What a Season!

The Basketball Season came to an end this evening with the championship games being held over the weekend. With many teams in the playoffs and reaching all the way to the semi-finals (7th grade girls, fifth grade boys, third grade girls, eighth grade boys and others) two of our teams reached the final round vying for the championship.

On Friday night, the Third grade Boys team took the league championship in what was an exciting evening of basketball. Joshua Santiago and Frank Adler led the scoring efforts of the boys that was only hampered by occasional bolts into the bleachers for popcorn and involuntary dance moves occurring on the court. Dodging these distractions, the boys soundly defeated the St. Ambrose team to take the trophy.

This afternoon, our Sixth grade Boys team took the league championship by defeating St. Ambrose 31 to 23. Special thanks to alumni coaches Alex (Class of 2006) and Ben Khan (Class of 2008) for their leadership throughout the season.

Two championship teams and several contenders represents some real growth in our basketball program. Thanks are due to all of our players, volunteer coaches and, of course, our very inspiring Athletic Director Mr. Brett Allen.

Go Crusaders!

Basketball Finals!

While awaiting results on several other games played this evening in the tournament, I can report the victory of our 8th Grade girls over St. Francis Xavier 20 - 18 in overtime. Details forthcoming...they play again tomorrow night at Judge Memorial at 7:00 PM.

The 8th grade boys suffered only their second loss this evening, losing to St. Ann's in a tough game. Great leadership was provided by Marco Cardenas, Lucius Bynum, Nic Compagni, Alex Cody and Connor Purk. This completes their participation in the season with only two losses in their record.

6th Grade Boys play tomorrow at St. Ann's at 7:30 PM, and Fifth Grade Boys play at Blessed Sacrament at 7:30 PM. Waiting for results on the two Fourth Grade Girls teams who played this evening...

Congratulations to our Athletic Director Mr. Allen and all of our coaches, players and parents.
Go Crusaders!

Busy Weekend for Choristers

It was a busy weekend for the choristers. The First Sunday of Lent is always a marathon day at the Cathedral as we welcome all of the Catechumens from around the entire state who are preparing for baptism at Easter. In order to accommodate the many people from our almost 50 parishes, two extra services are added to the Cathedral schedule. Thanks to both the Boy and Girl Choristers for covering these Rites of Election and supporting the catechumens now called to the Easter sacraments by Bishop Wester.

As if that was not enough, today was the Solemnity of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral. On this date seventeen years ago, the Cathedral was dedicated by Bishop William K. Weigand. Candles along the walls of the cathedral mark the spots where the Bishop anointed the walls with holy oil, and these candles are lit only once a year on this anniversary. And so we dragged our tired...vocal cords to the Cathedral to assist with the Mass on this important day. The occasion served as the close of the Centennial Year celebrations, and so the materials to be placed in the new time capsule were blessed by Bishop Wester. One hundred years from now they will reopen this capsule. Included are recordings of the choristers and an album with extensive photographs of the choir school students taken this year.

And, it is only the first week of Lent! Stay tuned - very important Basketball Tournament information is on the way...

New research on the complex neurological activity that is singing!

The great St. Augustine (354-430) is credited with the statement that argues when a person sings, he or she prays twice. While many credit Augustine with the honor of being the earliest psychologist because of his breakthrough work Confessions (No, it isn't a slimy tell-all gossipy account of his wine, women and song days in Carthage-the Las Vegas of North Africa!) it is clear that he had some sense of the fuller engagement of the person by singing as opposed to simply speaking.

A recent posting of the BBC news discusses recent research on this topic. Dr Aniruddh Patel from the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, said the study was an example of the "explosion in research into music and the brain" over the last decade. Dr. Patel is quoted as saying "Music engages huge swathes of the brain - it's not just lighting up a spot in the auditory cortex." You can read the entire posting here. Just another advantage of the musical life of choristers at the Choir School!

Choir School loses a friend

Last night I received word of the death of composer and conductor Richard Proulx. He was 72 years old. Once serving as the Director of Music at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral, Richard was a tireless advocate of the Choir School. In 1994, Richard spent the better part of a year in Salt Lake City as the Cathedral's Composer in Residence. There are over fifteen of his published works that are dedicated to the Cathedral and School musicians and staff. He was of immense support to me in the early years of my work.

He came to Salt Lake City quite often for meetings, and even vacation (there was a very memorable trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone.) He stayed in Salt Lake City for extended periods on two occasions. Once as mentioned above in the capacity of composer-in-residence, and a second time tragically right after the opening of the school in 1996.

In August of 1996, Richard came to Salt Lake City together with Dr. Leo Nestor, Director of Music at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. and James O'Donnell, Master of Music at London's Westminster Cathedral to celebrate the opening of the Madeleine Choir School. When Richard arrived, he became ill, and developed a heart condition which required a difficult surgery resulting in months of hospital stay and recuperation. Only in mid-December was he able to return to his home in Chicago. Monsignor Mannion, Cathedral Pastor at the time was very devoted to assisting Richard and visited him daily, and choirschool parent Talitha Day became Richard's surrogate family attending to many of his needs.

Richard's musical skills were immense, and he contributed greatly to the composition of English musical settings for the Mass. Almost every Sunday you will see one of his musical settings in the Cathedral bulletin being used at our Sunday Liturgies. In recent years he has been busy with recording, and you can find a number of CD's featuring Catholic music available through GIA publications.

His last years were marked with health difficulties and no little anxiety about the future direction of the church music industry selling out to less noble but immediately 'marketable' forms. He encouraged and supported countless young people around the country, including me.

May the angels and saints, whose song you conveyed to us in numerous ways, lead you to paradise. Rest in peace, dear friend.

On the Lenten Journey

The Church in Ireland is undergoing a very challenging time this week, as the Bishops of this island nation return from an unusual meeting with Pope Benedict discussing their reaction to the very troubling Murphy Report. The report presents a very reproachful assessment of the Bishops and their response to the abuse of children by clergy and religious. In the wake of the report, several Bishops in Ireland have resigned, and the remaining bishops have pledged to make an act of penance in reparation for the past tragedies.

In the midst of all of this, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin preached a very moving homily on Ash Wednesday, a portion of which appears below. A thoughtful reflection as we begin this holy season...

Ash Wednesday is a unique day in which within the Catholic tradition we are called to reflect on where we stand in our own lives and on what our value system is. Lenten penance is not a punitive activity; it is not a form of religious masochism in the sense that we fell good through punishing some aspect of our lives.

That is not the Christian way of life. There is, however, a sense in which we can only attain authenticity through an inevitably painful path of renunciation of what is non-essential. It means renouncing any tendency to live if the purpose of life was just our own fulfillment and our own rights and our own image....

“Repent and believe the Gospel” is one of the formulas used on the occasion of imposing Ashes. It is an appeal to each of you, to identify where you have drifted away from authenticity in faith – very often almost without knowing it - into being above all self-seeking.

“Repent and believe the Gospel” is a call to the members, the structures and the leaders of the Church who have also in many ways been unfaithful to their calling and have allowed personal and institutional reputation to influence their decisions.

We all have to repent; we are all called to turn back to what is authentic in the faith so that we can be more authentic in our lives. The touchstone for measuring our repentance will be our belief in the Gospel. There is no way in which we can think that we know God without knowing the Jesus that is revealed in the Gospel.... That means taking up the Gospel and getting to know Jesus as he presents himself to us through his life, words and action, gathered in a systematic way in the Gospels. I challenge each of you to take up the Gospel of Saint Luke, in the privacy of your heart, and come to know the liberating message of Jesus.

Getting to know that Jesus can change your life and lead you on a path to that real authenticity that each you and also myself must seek. Getting to know the Jesus of the Gospels is also the challenge needed for renewal of the Church. The Church today perhaps more than at other times has itself to respond to the same call: “Repent and believe the Gospel.”

(Thanks to "Whispers" for the reference)

Congratulations to Dr. O'Neill and Family

Cathedral Organist Dr. Douglas O'Neill and his wife Dr. Sujin Yoon are the new parents of a 6 lbs. 7 ounces baby boy. No news of the final determination on a name as of yet, but mother and son are at home recovering and the father is frantically attending to everyone's need - surely more complicated than playing the organ for the Chrism Mass!

Congratulations to Doug and Sujin on this new addition to their family and we wish them a speedy recovery!

Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral

Tomorrow the Season of Lent commences at the Cathedral. The schedule follows:

8:00 AM Mass

12:00 Noon Mass celebrated by Bishop Wester with the Choristers of the Choir School
Missa in Bb...Lotti
Attende Domine...Plainsong Mode V
Inclina Domine...Rheinberger

6:00 PM with the Cathedral Choir
Mass for Four Voices....Byrd
Miserere...Allegri
Emendemus in melius...Morales

8:00 PM with El Coro Hispano

Dumb Week at the Choir School

This week the choristers will be 'off-duty' for Dumb Week at the Choir School. Most Choir Schools have a Dumb Day, the day on which they do not sing for services in their respective cathedrals, and we in fact have Friday and Saturday as Dumb Days at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Sort of a Sabbath Day for singers, Dumb Days allow for a bit of decompression in the hectic course of the week and it various services.

Dumb Week, which borrows its title from the Greek Orthodox and their description of the week before Holy Week, is an opportunity for the choristers to recoup from the hectic season of Christmas and brace themselves for the coming onslaught of Lent, Holy Week and Easter. This year's week is falling later in the calendar because of our recent Southern Utah Tour. The adult members of the Choir will return on Sunday and the choristers will be back in full service beginning on Ash Wednesday. Thanks to Melanie Malinka, Douglas O'Neill, Jason McAdams, Julie Maughan, Tyler Oliphant, Brandon Horrocks and all of the dedicated musicians of the Cathedral.

Put out into deep water...

The readings for Mass on Sunday are following the course of the beginning days of Jesus' earthly ministry in and around Galilee. In this weekend's Gospel Jesus encounters three discouraged fisherman who after a night of fishing have not much to show for their work (I am having flashbacks to the opening day of fishing season on Summit Lake every year with my Grandfather!) Jesus invites the fisherman to put out into deeper water and lower their nets again. Simon Peter, answering with no little skepticism, agrees to try again and is then shocked by the record catch they retrieve. Peter, in his characteristic clumsy humility, begs the Lord to leave him as he is unworthy to be his follower. Jesus invites Peter and his friends James and John to forget their fear and follow him.

Our first reading this weekend gives witness to another encounter of the Lord: the Prophet Isaiah having a mystical vision of the throne of God suddenly recognizes his unworthiness, only to have a seraphim (the ones with fiery eyes) bring an ember to his lips purging away his wickedness and enabling him for his ministry. Both of our readings challenge the fear of our own unworthiness to serve God, and invite us to step up to the challenge.

Pope John Paul II was very fond of two phrases in this Gospel passage: "Put out into deep water" and "Be not afraid." John Paul was constantly inviting the members of the church to put away their fears and hindrances and become a more vital part of the Church's work. We have so many excuses, or failings, or fears. There is so much work to do - just look at our own Cathedral Parish and School. It is a small number of dedicated volunteers and staff who make the work of these institutions possible, and yet, we could be doing so much more to change people's lives and further God's kingdom in our midst.

Catholics are the single largest denomination in the United States. Ironically, Inactive Catholics make up the second largest church group! We have the most members of Congress, sitting Justices on the Supreme Court, leaders in business and the like. How effective is our work? Are we advancing God's work where it is so desperately needed?

This weekend's readings invite all of us to do some soul-searching. The work of our own parish has so much potential. Are we doing our part? Or do we remain in fear of our own unworthiness, staying in the shallow end of the lake? There is a great need for help with our Religious Education program, and with greeting and welcoming people before Masses, especially at 6:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. We have many young Catholic children unable to afford the cost of a Catholic education who need sponsorship and support. There are many shut-in parishioners who need the Eucharist brought to them on Sundays.

The Lord's invitation could not be clearer this day: Put out into deep water, and don't be afraid.

Catholic Schools Week and Parent Lunch

The campus was buzzing with parents today as we conducted the annual parent-student lunch in Catholic Schools Week. Impressive bags were making their way through the doors of Erbin Hall as the students anticipated a more exciting mid-day repast than usual.

The Choir School is one of 7,248 Catholic Schools in the United States, serving 2,192,531 students. Roughly 30% of Catholic School students are minorities, while just under 15% are non-Catholic.

Catholic Schools do make a difference in the lives of individual young people, their families, our church and larger community. Parents sacrifice a great deal to make a Catholic education possible for their children, and to ensure these schools continue in their important mission for many years to come.

Thank you for your tremendous support of the Choir School, and for your commitment to Catholic Education.

School Celebrates the Light of Christ at Today's Feast

Today we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, hailing Christ as that true light in the midst of darkness. So often images such as this can become meaningless. Yet with no little thought, one can immediately identify the darkness in ourselves, our communities and our world: the growing gap between the rich and poor, the corruption that prevents any progress in so many nations, two billion without clean water, one billion without daily meals, and much more. It would be only the most insensitive and sociopathic individual who could deny the challenges of impinging darkness.

Some would deny Christianity's relevance for anything in this modern era, seeing human progress only in the growing enlightened and intelligent human being. But this has fallen short. In the 20th century alone, we slaughtered 188 million fellow human beings in war.

Pope Benedict spoke about the light of Christ recently, words well worth reflecting upon on this feast day of light:

"The faithful and tenacious love of God, whose covenant never fails from generation to generation, ... represents the hope of history", said the Pope. "In this mystery of God's faithfulness, the Church fully accomplishes her mission only when she reflects in herself the light of Christ the Lord and thus helps the people of the world on the road of peace and true progress."

"Greater hope is needed", he added, "to as to permit the common good of everyone to prevail over the luxury of the few and the poverty of the many. 'This great hope can only be God, ... not any god, but the God who has a human face'".

"If there is great hope, it becomes possible to persevere in sobriety. If true hope is lacking, happiness is sought in inebriation, in superfluity, in excess, in the ruination of oneself and of the world.

School Mass tomorrow at 12:00 Noon

Tomorrow we will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Forty days after our celebration of the Lord's birth, we gather to commemorate the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple by his parents. In St. Luke's Gospel we read the account of the presentation and the subsequent encounter with the prophets Simeon and Anna. Both Simeon and Anna are awaiting the Messiah, and upon encountering this child declare him to be the one for whom they have longed. Simeon responds with the words:

"Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”

This response is now the Canticle sung each night in the church's final night prayer of Compline.

On this feast day the Church traditionally blesses the candles which will serve us at the many worship services celebrated in the year ahead, hence the traditional naming of this feast as "Candlemas."

From a homily on this feast be Saint Sophronius we read:

"In honour of the divine mystery that we celebrate today, let us all hasten to meet Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession and to carry a light.
"Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendour of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.
"The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him.
"The light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows; the Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God."

Masses will be celebrated in the Cathedral at 8:00 AM, 12:00 Noon with the children of the Choir School, and 5:15 PM with the Girl Choristers.