Online Edition – May 2007
Vol. XIII, No. 3
News & Views
Mundelein Retreat for Church Musicians | Lumen Christi Institute Symposium | Sacred Music Chant Workshop in Stamford
Mundelein Retreat for Church Musicians
The Liturgical Institute of Mundelein Seminary in Chicago announces its second annual spiritual retreat for church musicians, June 24 to June 29, 2007. Intended to combine theological and practical aspects of church music with prayer and meditation, the retreat takes place on the beautiful campus of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary just outside of Chicago.
Father Samuel Weber, OSB, of Wake Forest University, will be the retreat master. He will lead spiritual conferences on the theology of liturgical music by using the Liturgical Year as a guide to explore the mysteries of the Christian Faith. Using the visual art and sacred chants of the Church, Father Weber will draw from the liturgical books, Fathers of the Church, and spiritual writings of Pope Benedict XVI to help church musicians better understand their ministry.
Each day includes spiritual conferences, sung morning, midday and evening prayer, rehearsal for a retreat schola to sing at the Solemn Mass for Saints Peter and Paul, free time for prayer, and confession and spiritual direction if desired.
The conference will also feature a lecture, “Liturgy and the New Evangelization”, by Bishop Peter Sartain of Joliet.
Bishop Sartain will also preside at the Vigil Mass of Saints Peter and Paul, with music by the retreat schola.
For more information and registration information for the conference, contact the Liturgical Institute: www.usml.edu/liturgicalinstitute/liturgicalinstitute.htm.
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Lumen Christi Institute Symposium
A symposium on The Mass and Modernity, the title of a book by Father Jonathan Robinson, superior of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, Toronto, was held at the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago on April 25.
Father Robinson is rector of St. Philip’s Seminary, a former professor of philosophy at McGill University, and the author of numerous articles and books, including Duty and Hypocrisy in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Mind and Spiritual Combat Revisited.
Presentations were also given by Dr. William Mahrt of Stanford University, who also heads the Church Music Association of America; Dr. John Rist, former professor of classics and philosophy at the University of Toronto; and Dr. Robert Wilken, professor of history and religious studies at University of Virginia, and author of The Spirit of Early Christian Thought.
The Lumen Christi Institute “advocates, supports, and nurtures intellectual work done in intimate and explicit relation to the Light of Christ, the Catholic Christian tradition, and the teaching authority of the Church”, according to the mission statement on its web site. The Institute was begun at the University of Chicago in 1997 by Thomas Levergood, current executive director, and Paul Griffiths, a professor of the philosophy of religion in the university’s divinity school. Their aim was to bring the Catholic intellectual tradition to their work. They began with a lectio divina prayer group, a theological discussion group, and a series of lectures.
Information at: http://lumenchristi.org/index.html.
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Sacred Music Chant Workshop in Stamford
The Stamford Schola Gregoriana is holding a two-day workshop on Sacred Music June 1-2, “that will leave you inspired, spiritually uplifted, and ready for the renewal of the great Catholic musical tradition”, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Stamford, Connecticut.
This practicum on Gregorian chant and polyphony provides a practical introduction, as well as on-going skill building, for all who are active in the sacred music of the Catholic Church.
Sponsored by the Church of St. John the Evangelist and the Stamford Schola Gregoriana, and under the direction of Scott Turkington, the workshop will feature:
• Singing sessions in 16th-century polyphony by Palestrina, Victoria, Byrd, and others
• Instructional sessions on the basics of reading chant, square note, notation
• Singing sessions on the essential Latin chants every Catholic should know.
• As a part of registration, participants will receive lunch, child-care, a Solesmes chant book, and Liber Cantualis.
For information and registration, call: 203-324-1553 ext. 18 or e-mail Ann Marie Mitchell, Conference Coordinator, at aeromitch1@aol.com or Scott Turkington, organist and choirmaster of the Stamford Schola, at contact@stamfordschola.org.
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