The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-04-18
Church Universal

the archbishop of New Orleans spends
nuch effort to place the character of
sacred music before his people. and r.
insist on the necessity of reform:
once more let us remind you of the
Importance of this reform, which con-
Germs not merely the exterior of ,,or
snip, as Is sometimes supposed. but TIA
very quality of that Worship itself 4
concerns most intimately the reverence
due to God in His chosen dwelling
upon earth. iiis
/ Yes; the question is one. not merely
! OF the external decorum which sbo,,1I5
DC observed IN the house of God, bur
! OF the spirit of reverence which sho,iId
exist im the heart Of many ALWAYS. bur
then especially when he ventures into
the real presence of Christ in the tab
elnacIe and offers to God the adora ZION
OF creature. Is this Sermonizinerq IF
1t be, it is but a weak echo of tho
! stronger homily of the archbishop of
New Orleans, who adds a further
thought: ''iei
This subject, as we have said. con-
Germs the honor of God: but it con-
GerilS' Iurtherpore, and most intimate
~, the salvation of man. Mans
tendency is to drift toward mere nam
alism; but the church proposes to Ijft
MN 10 supernaturalism, and for this
purpose put before him-vividlT and
reaIlstlcally-the spirit of PRAYER as
opposed to that of the world. l,ut
what we desire to insist on espe,lallv
II lhlS: music as such was not the in
lentlon of the church NOTHING
could be further from the mind af the
church than to provide entertainment
OF distraction for her children.
nor did the music (sc plain-soue) eye,
nHn ,Irr,+ Oh,
own, becoming a stumbling olcz in
place of an inspiration
we nave condensed very much IN the
ABOVE excerpt in order to reach more
quickly the heart of the question of
sacred music-which is. that il sh,uId
never become "a stumbling block i'm
place of an inspiration" The ,es,l,t
OF the abuses which have crept into me
musical portion of the church's lit11r-
gy Is that stumbling block has been
placed to interior worship. to the shirt
OF recollection, in that very feature of
the liturgy which st. Augustine had
found so helpful in his day, namely
the singing
we invite our readers TO Dar;1se
again the concluding words of the adj
dress, in which the archbishop of 3os
ton directly places on the commission
the duty of seeing that the law IF The
Holy Father is carried out-first of all
by themselves, and then by Others. In
a similar fashion does the archbishop
of New Orleans declare for "a begin
ming at once" in carrying out the re-
form which, he declares. can at the
end of five years as q maximum-that
is to say, on the feast of St. Cecilia i'm
1872, be so perfected that the parish
eS In that diocese will be in a posI-
ton to comply literally with the
Motto Proprio' of the Holy Father. !
and will be expected to do So
All lovers of the dignity and a.
corum of the liturgical functions. all |
those who would vindicate to The
house of God its true character IS "a !
house Of prayer" all who desire to
place no obstacle in the pathway Of |
interior devotion in the church serv- |
ices, will look forward with consum-
ing interest TO the gradual progress Of |
the reform movement in these two |
great dioceses which have thus aus
piciously entered upon the pathway of |
obedience to the commands of the Holy |
Father