Online Edition:
July-August 2010
Vol. XVI, No. 5
News & Views
Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer | Adoremus Hymnal – Work on Revision Begins | New Choral Music Project | CMAA: Chant at the Cathedral | Pope Creates Council for the New Evangelization
Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer, OSB, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (1984-88), later the first president of the “Ecclesia Dei” commission (1988-91), died in Rome April 30, shortly before his 99th birthday. He was born in Bavaria May 23, 1911, joined the Benedictines in 1931, and was ordained in 1935.
Pope Benedict XVI presented the homily at Cardinal Mayer’s funeral Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica on May 3. The pope recalled the cardinal’s motto: Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor (Christ’s love has gathered us in unity), and recounted his revered compatriot’s service to the Church:
Throughout his life he endeavored to carry out what St. Benedict says in his Rule: “Let nothing be preferred to the love of Christ”. After his studies in Salzburg and Rome he embarked on a long and appreciated activity, teaching at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant’Anselmo, of which, from 1949, he was rector for 17 years. The Pontifical Liturgical Institute was founded in this very period and became a fundamental reference point for training those in charge of formation in the field of liturgy. After the Council, he was elected Abbot of his beloved Abbey of Metten. He held this office for five years, but in 1972, the Servant of God Pope Paul VI appointed him Secretary of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, and desired to ordain him a Bishop personally, on 13 February 1972.
During his years of service in this Dicastery, he promoted the gradual implementation of the Second Vatican Council’s deliberations. In this particular area he was able, in his capacity as a religious, to demonstrate his outstanding ecclesial and human sensibility. In 1984, Venerable John Paul II entrusted to him the office of Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and created him a Cardinal at the Consistory on 25 May 1985…. Subsequently the Pope named him first President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”; and in this new and delicate office Cardinal Mayer also proved a zealous and faithful servant, seeking to apply the content of his motto: “The love of Christ has gathered us in unity”.
Our several meetings with Cardinal Mayer over the years will be remembered with gratitude for his example of loving witness to Christ and deep fidelity to the Church. Requiescat in pace — May he rest in peace.— hhh
Adoremus Hymnal — Work on Revision Begins
The new translation of the Roman Missal occasions the revision of the Adoremus Hymnal, first published in 1997 by Ignatius Press.
In addition to the new Missal texts, the revised hymnal will include new settings of the “ordinary”, or sung chants of the Mass, in both Latin and English.
Additional hymns will include all the Sequences and traditional Latin hymns from the Jubilate Deo collections issued by the Vatican. A few more hymns from the classic repertoire of sacred music will be included.
As in the present edition, the revised Adoremus Hymnal will include traditional hymns for devotions, such as Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, as well as a selection of hymns for various occasions (such as weddings, baptisms and funerals) and for all the liturgical seasons throughout the year.
Work has already begun on making necessary revisions. It is anticipated that the new books, along with an updated CD recording of the contents, will be available before the new English texts for Mass are authorized for use, presently estimated to be the first Sunday of Advent, 2011.
The Corpus Christi Watershed’s new featured project is Moteca Trium Vocum, Eucharistic motets for three voices, set by composer Kevin Allen. The settings also work well for a mixed choir. The texts of these motets are appropriate at all times of the liturgical year, so the pieces can be sung again and again.
A special performance edition avoids all page turns, and includes psalm tone texts in Latin and English. Booklet and CD available for purchase, and MP3 recordings are accessible on the web site.
More information: corpuschristiwatershed.org/projects/motecta-trium-vocum/.
The Catholic Music Association of America will hold the CMAA 2010 Fall Practicum: Gregorian Chant at the Houston Cathedral, October 21-23, in Houston, Texas. Faculty includes Dr. William Mahrt, CMAA President (Advanced Chant), Scott Turkington (Beginning Chant for Men), Arlene Oost-Zinner (Beginning Chant for Women), the Reverend Robert Pasley (Training for Priests), Jeffrey Tucker, and others. The practicum will conclude with a Missa Cantata (sung Mass) in the Ordinary Form on Saturday evening; Dr. Crista Miller, organist.
Information on CMAA web site: musicasacra.com.
Pope Creates Council for New Evangelization
Pope Benedict formally announced the creation of a Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, the first new curial dicastery to be established in more than twenty-five years. The announcement was made June 28, at First Vespers of the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul held at Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls.
Vatican Radio reported that in his announcement, Pope Benedict said that the new Pontifical Council will be dedicated to the evangelization of secularized Christian nations — countries with deep Christian roots that are now experiencing a sense of the “eclipse of God”, and becoming increasingly secularized.
Because the sole focus of the New Evangelization council would be on “re-evangelization”, it would be distinct from the work of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide), whose evangelizing efforts are concentrated on mission countries.
The pope appointed Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL) and rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, as president of the new Pontifical Council.
Last year, Archbishop Fisichella received strong criticism from members of the PAL after his article questioning the actions of Brazilian bishops in the case of a young girl’s abortion was published in the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on March 15, 2009. The resulting controversy led to a clarification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published July 11, 2009, which “reiterates that the Church’s teaching on procured abortion has not changed, nor can it change”.
Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, a member of Opus Dei, will replace Archbishop Fisichella as president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
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