Mark Mullaney was ordained to the transitional diaconate today. I have never been to an ordination of any kind and it was just tremendous to participate in. There was a sizable contigent of priests from the diocese though most of them, I think, had June weddings today. The choir was larger than the congregation, which I found regrettable. Ordinations should be announced throughout the Diocese and the faithful should come to share in these sacraments with their future shepherds.
The organist at the Cathedral is wonderful and his bell choir is the best group of volunteers I’ve heard in the Diocese. He does a great job conducting from the organ – something that ain’t easy. You’re all waiting to hear what I’m going to complain about. Well, there was a number of people in the choir who turned around to look at the bell choir when they were playing alone. That’s just bad form. Especially when one is bobbing their head to the rhythm. The choir sits above and behind the altar, so you can imagine that this was somewhat distracting. That’s complaint number one. Complaint number two has to do with the guy sitting next to me. He had a good voice and if he got rid of two terrible but common singing mistakes I wouldn’t be complaining. He revved up to each note beginning a phrase on a hum, like nnnngAAAAHMEEEEEEEEEEEN! He did that the whole time. That was pretty bad. The other thing is that he sang R’s like we speak them. I wrote about this previously. Sounds likes this “LORRRRRRRHEARRRRRRRROURRPRRAYERRR.” He are actual lyrics of a hymn we did today. “Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell.” With R-man on the job that didn’t sound so good. “Well, Steve,” you say “why didn’t you say anything to this guy?” If I was in some position of authority I might have, but I was just a volunteer like everyone else and no one showed up to listen to me tell them how to sing. So I just stood there and let The Growler go at it. Do you tell the lady on the art committee who can’t cut fabric straight that she can’t cut fabric straight? Well you do. But musicians are different. Which is why OCP is in business.