See preceding page for earlier entries today, 7/12/10.
Shawn Tribe at New Liturgical Movement keeps us updated on what is becoming a signal event for those who share the Holy Father's views on the liturgy. The first international liturgical conference took place in 2008 on Fota island, just off Cork, Ireland, and the conferences are now referred to as Fota-I, Fota-II, Fota-III...
3rd annual international conference
on the liturgy according to Joseph Ratzinger
July 12, 2010
The topic this year is 'Benedict XVI on sacred music'. Mr. Tribe quotes from the diary entry of opening day for Fota-III, held July 10-12, by a conference participant, Dom Alban Nunn from Ealing Abbey.
Photos show Archbishop Raymond Burke (top photo), who opened the conference this year, and Mons. Vincent Twomey,
from the Maynooth Seminary, was conference moderator.
The opening session of FOTA III started shortly after 11 am. Fr Vincent Twomey SVD, formerly professor of moral theology at Maynooth, commenced with an overview of the issues concerning Church Music in the writings of the current Holy Father.
He observed a fundamental distinction between Joseph Ratzinger's initial approach to music as integral to the liturgy in comparison to the Rahnerian 'ornamental' approach. After tracing some of the philosophical reasoning behind the Pope's thinking. Twomey concluded with five principles which would find resonance in the later speakers.
(1) Liturgy is for all - truly catholic but not always uniform.
(2) It may be simple but never cheap.
(3) Participation goes beyond mere external manifestations of activity.
(4) If liturgical music is purely utilitarian it's actually useless. (5) A 'purification process' needs to be applied to musical material drawn from other cultures....
Fr Sven Leo Conrad, FSSP, then spoke on the intellectual connection between the Pope and Johannes Overath (1915-2002) whose work and person strongly influenced the music paragraph of
Sacrosanctum Concilium (1964) and its consequent expansion/explanation
Musicam Sacram (1967).
The theological content of Fr Overath's paper was severely curtailed by time limits. but Fr Conrad managed to emphasise Overath's concern about the tendency to overplay the 'spirit' rather than the 'letter' of the conciliar documents. Overath laid great value on the original relationes of the conciliar debates in interpreting the final texts.
This seems to have been an attitude shared by Oberath with the current Holy Father through close professional and personal contact which included a shared residence in the early 1980s.
Fr [Uwe] Michael Lang CO... gave an overview of papal pronouncements on music, from Benedict XIV's
Annus Qui (1749) to the current day, via the writings of John XXII and material from the 22nd and 23rd sessions of the Council of Trent.
Summarising across the centuries, between the two Benedicts, Fr Lang outlined five consistent concerns:
(1) The actual use of the textual material proper to the Mass.
(2) The problem of the theatrical pushing the text away from God- centeredness (including the appropriate use of instruments in worship).
(3) The continuing concern for intelligibility.
(4) The length of individual pieces in relation to he liturgical action.
(5) The revival of the chant repertoire.
The first session paused with a series of questions from the floor including an interesting comment from Stanford's Professor William Mahrt on the introduction of the organ into Western liturgy. Apparently a Byzantine imperial ornament the first instrument was sent as a present to the emperor of the West, at that time Charlemagne, from the Emperor of the East, and originally used to play Gregorian melodies.
Finally Archbishop Burke closed the morning session with some general comments of the renewal of sacred music.
Fr Stephane Quessard spoke on the renewal of Sacred Music commencing with a potted history of the origin and use of the term itself, from its apparent coining by Michael Praetorius around 1614.
Quessard observed three challenges to Sacred Music in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger:
(1) That sacred music must go beyond the limits of current European thinking avoiding triteness and commercialism.
(2) That the Church has to restore the Logos at the centre of sacred music.
(3) That the chant repertoire must be emphasised as normative to the Rite.
The Irish composer Philip Carty spoke with considerable conviction about how his growing religious convictions have influenced his musical language. Carty has an academic background in both theology and music and a continuing career as a composer including several film music credits.
There were several wonderful thought-provoking moments in this talk, illustrated with some of his own music, including the question 'Is no music better than bad music?' aimed directly at much of the pastoral repertoire. Carty's answer was a simple 'Yes- because of the silence.' ...
The afternoon session then moved into the launch of the FOTA-I proceedings [in book form]. Archbishop Burke gave a summary of the contents in some detail then the publishers responded briefly giving tribute to the work of the editors. At 7.30 pm Archbishop Burke celebrated Pontifical Vespers in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Cork City.
A note about the conference sponsors
St. Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy encourages and promotes among its members full active and conscious participation in Catholic Liturgy in accordance with the authentic tradition of the Church especially as expressed in
Sacrosanctum Concilium and subsequent liturgical legislation.
St. Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy promotes its objectives primarily through its annual International Liturgical Conference which takes place during the month of July. It brings together some of the most important contemporary research scholars in area of Catholic Liturgy.
While conference topics range over a wide area of liturgical interest, their focal point is the liturgical writing of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI which the Society explicitly seeks to promote among its members and among the general public.
FOTA-I in 2008 was on 'Benedict XVI and Sacred Liturgy' in general; and FOTA-II last year was on 'Benedict XVI and Beauty: The Tradition of Christian Aesthetics'.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/07/2010 12:35]