The Recovering Choir Director

We report, you decide. [Disregard completely all comments in brackets—it's spin, spin, spin.]

9:06 AM waiting for the bus
“O, magnify the Lord / for he is worthy to be praised.
O, magnify the Lord / for he is worthy to be praised.
Hosanna! Blessed be the rock (clap clap) / Blessed be the rock of my salvation!
Hosanna! Blessed be the rock (clap clap) / Blessed be the rock of my salvation!”

9:16 AM on the bus
Group from Montreal gets onto bus. Extroverted and quite friendly, they break into song. Rhythmic clapping is heard sporadically.

9:42 AM rehearsal @ Igresa do S. Salvador do Mundo
There is an organ in the church—electronic, but an organ.

Random thought #1: “Should we sanctify the secular, or secularize the sacred?”
Random thought #2: The term “young adults” is spoken. Thought bubble appears which states, “Nooo, the correct term is adult children.”

10:43 AM rehearsal
Songs rehearsed:
“Christ, Be Our Light” (Farrell | OCP) [comment overheard: "It's a Broadway song you get to sing in Church."]
“Kyrie” from WYD Mass (OCP)
“Alleluia” from WYD Mass (OCP)
“We Are the Light of the World” (from OCP’s Spirit and Song)
“Let the River Flow” (from OCP’s Spirit and Song)
“Agnus Dei” from WYD Mass (OCP)

Songs proposed:
“This Little Light of Mine”
“Gloria” (Mike Anderson | OCP)

11:19 AM
Apologies to Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary:
Worship aids, n. an inevitable result of worship HIV. There is no known cure.

c. 12:00 PM search and rescue for part of our group
Random spontaneous songs in 3 part SAB harmony:
“Freedom Is Coming” (John Bell/Iona | GIA)
“We are Marching / Siyahamba” (South African)
“My Song is Love Unknown(!) (John Ireland | LOVE UNKNOWN)

12:56 PM Exhibition Place
French contingent sings “Resucitó” (Kiko Arguello | OCP) while passing by.

1:19 PM Exhibition Place
I give Marta (friend and cantor at our campus ministry) the Collegeville Hymnal (Liturgical Press) which I brought along, and asked her to pick a hymn that she, Melissa (my girlfriend) and I could sing in parts. We sing BROTHER JAMES’ AIR, “Panis Angelicus”, and “Sing of Mary “(PLEADING SAVIOR). As we’re singing v.2, Channel 4 in Toronto films us. The cameraman films us until we finish the song. We are complimented on our SAB harmony. Maybe we’ll make the news, I think aloud. Melissa says, “That’s frightening.”

2:00 PM Exhibition Place
Overheard:
Laywoman: “Do you do a Polka Mass?”
Priest: “No, we don’t.”
Laywoman: “Don’t start.”

[Hallelujah!!!]

4:08 PM Exhibition Place
Dan Schutte strikes again! “Here I Am, Lord,” once again, is playing.

Bought two rosewood Jerusalem rosaries. [Nice scent.]

Catholic Answers tracts—I’ve seen a few of them lying on the ground. [Do English-speaking Catholic youth really want to know what their Church teaches?]

4:25 PM Exhibition Place concert stage
I’ve heard of Low, High, Polka and Folk Masses. It looks like we’ll be treated to a solid Bubblegum Pop Mass. Drums, keyboards, and electric guitar solos are quite prominent. (Was rhythmic clapping mentioned, too?) [I am interested to experience the prayer atmosphere.]

4:37 PM same place
I just saw a “100% Catholic” belt buckle on a girl wearing tight black jeans and a tight tank top. FYI.

[Random question of the moment: "Are we supposed to raise our youth and pass on our values, or do we pander to them incessantly?"]

6:51 PM Welcome Mass, same place
The WYD Choir sang devotional music in Latin!

[I was flabbergasted and overwhelmed to tears, tears that did me good (sorry St. Augustine).] Among the pieces offered:
- John Rutter’s Irish blessing
- W. A. Mozart’s Ave verum corpus
- and a setting of the Ave Maria that did musical justice to the text.
I was quickly brought back to earth by the WYD theme song, brought to you by none other than Oregon Catholic Press.]

6:58 PM same event
People are leaving Mass early. [I guess they really need to beat the traffic, or get to dinner, or whatever. Melissa, my girlfriend, offers "to pee" as an excuse.]

7:01 PM same event
Christian Rock is our closing “hymn” genre. [I want to join the early-exiters.]

~10:30 PM on the bus back to Silverthorn C. I.
Songs heard on the bus:
- “Dona Nobis Pacem” (traditional round)
- “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” [not a traditional round]
- a song of German origin

[I'm convinced that todays non-Americans are able to sing b/c of their 90-minute soccer liturgy.]