Yesterday a milestone for one of our fans

Yesterday the children of the choir school marked the 95th birthday of Irene Sweeney, a long-serving member of the school board and generous benefactor. Irene resides at St. Joseph's Villa, and it was my pleasure to visit with her yesterday together with Advancement Director Joanna Wheelton. We delivered a great quantity of cards produced by our students.

Miss Sweeney came to Utah as an employee of the League of Women Voters, an organization to which she devoted the early years of her career. Prior to this, she served in the Army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at a young age (there is talk that she is one of the first women to have held this rank as well.)

Irene has been a very devoted member of the Cathedral parish, with an active membership of over fifty years. She has served in countless leadership positions, of which the most significant may be her efforts on behalf of the restoration of the Cathedral she had grown to love. She was one of the driving forces behind the $10 million fundraising effort to restore the Madeleine.

She continues to be a very generous supporter of the Choir School and Cathedral, and has played no small role in mentoring those of us who continue these efforts today.

Happy 95th Birthday Irene, and may God bless you for your wonderful stewardship in support of the Choir School!

Lenten Wisdom from the East

A simple and profound prayer for Lent that comes from the Eastern Orthodox tradition follows:

O Lord and Master of my life, keep from me the spirit of indifference and discouragement, lust of power and idle chatter.

Instead, grant to me, your servant, the spirit of wholeness of being, humble-mindedness, patience, and love.

O Lord and King grant me the grace to be aware of my sins and not to judge my brother; for you are blessed now and ever and forever. Amen. [St. Ephrem the Syrian]

This simple prayer begins with four things we need to avoid: laziness, negativity, a wrong attitude toward other people, and purposeless and mean-spirited talk. This is a pretty cut-to-the-chase list of attitudes and actions that can make us really bad human beings. Each of these dispositions or habits destroys the positive and good qualities that we as humans possess. They quickly make others around us miserable, and in the end, make us miserable as well.

The prayer continues with four positive attitudes and actions to adopt more regularly: a whole-mindedness, having an open heart, patience and love. These positive elements that we can choose to practice are the antidotes to the negative objects above. Laziness results from a lack of vision and energy, a refusal to look at the big picture and an inability to see the whole. A broader vision allows us to have a more open heart to others, accomplishing what Ezekiel prophesied by turning our cold, stony hearts into new and refreshed hearts.

Two last things the prayer also emphasizes. 1) I don’t know about you, but I am always able to identify the faults of others more quickly than I am able to see my own faults. We are cautioned to be careful about this! 2) We know that this is not a project we can carry out alone. We need the help of God’s grace, and must remember to reach out and ask for this mercy and love as we try to focus on what really matters.

Lenten Perspectives

Mountain...


Molehill...


You decide...

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!