RECENTLY BEGAN a new life—an extension of the old, but a new life, unmistakably. I struggle some days missing dear friends, but they have clearly not left me, nor I them. Then I experience several unexpected joys of my new life (challenges and all) and there is hope. Hope because I’m called to serve differently…
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Musicians in Collaborative Parishes • Sharing Best Practices
HERE IS NO shortage of challenge in pastoral ministry. This is an understatement of a lifetime! Then why do we do it? Perhaps because parish work, despite its potential obstacles, is among the most rewarding. Among such challenges faced in the Archdiocese of Boston (and well beyond) are a shortage of priests, shifting demographics, decline…
Mark Dwyer • Concert to Benefit the E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings (1875) Organ at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross
ARK DWYER, Organist and Choirmaster of the Church of the Advent and one of the finest church musicians in the country, will have the distinction of shining the light on two glorious Hook organs in Boston all at the same time — and in one concert. With the Cathedral of the Holy Cross currently under…
Farewell to Saint Cecilia Parish • September 9, 2018
I HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY dreading this day and this moment—but for all the best of reasons. Apparently, I’ve been here a while. I began playing the organ at St. Cecilia on the Third Sunday of Advent—Gaudete Sunday—in 1989. My first week on the job I played for Msgr. Mackey’s funeral who retired as Pastor in…
New Professional Developments
GREAT BLESSING of late is having an abundance of music to compose. Recent developments include a new publication for organ, commissions for The Groton School and The Seraphim Singers, contributions to the St. Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal , a new four movement work for trumpet player Richard Kelley, and a collaboration on a Pentecost anthem…
Msgr. Michael F. Groden’s Contribution to Sacred Music
HE RECENT passing on Christmas Day of Msgr. Michael F. Groden punctuated not only what was, but what is, and what hopefully is yet to come. Something of a “quite lion,” his presence came roaring back as a great reminder of his contributions to the Church, the City of Boston, the liturgy, and the the…
Kelley & Clark in Concert • St. Patrick’s Cathedral • All Souls Day
EW YORK — Thursday, November 2, 2017 • 7:00 p. m. • Richard Kelley, trumpet, and composer/organist Richard J. Clark team up again at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City in a concert of American composers Clark, Hovhaness, Pinkham, and Sowerby. In observing All Souls Day—Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, the featured work is…
Communion Antiphons for Lent & Easter • NEW • World Library Publications
I AM PLEASED to announce the release of my Communion Antiphons for Easter with World Library Publications. These thirteen antiphons are set from the English translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition. All the verses set are those prescribed by Graduale Romanum. On a personal note, this is perhaps my favorite collection to date. You…
The Unhealthy Liturgical Obsession with Self
N OBSESSION with self-affirmation can lead to problems in everyday life. Those who do not need it, even in the face of adversity and criticism, tend to be happiest. (This is no easy thing and requires a lifetime of struggle.) Those who are in service to others tend to also be happiest. But those who…
The Power of Wordless Presence
ECENT GOSPEL passages have contained an interesting exhortation—one somewhat outwardly uncharacteristic of Jesus himself. Jesus tells a parable of the difficulty of passing through the narrow gate. When those knocking on the door, asking to be let in, not once, but twice, the master of house says, “I do not know where you are from…”…