CHRISTIAN SINGER AND THREE-TIME GRAMMY WINNER MICHAEL W. SMITH ENDORSES SANTORUM FOR PRESIDENT

The Rick Santorum for President Campaign is proud to announce that it has received the endorsement of Michael W. Smith.

Michael W. Smith said: "Rick has been a friend for many years and know him personally as a man of strong faith, character and conviction. He is committed to his family and has consistently and faithfully served our country. Rick has fought for life, for marriage and for the least of these. And that is why I support my friend - Rick Santorum. We need a leader who will stand fast to his convictions and lead our country with an unwavering moral compass. I know Rick Santorum to be a man of great character - and worthy of the office of President of the United States."

Michael W. Smith is one of Christian contemporary music's most awarded and renowned artists - winning three Grammy Awards and 40 Dove Awards. Smith has sold more than 13 million albums, recorded 29 number one hits, 14 Gold Albums, and 5 Platinum Albums. Smith is active in charity work, including serving as an avid spokesperson for sponsoring children through Compassion International.

I have been to Amy Grant concerts in the 1980's where Michael W. Smith was her warm up act. Here is my favorite song:
Great is the Lord.

Just to make you smile

Night of Love and Healing with Sean Forrest

Last August, when over 700 people anxiously awaited Eduardo Verastegui's speech at Eastern Connecticut State University, Catholic father and singer Sean Forrest was brave enough, and talented enough to be the warm up singer. His sense of humour, musical talent and ability to bond with the audience had us singing along to "Stand By Me" rather than looking over his shoulder for Eduardo.

I promised myself then that I would not miss the opportunity to attend his next performance, and then was pleasantly surprised to discover that he sent his children to the same Catholic grammar school as my daughter. Sean was educated by the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church, and has chosen the same for his children.

My husband Francisco enjoyed his performance at the Connecticut Catholic Men's Conference and bought his CD "Haiti: I Want to Know What You Know", which has an assortment of musical styles in upbeat songs about faith, love, and marriage. It's perfect CD for keeping your focus on the Lord while driving the colorful New England hills in fall. I've listened to it a dozen times and am now starting to sing along to some of the songs, especially the African style " You are my Saviour", and the touching, "Only So Many Days". Sean has deep respect for his wife which he expressed in his song, "She Chose the Better". His voice reminds me by turns of Billy Joel and Van Morrison with an eclectic style and great backups, this man of God has a bright musical career to watch.

So, I now have a personal note to add. Sean told me about Robert Rogers a man who lost his entire family; wife, and four children in an instant of tragedy and has had to use his Catholic faith to rebuild his life, step by step.
This evening is for married couples and adults over 18.
Tickets are $15.

Come, to the Theatre of the Performing Arts

359 Washington Street

Hartford, CT 06106


7PM
Saturday, November 14, 2009

Here's a music video of Sean.

Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth!

Warming up to Spring and St Patrick's Day

It just isn't spring until it's St Patrick's Day, and here's the song which helps me celebrate. I was fortuante to have been in the front row when Tommy Makem sang at St Anselm in 1982, when he reached over me to kiss a lady in the second row.
He had a rapier wit and wonderful stage presence, he has remained my favorite Irish folk singer ever since. When he diedin 2007 I did a memorial post here.
Enjoy.

The World Over features an interview with "The Priests"

Here is the latest buzz from their producers at SONY
THREE IRISH PRIESTS = 4 U.S. #1s!!!

STRAIGHT TO #1 ON AMAZON'S SALES CHART
FOLLOWING THEIR "CBS SUNDAY MORNING" APPEARANCE
#1 HEATSEEKERS CHART
#1 CURRENT CLASSICAL TRADITIONAL CHART
#1 TOP NEW ARTIST ALBUM CHART
#5 CURRENT CLASSICAL OVERALL CHART

THE PRIESTS SELF-TITLED ALBUM IS DIVINE GLOBAL SMASH
Internationally Holds #1 Spot in Ireland (4x Platinum) and Norway (Platinum)
#3 Sweden (Platinum), and #5 in the UK (Platinum)

(NEW YORK) – A vocal trio of three Roman Catholic priests from Ireland is creating an international musical sensation as The Priests. After a feature aired on CBS Sunday Morning this week, capturing The Priests while recording their album at the Vatican, their album skyrocketed to #1 on the Amazon sales chart. Also, The Priests' PBS Special began airing Thanksgiving weekend and continues to air across the country for the PBS pledge drive. The self-titled album The Priests (RCA Victor) this week soars to #1 on the Heatseekers Chart, #1 on the Current Classical Traditional Chart, #1 on the Top New Artist Albums Chart, and #5 on the Current Classical Overall chart.

The Priests are Father Eugene O’Hagan, Father Martin O’Hagan and Father David Delargy; three practicing Roman Catholic Priests from Northern Ireland who grew up singing together while studying for the priesthood, and all joined by their shared faith and passion for music.

The Priests was released simultaneously in more than 30 countries, fulfilling an unprecedented global demand, and is being embraced worldwide with stellar charting success. The Priests have been certified as the having the fastest selling UK debut for a classical act by the Guinness World Book of Records. The album debuted at #1 in Ireland (4x platinum), #5 in the UK (platinum), and currently holds the #1 spot in Norway (platinum), #3 in Sweden (platinum), #4 in New Zealand (gold), #7 in Spain, #8 in Finland (gold), and has achieved gold status in Canada.

Additionally, The Priests have stated that the majority of the profits from the sale of their album will be given to charity. The Priests are delighted with the tremendous success of the album, and are currently back in their parishes in Northern Ireland preparing for Christmas festivities.

Featuring a collection of spiritually inspired tracks such as O Holy Night, Pie Jesu, Ave Maria, Panis Angelicus, as well as great classical arias and traditional Irish tracks and blessings, the album showcases the passion and exquisite harmonies of The Priests. The album has been produced by Mike Hedges, whose previous work includes best selling albums by U2 and Manic Street Preachers. The album, featuring the Choir of Philharmonic Academy of Rome, was recorded in Ireland and in the Choir Chapel in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. The choral arrangements are by the choir’s Spanish born director, Mons Pablo Colino, the Emeritus Director of the Cappella Giulia choir in St Peter’s Basilica.

For more information check out www.thepriests.com/discover

Photos available at www.rcamusicgrouppress.com

The future of church music is brilliant, and ancient

Archbishop Burke: a national treasure

Due to a sudden proliferation of paid writing jobs(whoo-hoo!), I have had to conserve my energy by slowing down my blogging here.
That doesn't mean I'm unaware of such recent developments as the good Archbishop's appointment to Rome's highest court. I hope that makes one of our greatest American bishops papabile.
Before leaving for Rome, however Archbishop Burke gave the Diocese of St. Louis a parting gift: The Institute for Sacred Music. We will miss him and recognize all that he has given this country's Catholics and look forward to what he will offer the enire Church.
HT Zenit

The Holy Father's speech at Yankee Stadium

Is available from the Vatican's website. I watched the Mass twice because the music was heavenly, such a contrast to the Mass at Nationals Stadium in DC! This is what Heaven must sound like, Beethoven, and Panis Anglecus, Gregorian Chant and Latin.
Kudos to the Archdiocese for an outstanding job organizing the music! Here's a list of the music performed from First Things.
Two of my blogger friends went, you can read one's impressions here and see another's wonderful photos here.

"For the Beauty of the Earth"

Here's the traditional version of the hymn with vocals, and here is just the organ. Click on the link which says "listen" to hear the hymn.

Happy feast of St. Cecelia, patroness of music.

For the beauty of the earth

For the beauty of the earth,

for the beauty of the skies,

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies,

Refrain:Christ our God, to thee we raise

this our sacrifice of praise.

For the beauty of each hourof the day and of the night,

hill and vale, and tree and flower,

sun and moon, and stars of light,

Refrain

For the joy of ear and eye,

for the heart and brain's delight,

for the mystic harmony

linking sense to sound and sight,

Refrain

For the joy of human love,

brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth, and friends above,

for all gentle thoughts and mild,

Refrain

For each perfect gift of thine

to our race so freely given,

graces human and divine,

flowers of earth and buds of heaven,

Refrain

For thy Bride that evermore

lifteth holy hands above,

offering up on every shore

this pure sacrifice of love,

Refrain

For the martyrs' crown of light,

for thy prophets' eagle eye,

for thy bold confessors' might,

for the lips of infancy,

Refrain

For thy virgins' robes of snow,

for thy maiden Mother mild,

for thyself, with hearts aglow,

Jesus,Victim undefiled,

Refrain

Bye bye, "Blowing in the Wind"

Did I ever tell you how to drive me absolutely over the edge? Sing "Blowing in the Wind" especially with Bob Dylan's nasal whine. It's not because I hate folk music. I love it, even the sixties stuff. I even attended a Peter, Paul and Mary concert.
But I can't extend this preference to "Blowing in the Wind" and I'll explain why it pushes my buttons.
I was born during Vatican II, into a gorgeous traditional church, dark and mysterious with inspiring images of St. Joseph teaching carpentry to the boy Jesus. My childhood memories of Mass are of stirring organ chords which shook the floor of the church and the scent of incense wafting through the air. I didn't see much other that the backs of the adults, and glimpses of that mural of St. Joseph, but I'll tell you that the unspoken message received by me as a preschooler was: you are on holy ground, the Lord Almighty is here, and you are looking into heaven. I loved it, and would often visit this beautiful church during the week with my mother to light a candle and visit Our Lord. We always brought our veils, or if, we forgot, a hanky would do, because no woman entered the church without a head covering.
This sense of other worldliness and mystery was promptly shattered, when at age 5, we moved to another parish, whose church was under construction and had Mass in a bland auditorium. A folk singer sang pop hits from the sixties, and Vietnam War protests took place during Mass. Our folk singers' favorite song was, you guessed it, "Blowing in the Wind".
I mourned the loss of the beauty of the Old Mass, the gorgeous music, and the sense of mystery it brought. I have been trying to replace it ever since. That's why I anxiously awaited Summorum Pontificum, and am involved in bringing back Gregorian Chant to the Traditional Latin Masses springing up on Long Island. I pray that we can get together some decent scholi (?) for the Holy Father's masses in New York.


Now, here's an encouraging article in the UK's Daily Telegraph to remind me that I have an important Ally in restoring ethereal music to the sacred liturgy.Damian Thompson, editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald writes:
We are moving into an era of liturgical revolution. Benedict detests the feeble "folk Masses" that have remained the staple fare of Catholic worship long after they went out of musical fashion.
He wants the Church to rediscover the treasure of its heritage - and that includes Gregorian chant as well as the pre-1970 Latin Mass that can now be celebrated without the permission of bishops.

Tommy Makem, 1932-2007--Rest in Peace

I am a big fan of Irish music, and Tommy Makem is one of my favorite Irish singers. His raspy voice may not be an Irish tenor, but his love for Ireland, and his sense of whimsy are present in every song. I have seen him perform live twice on the stage of my college, St. Anselm, and he gave the best show I have ever seen, both musically, and in stand-up, improv comedy. His love for music, for Ireland and warmth towards his fellow man made him an outstanding performer, who will be missed. My favorite album, The Makem and Clancy Collection contains his immortal ballad, "Four Green Fields" about the centuries old struggle for Ireland to obtain her freedom from England. Once, during my visit to an after hours pub in Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland, I was asked to sing a song, as the group was taking turns. So I sang "Four Green Fields", and surprised my cousin Marion who never knew the "Yank" had it in her!
So, if you love Irish music, you owe it to yourself to listen to the Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem.

Vivicabis posed the most important question: will Tommy Makem make it to heaven? Of course, all speculation on this topic is futile, but I'd like to think that perhaps his film role, as a musical Irish priest, Fr. Halloran, in A Time to Remember , which was reminiscent of Bing Crosby's Fr. O'Malley in Going My Way, may have earned him clemency from Our Merciful Lord.
HT Vivicabis

New French Canadienne folk song decries abortion

Jean at Catholic Fire has a link to a story about one of the most downloaded songs in French Canada, which decries the culture's sterility. It is called, appropriately," Degeneration".It laments the modern man and woman's distance from the frutifulness of their grandparents. In the case of the man, it's his disconnect with the land which his forebears farmed, and his helplessness at being a government functionary. For the woman, it's her aborted children, she whose great-grandmother had 14. Canadienne Celine Dion was one of 14 children with solid Catholic parents, she grew up in the rural town of Charlemagne, Quebec. Perhaps this explains why she seems content with her life.
Roughly translated into English, the words say:
“Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time
When you screw up you save yourself by aborting
But there are mornings when you awake crying
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones.”

Could our Culture of Death be awakening, ever so slowly from it's love affair with sterility? This article at Catholic Exchange concludes there are signs of life. If this song, the recent hits Knocked Up, and Waitress and the Cannes Film Festival winner are any indication, then I predict that Bella will be the sleeper hit of 2007. It will open nationwide in late October.

Mes Aieux Offended that their song is considered Pro-life

By Elizabeth O'Brien and Steve Jalsevac
MONTREAL, QC, August 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The French Canadian folk-rock Band Mes Aïeux has furiously responded to a LifeSiteNews.com news article for its "misinterpretation" of their song Dégénération.
In a June 25 news article, entitled, Immensely Popular Quebec Folk Song Laments Abortion and the Modern Culture of Sterility, LifeSiteNews.com reported that Mes Aïeux's song Dégénération described modern men and women's increasingly desolate severance from the land and the traditional values of their great-great grandparents. Quebec was traditionally one of the most faithfully Catholic, pro-life and pro-family regions in the world.
LifeSiteNews reported that the song lyrics portrayed a vivid contrast of the young and older generations. Verse three of the song, for example, underlines how, "Your great great grandmother, she had 14 kids," whereas in today's life-demeaning culture, "Your mom didn't want any, you were an accident."
The news article reported that one of the verses gave what many would see as a negative portrayal of abortion
"Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time,
When you screw up you save yourself by aborting,
But there are mornings when you awake crying,
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones."

LifeSiteNews interpreted these lines as indicating that the song "specifically refers to abortion as a traumatizing mistake for a woman".
The story did not focus on the then unknown ethical stance of the band Mes Aïeux. In fact the word "pro-life" was never mentioned in the article. It merely implied that a pro-life message could easily be interpreted from these lyrics about a subject that is rarely so frankly and honestly addressed in the entertainment industry. At the same time LifeSiteNews reported the anomaly that such a song had become one of Canada's most frequently downloaded iTunes.
Nevertheless, Mes Aïeux was deeply offended by the LifeSiteNews.com news report. They called it a "kidnapping" of the song. "You have associated our song with your anti-choice cause without consulting us" they wrote to LifeSiteNews.com, and requested removal of the photo of the group and even the link to their website. Upon learning that they are a pro-abortion band, LifeSiteNews gladly complied although there is no legal obligation to remove such a link. LifeSiteNews has never received such a request in its ten years of existence.
Mes Aïeux also requested that LifeSiteNews remove the entire June 25 article which LifeSiteNews has declined to do.
In its communication to LifeSiteNews via its lawyer - Louis Charles Landreville, at 294 Square Saint-Louis,Montréal (Qc), (514) 288-4985, Télécopie: (514) 849-5429, the group stated,
"We the members of Mes Aïeux, have read the following article and are in profound disagreement with the interpretation given to our lyrics. We consider that the association of our song with the anti-choice policies on this web-site is akin to moral kidnapping. We are, in fact, and unanimously, pro-choice.
This is simply bad militant journalism, and an infringement of our moral rights."
In a subsequent email Landreville even requested that the widely circulated link to the YouTube page with the group's music video of Dégénération be removed from the story.