Hi there. Here's the bleg of all blegs.
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Please take a moment to help a brother out. It will take only 5 minutes, I'm sure.
Of course, I already had to speak about the dangers of alcohol in my job as Alexandria, VA's Public Schools Superintendent!"
You tell me the lesson for the children.
He also castigated Bush for eating Asapargus on Tuesday and for wearing brown shoes with blue pants.
"The hungry throngs of unemployed IT workers desire Asparagus every day. They long for the succulent flavors of spring but this administration has outsourced their ability to pay for high-quality, organic vegetables."
He went on to say, "I, like many other Americans, don't agree with the the Bush tactic of mixing brown and blue. What's next? Will all the norms of fashion be tossed out the window just so Bush can dress comfortably? What will the starving dock-workers of Nantucket wear?"
Seriously folks: Kerry is making me sick by trying to turn every action, statement and occurrence related to this administration into something he can use for political gain. Does Kerry really think that Bush & Co. are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of us simple Americans by not letting us see flag-draped coffins? Does he not know that every major news outlet reports the deaths of American soldiers almost immediately after they happen? And just a few weeks ago, we saw the charred bodies of private citizens hanging from a bridge in Iraq. You think a few flag-draped coffins are part of a vast cover-up, Mr. Kerry?
My wife was leaving daily Mass and overheard a woman telling our pastor something about "Dancing With the Psalms."
Here's the Sibleyan link to what she might have been talking about.
Check out the high-tech flip-chart action. The section about "Writing Original Psalms" looks promising as well.
And here's a keeper from the section about how the program was developed:
My wife, my 60 pound Belgian Shepherd and I were chased down by a loose pooch this morning. It was one of those 15 pound Bichon Frises or Cock-a-poos or some such dog that belongs warming someone's feet instead of in the middle of the street. I had to hold my dog back from having a morning meal. Since blood wasn't drawn, the other "dog" just kept circling, barking and snapping. The owner's finally came up the street but couldn't get the pooch to go back in its yard and after 3 tries, my wife finally made a menacing gesture and the little dog settled down on the ground long enough for the owner to pick it up. Her apology: "The electric fence is broken."
Eeesh. How about something exciting like, "I was watching The Life of the Cheeta on Animal Planet last night and it must have gotten to him." or, "My dog's been very territorial since real estate taxes went up."
Anyway - we were no worse for the wear and got more exercise this morning.
The Litany of the Saints - Chanted
And it wasn't even close.
I know why some people like the Becker. It's likable in the same way that Big Macs and Happy Meals are. It's fun to perform if you crave theme songs from children's shows. Clowns. Pandas. Big Colorful Banners. That's what the Becker is.
The Chant - in English or in Latin - is a prayer, pure and simple. And prayerful people like to pray when then sing.
The Chant is praying twice.
The Becker is clanging - twice, twice, twice again.
There's some interesting stuff in the comment boxes below related to the Top 100 Hymns. Fr. Tharp has a simple solution for pastors: give the music director a list of hymns that don't make the theological cut and request they be removed from the parish repertiore.
It strikes me that the faithful need to wait for pastors who are willing and able to do something that the US Bishops have not done for forty years: get specific about hymn and song texts. I'm in my 10th year as a choir director and the silence sometimes makes me wonder where music is in the hierarchy of liturgical importance. Somewhere between flowers for the altar and cushions for the pews? Or somwhere between the placement of the tabernacle and the use of unleavened bread?
The flip-side is the heavy-handed pastor who has his list of favorites that includes the Top 40 hits from 1960-present, and can't stand latin, "Holy God We Praise Thy Name" or even "By Thou My Vision." I've heard the stories that make the average, faithful organist run screaming into the night.
It's great more guidance is coming even if you'll hear the cries of oppression from the folks who think it's perfectly acceptable to sing whatever makes them feel good.
Just remember who didn't cry "Oppression!" on Good Friday.
