Sunday, August 21, 2011

Tim Keller Striking the Note of Grace, Grace, Grace | Mockingbird

Tim Keller Striking the Note of Grace, Grace, Grace | Mockingbird
A great quote from Presbyterian powerhouse Tim Keller, via Tullian Tchividjian’s post “Deconstructing Moralism” on The Gospel Coaltion. Taken from Keller’s article “Preaching in a Post-modern Climate”:
Some claim that to constantly be striking a ‘note of grace, grace, grace’ in our sermons is not helpful in our culture today. The objection goes like this: “Surely Phariseeism and moralism is not a problem in our culture today. Rather, our problem is license and antinomianism. People lack a sense of right or wrong. It is ‘carrying coal to Newcastle’ to talk about grace all the time to postmodern people.” But I don’t believe that’s the case. Unless you point to the ‘good news’ of grace, people won’t even be able to bear the ‘bad news’ of God’s judgment. Also, unless you critique moralism, many irreligious people won’t know the difference between moralism and what you’re offering. The way to get antinomians to move away from lawlessness is to distinguish the gospel from legalism. Why? Because modern and post-modern people have been rejecting Christianity for years thinking that it was indistinguishable from moralism. Non-Christians will always automatically hear gospel presentations as appeals to become moral and religious, unless in your preaching you use the good news of grace to deconstruct legalism. Only if you show them there’s a difference–that what they really rejected wasn’t real Christianity at all–will they even begin to consider Christianity.

Nuns, a ‘Dying Breed,’ Fade From Leadership Roles at Catholic Hospitals - NYTimes.com

Nuns, a ‘Dying Breed,’ Fade From Leadership Roles at Catholic Hospitals - NYTimes.com

ST. LOUIS — When Sister Mary Jean Ryan entered the convent as a young nurse in 1960, virtually every department of every Catholic hospital was run by a nun, from pediatrics to dietary to billing. After her retirement on July 31 as the chief executive of one of the country’s largest networks of Catholic hospitals, only 11 nuns remained among her company’s more than 22,000 employees, and none were administrators.

In 1968, nuns or priests served as chief executives of 770 of the country’s 796 Catholic hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association. Today, they preside over 8 of 636 hospitals. With Sister Mary Jean’s departure, only 8 of 59 Catholic health care systems are directed by religious executives.

SSM, which is now led by William P. Thompson, a Catholic layman and longtime company executive, had been the largest Catholic health system still managed by a nun. Formed in 1986, the St. Louis firm consolidated the management of 15 Catholic hospitals and two nursing homes in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

As with other healing orders that have ceded control, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary prepared for their inevitable detachment from SSM with more planning than sentiment.

“We can’t be maudlin about this,” said Sister Mary Jean, 73, who still presides over the company’s board. “I mean, yes, we are a dying breed. We are disappearing from the face of the earth and all of that. That being said, perhaps this is a moment for people to acknowledge the contribution that has been made by women religious throughout our history in the United States.”

The leadership shift has stirred angst in many Catholic hospitals about whether the values imparted by the nuns, concerning the treatment of both patients and employees, can withstand bottom-line forces without their day-to-day vigilance. Although their influence is often described as intangible, the nuns kept their hospitals focused on serving the needy and brought a spiritual reassurance that healing would prevail over profit, authorities on Catholic health care say.

In the case of SSM, that has meant turning away business arrangements with doctors who decline to accept Medicaid. It has meant discounting treatment for the poor and offering charity care to the uninsured, just as the order’s founders did. The St. Louis nuns’ earliest ledgers denoted patients unable to pay as “Our dear Lord’s.”

The near extinction of nuns from American hospitals stems largely from the drastic decline of religious orders that accompanied the women’s movement, the sexual revolution, ethnic assimilation and the Second Vatican Council’s opening of the church to lay leadership.

Even as the country’s Roman Catholic population surged by nearly 50 percent over the last half-century, the number of nuns dropped precipitously, to 56,000 today from 180,000 in 1965, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. In 2009, 91 percent of all nuns were at least 60 years old.

Sister Mary Jean’s order has dwindled to about 100 from a peak of more than 500. Most moved out of their convent last year and into a retirement and nursing home. There has not been an initiate for 25 years, and several years ago the sisters reluctantly stopped looking.

“It was painful,” Sister Mary Jean said in an interview in her modest apartment, “but I think it was also courageous to say we’re just not going to recruit any more. Let’s just live out the rest of our lives to the fullest that we possibly can and thank God for what we’ve been able to do. And when the time comes, as they say, the last person turn the lights out.”

Along with parochial education, health care has long been a central mission of nuns in this country, a natural outgrowth of the Catholic insistence on the sacredness of life. Since 1727, when the Ursuline sisters landed in New Orleans, they have built 12 of the country’s 40 largest health care systems. In 2009, Catholic hospitals accounted for one of every six admissions in the United States, according to the Catholic Health Association.

Other than crucifixes on the walls and marble Madonnas in the lobby, Catholic hospitals do not look particularly different from secular ones. But their administrators say that what makes them distinct is a values-driven approach, reflected at SSM in a mission statement that pledges to use exceptional care to “reveal the healing presence of God.”

Catholic health systems have been criticized, along with other nonprofit hospitals, as not dedicating enough resources to the community’s benefit. But surveys also show that, on average, they provide higher-quality performance than other hospitals and are more likely to offer specialty services that are not profit centers.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Free Responsorial Psalm • VIGIL of the Assumption, ABC on Vimeo


Free Responsorial Psalm • VIGIL of the Assumption, ABC on Vimeo

August 15 being The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin.


Free Responsorial Psalm • VIGIL of the Assumption, ABC from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

St. Noël Chabanel Responsorial Psalm Project
--------------------------------
R. Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
Let us enter his dwelling,
let us worship at his footstool.
R. Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.
May your priests be clothed with justice;
let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.
For the sake of David your servant,
reject not the plea of your anointed.
R. Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he prefers her for her dwelling.
"Zion is my resting place forever;
in her will I dwell, for I prefer her."
R. Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.

Listen to today's Festal Eucharist at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue. Or celebrate at St. Mary the Virgin on Monday, August 15th.

(The image above is from the St. Thomas website, and is described as "A sculpture in wood of Mother and Child near the altar of the Chantry Chapel. The scultpure is Spanish in origin, carved in the fourteenth century and polychromed in the sixteenth century. )

Monday, August 08, 2011

The Ordinary of the Divine Office, according to the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood

The LLBP has a page, with links to mp3s, of the orders for Lauds, Noonday Prayer, Vespers, and Compline (as well as Vigils, which I'm not including here) at their website; I'm copying the text below only, as examples of outlines for praying the Offices. (Would like to copy everything, including the mp3 links! - but there's a copyright notice so I'm linking to that page instead.)

They've also left out the place for the Psalms, for some reason! So I've put it in, in green below. I realize now that I've never actually put this outline in anywhere on this site, and this is quite a good one, so I'll use it.  I may later publish the order with links that I've gathered over the years, the versicles and responsories, and with a psalm chart as well - but this for now.
The Order of Morning Prayer
The Opening Versicles--Alleluia or Praise to Thee, O Christ for Lententide
The Psalms
The Lection
The Responsory (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Hymn (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Canticle with Versicle (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Prayers: Kyrie, the Lord's Prayer, the Sufferages, the Salutation--option.
The Benedicamus outside of Eastertide/ in Eastertide
The Benediction

The Order of Midday (Midmorning, Midafternoon) Prayer
The Opening Versicles--Alleluia or Praise to Thee, O Christ for Lententide
The Psalms
The Hymn at Prime (Before midmorning), at Terce (midmorning), at Sext (midday), at None (midafternoon).
The Lection
The Responsory (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Prayers: Kyrie, the Lord's Prayer, the Salutation--option,
Versicle, Da Pacem, Versicle, Collect for the day of the week at Sext (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday).
The Benedicamus outside of Eastertide/ in Eastertide
The Benediction

The Order of Evening Prayer (Vespers)
The Opening Versicles--Alleluia or Praise to Thee, O Christ for Lententide
The Psalms
The Lection
The Responsory (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Hymn (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Canticle with Versicle (see Propers for Praying the Hours-Weekday)
The Prayers: Kyrie, the Lord's Prayer, the Sufferages, the Salutation--option.
The Benedicamus outside of Eastertide/ in Eastertide
The Benediction

The Order of Night Prayer (Compline)
The Opening Versicles
The Confiteor
The Versicles after Confiteor, Alleluia, Praise to Thee O Christ.
The Psalmody (Psalm 4, Psalm 91, Psalm 134)
The Little Chapter
The Responsory
The Hymn--Sun./Feasts, Weekdays, Lent
The Gospel Canticle with Versicle and Antiphon on Sundays & Feasts or on Weekdays
The Prayers: Kyrie, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, Preces, the Collect of the Office the Salutation--option.
The Benedicamus
The Benediction

Friday, August 05, 2011

Saint Thomas Church - Worship - Worship Calendar

Saint Thomas Church - Worship - Worship Calendar

Highlights for the Week of July 31 -August 6

The Girls' Course

In 2005, music directors in the New York area expressed interest in joining together to form a chorister experience of the highest caliber for girls. The Saint Thomas Choir School was delighted to offer space, resources and experience to the endeavor. Since then, the Choir School has proudly taken full ownership of the course and developed a schedule and musical standard parallel to that of the boys during the academic terms. In 2008, the course expanded to nine days. In 2011, the Course begins on Saturday, July 30th.

On Sunday, July 31, the girls will be in attendance in the pews with the congregation as the Gentlemen of the Choir sing the 11am Choral Eucharist for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. Then, things quickly transition over to the girls, who sing at two special summertime weekday Choral Evensongs at 5:30pm--Tuesday, August 2 and Thurday, August 4. Then, on Sunday, August 7, for the Feast of the Transfiguration, the girls will sing alongside the Gentlemen of the Choir at 11am. Over the years, they have been led by two distinguished organists and directors of music: Sarah Baldock, who directed the girls last year and the year before, and Sarah MacDonald, who was last with us for the course in 2008 and returns to direct this year. Both hold prestigious positions in the United Kingdom and are mentors and role models in every way for the young women who participate in the course. Additional information about Sarah MacDonald, as well as her music notes for each service, can be found by clicking on the individual dates of the services above. All four choral services will be webcast live and then available on-demand if you are unable to attend in person.

The Feast of the Transfiguration

You’ll notice on the schedule on the worship calendar that “The Transfiguration” is listed on both Saturday, August 6 and Sunday, August 7. The actual feast date in August 6. However, whenever a major feast day falls on a Saturday or Monday, we often translate it over to the adjoining Sunday so that the maximum number of people can celebrate it. So, in effect, this year we celebrate it twice. When you combine it with the fact that the Last Sunday after the Epiphany is also a celebration of the Transfiguration (the epiphany season being a series of epiphanies about Christ), we're actually celebrating it three times this year!

If you love music, do come on Sunday at 11am. However, if you are unable to come on Sunday, or if you prefer shorter, simpler forms of worship, consider coming on Saturday at 12:10pm or on Sunday morning at 8am. Either way, the Transfiguration is a glorious feast day, revealing Jesus as Christ, the Messiah.
There are several excellent sermons regarding the Transfiguration in the sermon archive on our website. Among them, consider reading (or listening to):


The Glory of God (2011) by Fr Daniels
Love We Can Hardly Bear to See (2010) by Fr Austin
A Sermon for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany (2009) by Fr Stafford
The Transfigured Cross (2006) by Fr Mead
A Glimpse into Glory (2005) by Fr Mead

Lovely to hear girls from that choir - I know some of them this year - and they are good, too.

The responses on Tuesday - MacDonald? - are gorgeous! Haven't listened to Thursday yet; will get back to you.

Monday, August 01, 2011

"The Canticles at Evensong, Together with the Office Responses and a Table of Psalm-Tones"

A nice find at Google Books tonight: "THE CANTICLES AT EVENSONG, TOGETHER WITH THE OFFICE RESPONSES AND A TABLE OF PSALM-TONES: EDITED BY THE REVEREND CHARLES WINFRED DOUGLAS BACHELOR OF MUSIC CANON OF FOND DU LAC." - (The Saint Dunstan Edition)

Here's the link to the book itself, which was published in 1915 (and cost 50 cents).

From the Intro:
The following Table of Psalm-tones has been compiled with the purpose of providing greater melodic wealth than is afforded by the Sarum Tonale, while retaining the greater part of the latter in its accustomed order as a basis. To this end, traditional Continental mediations have been added in the forms presented by the Vatican Antiphoner; together with supplementary endings, among which all save the third ending of the fourth Tone are of ancient use, either in England or on the Continent. This exception is a slight modification (made by the Benedictines of Solesmes) of an ancient ending. The additional mediations are distinguished in the Table by the letters B and C; and the solemn mediations for Magnificat by the letter S. Wherever more than a single mediation is given for a Tone, the Sarum form is marked by the letter A. As the numbering of the Sarum endings adopted in recent English Psalters has become widely familiar, it is retained: the additional endings either being substituted for certain of the Sarum set that are practically never used; or else assigned further numbers after the complete enumeration of the Sarum group.

There are more notes at the link. Winfred Douglas is well-known in the Anglican world for his efforts at renewing the chant tradition; here's a bit about him at Cyberhymnal.
While at Syr­a­cuse Un­i­ver­si­ty, Doug­las sang at St. Paul’s Epis­co­pal Ca­thed­ral. He earned his Ba­che­lor of Mu­sic de­gree from Sy­ra­cuse in 1891, then took Ho­ly Or­ders. He moved to Ev­er­green, Col­o­ra­do, for health rea­sons, and be­came an Epis­co­pal priest in 1899. He ed­it­ed the Epis­co­pal New Hymn­al in 1918, and helped de­vel­op the 1940 Epis­co­pal hymn­al as well.

The monastic orders began to revive in England only during the mid-19th Century, fully 300 years after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Winfed Douglas was instrumental in renewing the chant tradition. Here's something about him from the website of the Community of St. Mary East, an Episcopal monastic order from New York:
When the Rev. Canon C. Winfred Douglas became the choirmaster for the Community in 1906, he introduced a new edition of A Manual of Plain Song(4) to the choir, and later his own St. Dunstan Psalter(5). Prior to assuming his new position, he spent time in England, France, and Germany studying early church music. What he always valued most was the course in plainsong given by the Benedictine monks, who, exiled from their home monastery at Solesmes, had taken up residence at Quarr Abbey in the Isle of Wight. In an article for The

Catholic Choirmaster published in March 1926, Canon Douglas explained his reasoning for welcoming the opportunity to be choirmaster for the Community of St. Mary.

"Parish Churches are too subject to changing policies with changing rectors for much hope of permanent stability in a musical tradition. It seemed to the writer that seminaries and schools, with their comparatively fixed policies, and above all, religious orders, offered the best field for constructive work... St. Mary's Convent and the group of institutions clustered around it seemed an admirable field for the establishment of a Plainsong tradition."(6)

The transition from modern notation, measured rhythm and polyphonic settings tothe Solesmes method of unison, equi-measured square notation chant presented quite an adjustment for the Sisters. Canon Douglas' patience and skill had them singing

Compline in ten days and the other simple offices over the next weeks. The school girls also learned the chant with the Sisters. Over the years many alumnae returned to Peekskill to sing at major liturgical feasts in St. Mary's Chapel.

The Night Office was first recited in May 1874 from the Neale edition of the Sarum Office(7). On March 12, 1916, a shortened form of the Benedictine Night Hours was introduced(8), and a revision of this came into use Pentecost, June 13, 1943. At Tenebrae and on great feasts such as Christmas, Purification, and Easter, the Night Office was sung in full, adapted from monastic melodies in use in the Latin with local variances since at least the tenth century.


Below is an iFrame that contains the first page of the Psalm Tone chart; you can scroll through it from this post.