Author: John Schultz

Homosexuality on Catholic bishops agenda
BALTIMORE, Nov. 13 (UPI) — New guidelines freeing gay Catholics from trying to alter their sexual orientation is being considered by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops this week.
During their annual fall meeting in Baltimore the bishops will review guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Drafted by a conference committee, the documents may encounter opposition from some conservative bishops.
“We are trying to find a language that does not betray the teaching of the church, but will perhaps express it in ways that are not so offensive,” Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Tribune.
Recent directives from the Vatican bar most gay men from pursuing ordination and prohibit priests with “homosexual tendencies” from teaching or running seminaries.
“They’re lost focus on the needs of the human race,” said Sam Sinnett, president of the gay Catholic group DignityUSA. “They’re much more concerned with whether two homosexuals are going to get married or not.”

Sounds some of the bishops are wordsmithing – but why? To try to get take off some of the heat they get from groups like DignityUSA? And when an item like that comes up for discussion on how they can make Church teaching more pastoral, they get flack anyway.
Hopefully the bishops keep focused on fundmentals:
A homosexual orientation is not a sin, homosexual acts are.
People with a homosexual orientation are called to celebacy, just like people who aren’t married.
Everyone is called to chastity according to their state in life.
What else needs to be said that would convince people that the can’t follow Jesus and lead an intrinsically sinful lifestyle?
Consider a Catholic couple who were previously married, divorced, and married outside the Church. Does the Church need to tweak their guidelines to try to be more pastoral and win them back to the Church? Or is the teaching crystal clear and you simply have the issue of folks needing to make immense lifestyle changes or sacrifices to get back in line with Church teaching?
I would say that the teaching on these items is clear, and attempts at being more pastoral have tremendous potential to muddy the waters rather than help people live in the manner Jesus is calling us to live.

But it would really just restate the pride of place given to chant and sacred polyphony in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican II. See number 116.

Nov. 07 (CNA/CWNews.com) – Sources close the Holy See are saying that during his upcoming visit to the St. Cecilia Music Academy, Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) may address the need to recover the quality of sacred music in the liturgical life of the Church.
The feast of St. Cecilia, patroness of music, will be celebrated on November 22, and the Pontiff has announced that during that week he intends to visit the academy of music in Rome that bears the saint’s name. According to Vatican sources consulted by the Catholic News Agency, the Holy Father, who has expressed his concern over liturgical music, may address the need to recover the place of sacred music, “both Gregorian and polyphonic,” in the Catholic liturgy.
“This pronouncement could even take the form of a motu proprio, an official document issued on the Holy Father’s own initiative,” sources said.
Since the election of Pope Benedict XVI, sacred music has been given greater attention in the Roman liturgy. On November 19, as part of the year of Mozart– one of the Pope’s favorite composers– Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (bio – news), Archbishop of Vienna, will preside at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, in which the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will present Mozart’s Mass of Coronation. Although no time has been officially allotted for remarks by the Holy Father, it is possible he will address the faithful at the conclusion of the liturgical celebration.

The following was written by the music director at my parish. Local folks should try to make it – the concert should be outstanding.
Incidently – I’m singing the baritone solo on the “Libera Me.” I normally sing tenor, but there wasn’t a suitable solo and my voice is sufficiently beefy to sing baritone. Should be fun.

“MUSICAL TRADITION IN VIENNA”
Years ago, when the town of Vienna was first established, the original idea was to name it Ayr Hill. Someone with vision insisted that it be named Vienna, after the great musical city in Austria, in the hopes that good music would always flourish there. 252 years later, the tradition of great classical music flourishes here in Vienna, especially at St. Mark Catholic Church on Vale Road.
Beginning in 2002 under the direction of Minister of Music and Liturgy Nancy Novelly, an annual series of Major Composer concerts has drawn together the amazing wealth of parish musical talent to focus on the sacred works of one composer. These concerts take place on the Friday before Thanksgiving each year, roughly coinciding with the November 22 feast of St. Cecilia, Patron Saint of Music. They are part of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians’ program, “NPM Sing,” which encourages parish musical celebrations of her feast day.
A Festival Choir of 50-60 voices is assembled each September to begin rehearsals. Singers are drawn from the parish’s eight choirs, plus any interested parishioners who don’t have time for a regular choir commitment but who love to sing. Twice a week for two and a half months, the halls are filled with sounds of music which challenges the skills of singers and directors alike. The Festival Choir has presented concerts of the works of Mozart, Bach, Handel, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. This year’s concert, entitled “Faure in Vienna,” will present sacred works by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924), a French Catholic composer who devoted his life to service in the Catholic Church.
The program includes the breathtaking “Requiem” in its original 1893 version, with restrained orchestration: a handful of strings, which nevertheless add richness and warmth to the lush harmonies and SATTBB vocal writing. In addition, vocal solos and trios by sopranos Teresa Schultz and Michelle Kunz, Youth choir director Jackie Niedermaier and school music teacher Colleen Foarde, our Resurrection Choir, plus a stunning Barcarolle for solo piano performed by our Parish Council president Linda Carducci, and flute pieces by parish flautists Elisabeth Hays, Ann Brownell and Lynda Clark will round out the program. The St. Mark Handbell Choir will perform a contemporary piece commissioned especially for its director, resident organist Richard Weiand. In closing, Adult choir director John Schultz directs “Cantique de Jean Racine,” a beautifully simple prayer sung in French.
Those who present this concert each year are nourished musically and spiritually by the exercise of working on great music together. Those who attend are blessed and enriched by this gift of music. All of us pray that other communities might be inspired to institute such a program, if they don’t already have one.
All are invited to this year’s “Faure in Vienna” on Friday, November 17th at 7:30 pm in the main Church. Call 703-938-3293 for more information. Admission is free.

An obvious headline with a funny typo, compliments of the Western Catholic Reporter

FIFA have revealed that more than half of the players treated on the pitch during this summer’s World Cup were not actually injured.
The world body’s chief medical officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak, presented his findings to the FIFA referees committee today and they showed a cheating culture at the highest level of the game.
According to Professor Dvorak, there were too many players feigning injury in Germany, with tactical reasons presented as the most likely cause of their action. …full from ESPN