it out of some sense of nostalgia. Even in our own parish, some objected to the pastor that if the Mass was celebrated in a language people didn't understand, that attendance would drop off. It was certainly expected to drive away young people. Who would possibly want to attend Latin mass who hadn't grown up with it?

I smile to myself, thinking about this, as I walk around in the back of the church with Damien. Another father, I think his name's Michael, holds his two-year-old son, while one of his daughters—who looks about ten—takes up the collection with the other ushers. His wife sits in the row in front of Anne Marie, with their other son, and their other daughter sings in the choir.

Damien fidgets loose from my hold and runs about. He finds another boy around his age and the two of them laugh and squeal. Together, they find the cabinets where the missals are stored, and the other boy's dad and I take turns holding them closed. Over the course of the mass, at least three or four other parents of small children will pass through the back, either to calm a fussing baby, or take a child to the bathroom.

I look out over the congregation, who listen to Father Philip's highly-intellectual homily (he's talking about what we can learn from the fact that the vast majority of God's life here on earth was spent in ordinary family life; it's like he knows his audience). There's another family sitting behind us this week, the girls wearing veils. There's the young couple—no kids yet—that look younger than Rie and I. Probably mid-twenties. They're here every week. And, of course, the family that drives the big white full-size van with three bumperstickers; one for The Monkees, one that says "I ♥ the Old Latin Mass", and another that says "Proud Parents of 6 homeschoolers". From where I stand in the back, I can't see a single gray head. I think the average age of this group must be about 35.

The group that attends the 12:30 Mass in the extraordinary form fills me with such hope, and is a reminder that G.K Chesteron's words that he wrote in 1925 are just as relevant then as they are today: "we know how completely a society can lose its fundamental religion without abolishing its official religion; we know how men can all become agnostics long before they abolish bishops. And we know that also in this last ending, which really did look to us like the final ending, the incredible thing has happened again; the Faith has a better following among the young men than among the old."

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