Launch of ' Feasts and Seasons',

a CD of Music for the Church Year, performed by the Choir of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth,
under the direction of its Master, Mr. John O'Keeffe.

Monday February 17, 2003

I am truly pleased and honoured to be asked to officially launch a CD of Music for the Church Year performed by the College Choir of Saint Patrick's, Maynooth, this evening. It is most significant to do so in the presence of so many of you who are engaged in promoting good liturgy for our Churches, good liturgical music for our diocesan and parish choirs and a freshness of approach in the formation of those who will, into the future, make of our worshipping congregations communities engaged in giving praise and honour to God the Father through a medium which is natural to the human spirit.

An illustrious predecessor of mine as Bishop of Cloyne was President of St. Patrick's College from 1885 to 1894. He was President when the College Chapel was completed and indeed it is recognised that he was " the guiding spirit" in the magnificent work of ordering and decoration of the interior of the Chapel. He was Robert Browne. He decided that it was important that the new chapel should have a resident priest as organist and choirmaster. Liturgy was being taught by the deans and church chant by the students and Mgr. Patrick Corish adds, "when it was taught at all." Now was the opportunity to put music on a more formal basis. Robert Browne discussed this with Archbishop Walsh of Dublin -he had earlier, when in his first year as vice-president of the College, played the organ - and with his auxiliary, Bishop Nicholas Donnelly. As a result it was decided to write to the Director of the College of Church Music at Ratisbon in Germany, a centre well renowned for the reform and promotion of Church Music. A priest of the diocese of Paderborn, the Rev. Heinrich Bewerunge was recommended. Bewerunge, 26 years of age, was appointed in 1888, and became professor of Church Chant and Organ.

When he came to Maynooth, he was critical of the unsatisfactory condition of music in the Seminary, principally due to the fact that the students came totally untrained and unprepared. In a memorandum to the trustees, he wrote in 1895,

Most of the time, then, allotted to Gregorian Chant, has to be spent in teaching the rudiments of music, awakening the first sensations of musical intervals, and trying to get some musical sound out of the rough and uncultured voices. This occupation is not only unworthy of a professor of this college, and unworthy of students engaged in, or immediately preparing for, theological studies, it is also a great waste of time.

Waste of time or not, Bewerunge worked single-mindedly here until his death in 1923. In fact, his influence was formidable, at Maynooth and in Ireland. The seminary choir performed to the highest standards and that continues to today. It is with this background in mind that we gather here this evening. We salute with a just sense of pride the long tradition of Music and Chant for which this College has been renowned, a tradition which embraces Heinrich Bewerunge -and before him people like William Walsh and Laurence Renehan -and since then, Michael Tracy, Charles O'Callaghan, Noel Watson, Fergus Clarke, Seán Lavery, Gerard Gillen -the many student organists and cantors -and since 1987-88, John O'Keeffe. The Church in Ireland is indebted to them all.

Many have marvelled at how much music John O'Keeffe has cultivated in his work as director of the College Choir. Perhaps it was a little easier in the earlier years when there were more students. But today the standard is still as high and it is a credit to John.

John's work has included the work of formation with all the students. It is good to remind ourselves of what the Instruction on Liturgical Formation in Seminaries says:
Given the importance of sacred music in liturgical celebrations, the students should be trained in music by experts, including a practical training, in those things necessary for them in their future roles as presidents and moderators of liturgical celebrations. In this training account should be taken not only of the talents of the individual students, but also of new techniques, now generally used in music schools which will make this instruction more profitable for the students. Above all, care must be taken that the students are not simply taught a vocal or instrumental art, but that they are given a true and authentic formation of their minds and their feelings, moulding them to know and appreciate the better musical works of the past and also to know how to choose soundly and correctly from among present day experiments.

That is the agenda set out for a Seminary like Maynooth. It is good to acknowledge that it is being well addressed at present.

This evening we come together for the launching of a collection of new music, under the title Feasts and Seasons. As John O'Keeffe notes in the Introduction to the very fine text which has been produced " this collection brings together a selection of compositions which are closely linked with particular times of the year and which form an integral part of the annual liturgical journey at Maynooth College". Let us note with pride the contribution of our own composers: Ronan McDonagh, Máire Ní Dhuibhir, John McCann, Liam Lawton and John himself.

It is also a collection for the liturgical year. Let its sounds, its words, its melodies accompany us as -to use the words of the Second Vatican Council- "the Church unfolds the whole mystery of Christ, from his incarnation and birth until his ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the expectation of blessed hope and of the Lord's return" -that is, the liturgical year.

It is a collection by a choir and, indeed, shows clearly the role of the choir in today's liturgy. There is material which might be for the choir only, for the choir and cantor, for the choir and congregation and for the congregation. Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, promulgated forty years ago this year, called for the diligent development of choirs but -recognising a new role- it also asked that we be "at pains to ensure that whenever a liturgical service is to be celebrated with song, the whole assembly of the faithful is enabled…to contribute the active participation that rightly belongs to it." It went on to say that "great importance is to be attached to the teaching and practice of music in seminaries…"

A new importance is, thus, given to the role of the choir.

When Pope St. Pius X called for a revival of Gregorian Chant on the feast of St. Cecilia in 1903, the choir's role was defined. Its membership was restricted to men, with provision for boys singing treble or alto. However, it did not address the singing of the assembly or offer guidelines for cantors and instrumentalists. It did not tell us anything about music programmes for the worshipping community. It did not give us norms for composers. All this would evolve later, particularly with the Second Vatican Council. In the instruction Musicam Sacram, issued in 1967, the role of the choir is defined: "The choir is responsible for the correct performance of the parts that belong to it, according to the different types of liturgical assembly and for helping the faithful to take an active part in the singing". Promoting both these roles with our choirs demands formation, persuasion, prayer and patience -probably all in large measure.

As we prepare to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy towards the end of this year, on 4 December, it is an opportunity to re-visit that document as a charter for the renewal of our worship and its music. It is a time to re-affirm our commitment to its vision of liturgy to which all are "led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as a 'chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people' is their right and duty by reason of their baptism".

We acknowledge the work of liturgical renewal in those 40 years, including our own shortcomings. Many would say that those shortcomings are often about formation and education in liturgy. Therefore, let us commit ourselves to that work of formation and education in liturgy so essential for the life of the Church, a work now being conducted by the National Centre for Liturgy, first established almost 30 years ago and since August 1996, based here at St. Patrick's College. It has provided and still provides a formation programme in liturgy, with a strong music element. It is good to mention the development of the Masters in Theology programme, specialising in liturgy. The first four graduates were conferred with their Degrees last October. This year, five more students are, at present, completing their Masters studies. With them, are nine more students in the one year programme, some are taking the Higher Diploma in Pastoral Liturgy, others will continue to Masters studies. It is interesting to see that not only are several students working in Ireland but also that others are working in Ghana, England, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

The initiative of the Department of Music in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, in association with the National Centre for Liturgy, begun in 1999 to offer a Diploma in Church Music also deserves our support. It offers the necessary liturgical and musical formation that a church musician should possess.

Again, at Maynooth, each year the Irish Church Music Association holds its summer school. This year, in July, the 34th annual summer school will take place. Each year the summer school offers opportunities for choirs from across the country to come together and to experience, under the guidance of proven experts and directors, the beauty of engaging in liturgical music and song which enhances our liturgical assemblies and uplifts the human spirit as it renders praise and honour to God.

While I restrict myself to what is happening here at Maynooth -and this evening is what Maynooth is about- we recognise and commend the work in liturgy and church music that takes place throughout the country, in parishes and dioceses, in schools and colleges, in seminars and conferences.

The word 'formation' is very often preceded by the word 'ongoing.' In liturgy and music, the two words together are appropriate. Formation cannot end with a weekend or a year, with a course or a publication. On this evening of celebration, we commit ourselves to ongoing formation in liturgy and church music so that "the liturgy [will always be] the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it [will always be] the fount from which all the Church's power flows."

May the launch of Feasts & Seasons - Music for the Church Year be an incentive to all of us to take seriously the task ahead so that our liturgical celebrations may truly become " a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem towards which we journey as pilgrims".

I wish to congratulate John O'Keeffe and the members of the College Choir who have given us with this CD a superb presentation of Music for the Church Year which can easily be taken up by any Choir in any parish in the country and become an incentive to good community singing within Liturgy. I am most impressed by the quality of singing and the clarity of the diction combined with the instrumental accompaniment that makes of this CD a must for anyone interested in promoting good singing in liturgy. The printed text which accompanies the CD is a real gift to any Director of Choirs and I wish to congratulate Raymond O'Donnell for the excellence of typesetting and design. To all who have contributed in any way to the production of this truly excellent CD and text I say, on behalf of all, a sincere ' thank you' and ' well done'.

It therefore gives me great pleasure to launch the CD, Feast & Seasons - Music for the Church Year . Thank you!