The Recovering Choir Director

Mark Sullivan gives the heartbreaking details of a parish liturgy’s disintegration.

[Fr.] Mayo favors a more modern approach to the worship service, or liturgy, calling for more participation by the congregation, including additional singing by worshippers. His disagreement with Applegate [the choirmaster] surfaced during the summer in memos to the choir director.

Specifically, Mayo requested two things: an entrance hymn that the entire assembly—not just the choir—could sing, and a psalm to which the congregation responds that comes between readings from the Old Testament and New Testament. The psalm would replace a section that the choir sang by itself. Mayo permitted the language of the hymn and the psalm to be in any language, even Latin, he said.

But Applegate viewed the changes as striking at the heart of his choir’s mission, and rather than agree to them, ended his run at St. Patrick’s.

“I’ve never compromised about that, ever,” he said. “Not ever. And it probably isn’t time for me to start.

“My struggle over the years has been to protect the heritage of Catholic sacred music,” he said. “This was our raison d’etre. But I was powerless. My only power was to say ‘No, I won’t do what you’re telling me to do.’ ” [Read on...]

Sad. Assuming that this Mass was according to the 1969 rubrics:

• couldn’t the Simple Gradual have been used for the entrance song and the responsorial psalm, while retaining the propers from the Roman Gradual for the offertory and communion?
• Couldn’t the Mass Ordinary have been taught to the assembly, retaining the polyphonic settings for solemnities and feasts?
• Could a composer elaborate on the foundation the Simple Gradual sets—retaining the simple Roman plainsong antiphon for choir and assembly, while polyphonically setting the verses a la Gregorio Allegri’s majestic Miserere?
• Could this have been done in steps, while all involved took the time to really discuss and understand the reforms promoted by Vatican II in light of the different views that Fr. Mayo, Mr. Applegate and members of the parish brought to the table?

Instead, a vacuum has been created, one that will most likely be filled by claptrap promoted by the big three publishing houses. Kinda brings a tear to the eye.

Update: Or an egg to the face. Or a foot in the mouth. Rumors of the death of good music and the Latin Mass at St. Patrick’s are greatly exaggerated. Forgive me for assuming incorrectly.

Update #2: And yet, the argument is still made that things were better the way they were. One thing’s for certain—the Big Three have struck this parish—just not in the way assumed by many.