Tartan kirking

This afternoon we attended the annual Kirkin' of the Tartans service sponsored by the St. Andrew's Society of Washington, D.C. at the National Cathedral. Our 3:10 bus never bothered to show up, so our 3:25 bus got us to Mount St. Alban's about 3:50. Since this service took the place of Sunday Evensong, I didn't know if it would take place in the Great Quire or if it would be big enough to overflow into the nave, but once we walked into the nave, my questions were answered. It was packed. The main nave seating was full of lads in kilts and obnoxiously bold tartan plaid sportcoats, and their womenfolk, some of whom had tartan skirts and sashes of their own. Even the side aisle seating was filling up, but I didn't want to sit in the aisles, since one can't see either the chancel or the crossing from there due to the enormous pillars. So, we wandered up to the North Transcept, which turned out to be reserved seating for the Society. I "innocently" asked an usher woman if all the seats in this section were reserved, and as she was explaining the section reservation, a male usher came up to us and said to her in a classic Scottish brogue, "Look at his tie, woman! Of course he can sit here!" I quite fortuitously had worn my family tartan tie this afternoon. So, we got prime seats. :-)

You haven't heard a racket until you've heard an entire bagpipe band with drums playing "Over the Sea to Skye" full tilt in a limestone pillared, marble floored, stained glass windowed cathedral. They processed in from the narthex, and stopped at the crossing, where they played for quite some time whilst the Society members, clan representatives, choirs, and clergy all processed.

I found the service music to be interestingly unusual for a Scottish service. Of course, it was, essentially, a Presbyterian rite, but still, I thought there'd be Scottish music. The three hymns were the English Lauda Anima, the Irish Slane, and the Russian Russia. And, every time I hear a hymn sung to Russia, I can't help but remember back to my youth and all those Order of the Arrow conclaves and ceremonies at Boy Scout camp. The usual cathedral choir and organists did not perform this afternoon. The choir was an all-girls' ensemble from West Potomac High, a snooty prep school in Alexandria, Virginia. The choir sang Mendelssohn's "Laudate Pueri Domimum" for a Gradual anthem and for the offertory a Psalm 23 setting by Z. Randall Stroope, a living composer who is neither a Scot nor a Presbyterian. After the sermon and offertory, the pipers returned in procession with the presenters of the tartans to "Highland Cathedral," and they all actually landed in the Great Quire, where the organ joined in, and I can't imagine the deafening noise there must have been in there! After the Necrology, the pipe major played a solo verse of "Flowers of the Forest." The recessional for the pipers and the Society members was "Scotland the Brave," followed by an organ postlude of the Toccata from Symphony No. 5 by the French composer Charles-Marie Widor.

My friend Michael from the Solicitor's office at work lives across the street, and he popped over and managed to find us sitting in the area where he usually sits for "normal" church. Here's a picture of Michael with me:



After the service, we kinda played tourist—I haven't been there since the last time I sang there, which was about 1985 or '86. One of the interesting things we found was a children's chapel, where all of the chairs, the altar, and the organette are "child-sized."



Here's the high altar, way up in the front, and also an exterior shot of the building.

Enthroning

Well, the papal enthronement is over. Turns out I was wrong about the date....it was this morning instead of yesterday. So, I watched it, at least from 4:30 on. It was interesting trying to figure out what the service was supposed to be called. CNN called it the "Inaugural Service" on their picture frame (was it recycled from Bush's two church services last January?), but when they cut away to other national news services, the other countries were using various forms of the words enthronement and coronation. When I looked at the Order of Service I got from Rome, it was written in Italian, and only said, "CELEBRAZIONE EUCARISTICA PER L’INIZIO DEL MINISTERO PETRINO DEL VESCOVO DI ROMA," which means "eucharistic celebration for the beginning/start of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome" ("Petrine Ministry" refers to St. Peter's work as the first pope). The Italian word for "inaugurate" is "inaugurale," while "inizio" comes from the verb "iniziare," which means "to begin." I guess the American networks are just trying to be anti-monarchial and democratic in their terminology, however inaccurate.

Anyway, it was a more interesting service than JP2's funeral. I think they had enough people complain about putting that long litany of saints after communion at the funeral, so they started the service this morning with it! And I was so glad they let just one representative of the College of Cardinals come up and kiss his ring instead of parading all 182 living cardinals down to do obeisance. His Holiness gave a very nice sermon, though my Italian sucks and I couldn't follow it all. It seemed very interestingly educational and historic, though. The only "policy" cue he gave was a good sign, and that is his wish for Christian and religious unity. He also invited representatives of the Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church to attend, as well as some Jewish representatives. He gave homage to Jews and their role as God's chosen people. So, things are looking good for Catholic/Orthodox/Anglican/Jewish relations. I think he may have missed an opportunity to include Muslims, though. After all, Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship the same God and share the same Abramaic tradition, regardless of how poorly everyone is playing with others today. But, at least he's making initial overtures to other faiths, especially after the paper he wrote a few years ago as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and I've been encouraged in the past week that he's seeming to be more pastoral and consultative on issues, rather than taking a hard line on everything.

I think I figured out what's wrong with the Sistine Chapel choir and why I think they have been so unimpressive this month (other than the fact that the men sing flat and the boys don't stay together). One of my Catholic musician friends commented this morning that they are boring and sing everything the same way. Yes, that's true. But, what's behind that is the tradition of Gregorian chant in monastic worship. Remember a few years back when that Spanish monastery did an album called Chant that was on the top of the classical crossover chart for months? Remember how its beauty was in the tranquility of its musical worship? Chant is not supposed to be splendid, broad, emotional, and dynamic music. It is an aid to meditation and religious contemplation. And herein is where the fault lies. The musical directors of the choir have no flair, no style, no sense of selecting music appropriate to either an occasion or a location. Neither JP2's funeral nor this morning's enthronement took place in a monastic setting. Neither did they occur in the Sistine Chapel. They were outdoors in St. Peter's Square. Now, the choir and that awful, rinky-dink, portable, electronic organ they used were on the porch of the chapel, but still, they were outside. The resonance, echo, and reverberation of the chapel in which they are used to singing was not there. That is why they sounded so thin, and maybe even why they had pitch and intonation problems. So, for what they were doing, they were ok. They just shouldn't have been doing it. The problem was one of musical leadership and their boring, inappropriate, musical selections. This is a television age, and major international services need to have more of a sense of grandeur and even "Hollywood" excitement in the "soundtrack."

Now, how am I supposed to help local Catholic parishes have exciting, inspirational, religious music if their ultimate example—the Vatican—is boring, too?

Did anyone notice the organ postlude at the conclusion of the service? It was Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, also known as the music from the movies Phantom of the Opera and Rollerball. I thought that very odd. Were they trying to scare us? Did Halloween come early in Rome? Was that a tribute to the Pope's German ancestry? Very odd. Very, very odd, especially when the Pope as cardinal was quoted as having said he preferred Mozart.

Saturday A.M.

Meant to get up early this morning to watch the papal enthronement, but I forgot to set an alarm, and I slept til 7, which is late for me. The ceremonies have lost a bit of their charm, though, since Paul VI sold the three-tiered papal tiara to raise money for feeding the poor and making the token gesture that "monarchial symbolism" for the papacy was no longer appropriate for the modern age, and since they no longer bear the new pope in on a litter chair. Since all they do is give the pope a new mitre, that's like no big deal, since Pope Rat already had a mitre ever since he became a bishop decades ago.

Pope Rat

Habemus papam, Josphus Cardinale Ratzinger, age 78, former archbishop of Munich, former dean of the College of Cardinals, former Hitler Youth, and former Nazi soldier. This guy is from Germany, a country where Catholic churches are down to half-empty pews on Sunday mornings, and still slipping. This is one of the two guys voting in the papal conclave who was not given his red hat by John Paul II. He is the guy who was the doctrinal disciplinarian of the Church as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (of Inquisition fame), and who succeeeded in squealching all discussion of religious topics in favor of "education" and stiffling "dissidents" who were trying to be progressive thinkers (kind of like Galileo was a dissident when he argued to the Church that the earth is round, not flat). This is the guy who blamed the pedophile priest scandal in the United States on the fact that some priests are homosexual (if you look at the evidence, not all of the pedophiles were gay and not all of the molested children were boys), who has publically stated that homosexuals are "objectively disordered and intrinsically evil," and who doesn't even think that the sexual abuse scandal is a problem. He is considered to be an archconservative, and even more conservative than was John Paul II. This is the guy who came up with the concept of "papal fundamentalism." This is the Vatican official who is so against the ordination of women to the priesthood that he even forbade the discussion of the topic. In fact, women may even lose their current roles as readers and eucharistic ministers, even altar girls—just last year, he wrote a letter to all the bishops of the church affirming the subordinate role of women and attacking feminism. And, this is the guy who, when faced with questions from Africa about halting the spread of AIDS, insisted that the Church's prohibition on birth control included a prohibition on condoms for HIV prevention.

So much for the adage, "He who goes into conclave a pope comes out a cardinal." The press reported (how do they know these things?) that he went in with forty-four committed votes. Sounds like he wanted it badly. Oh, well. The Catholics will do what the Catholics will do.

All I can say is Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Royal....um, wedding?

Well, I was going to do a blog post last night, but I was tired after dinner and after staying up most of the previous night to watch the papal funeral and fell asleep early. Just as well, I guess, since this gives me the opportunity this morning to watch that silliness over in Windsor Castle where HRH The Prince of Wales is having his civil union to the Royal Adulteress blessed by the Church of England. MSNBC was replaying the Charles and Diana wedding tape a little earlier, which I thought an odd decision on their part. Right now CNN is showing the blessing service guests arriving at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, and I daresay British millinery fashion is particularly hideous this spring.

"Jeeves" (Stephen Fry) has just arrived at the castle wearing a top hat and a bright yellow tie with his grey morning suit. The commentator said Jeeves is to be a reader at the service.

You know, I think Prince William is starting to lose his hair back on the crown of his head, just like his father.

Off to work

After setting my alarm for 3:45 a.m. and watching the papal funeral broadcast from Rome, it's time to head off somewhat sleepily to work. For such a media-savvy pope, I didn't find the service created by the cardinals to be particularly aware of media needs (that litany of saints after communion went on forever! Even the news anchors started talking over it.). The Italian and Latin were probably problematic for a lot of American viewers, but I speak enough of those languages, at least the liturgical vocabularies, to have been able to follow along just fine (not to mention I had an advance text of the Order of Service I got emailed from Rome). Now, I've cantored a ton of Catholic funerals, so I can easily say that this was just a routine Catholic requiem mass that was extended basically only by the enormous size of the crowd and the fact all the concelebrants were princes of the church. My greatest disappointment in the service, though, was the music. It was so incredibly ordinary. Maybe they would have sounded better inside St. Peter's, rather than on the square, and I certainly hope that organ was a portable outdoor instrument and not the main one inside the building! I've always said that most Catholic music since Vatican II sucks, and I can see from today it's not just the American church suffering from that phenomenon. When my state funeral is held, I want the choir to be from someplace like the National Cathedral here in D.C. or Westminster Abbey in London. The Episcopal/Anglican Church may have its problems, but at least they have fabulous men and boys choirs and they've always been able to do a proper funeral.

I wonder if Prince Ranier's funeral will be broadcast next week? Does anybody even remember that he died last week, too?

Anyway, off to work.

Divine Mercy Sunday

It's so coincidental that today is Divine Mercy Sunday in the Catholic Church. Many of my friends are so distraught over the loss of the Holy Father yesterday. This morning, Mass was packed, and the church I attended is huge. I went to the 10 o'clock at St. Matthew's, and it was standing room only, with hundreds of people standing in the side aisles and chapels, to hear the cardinal archbishop of Washington, the auxilliary bishop of Washington, and the cathedral rector concelebrate Mass. The press was everywhere, both in and out of the cathedral, and I saw television cameras from CNN, Fox, the local ABC affilliate, and several more, plus dozens of still photographers.

In the congregation were the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson and Mrs. Nicholson (prior to his current appointment, Secretary Nicholson was ambassador to the Vatican), and Senator Ted Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy. The senator has lost weight since last I saw him. I also saw Senator Kennedy's sister, Eunice Shriver, sitting near him. Secretary Rice was seated on the end of the front row to the left of the center aisle, and nodded at me, but I couldn't get close enough to say hello. Senator Kennedy was opposite her on the right side of the center aisle. That must be a poignant seat for the senator, since there is a huge monument on the floor of the cathedral between the front row and the chancel step marking the site where President Kennedy's casket rested during his requiem Mass there at the cathedral in 1963.

At the end of the service, his Eminence and his Excellency escorted the dignitaries out and down the center aisle before the rest of the altar party left the sanctuary for the recessional. It took forever for me to leave the church, since the Cardinal had to conduct a press conference on the steps of the cathedral, and the doors were clogged with people no doubt wanting to shake the Cardinal's hand before he leaves for Rome this afternoon at 3. He's very highly respected in the College of Cardinals, but of course no American stands a chance of becoming pope. I'm not sure if it means anything or not, but in the several previous Masses I've attended which have been celebrated by Cardinal McCarrick, he never carried his crosier; today, he carried it. For you non-Catholic or Anglican readers, a crosier is a bishop's pastoral staff and symbol of office that looks somewhat like a shepherd's crook.

His Eminence is a wonderful preacher, and today was no exception. His homily was very comforting, sounding much like the eulogy at a funeral, as he recalled his many personal encounters with the Holy Father. The choir was in fine form today, singing quite a number of a capella Gregorian chants and choral works, including Marenzio's "Quia vidisti me, Thoma" for the offertory. At communion, one of their unindentified choristers sang the Handel's Messiah recit and aria "The trumpet shall sound".....since I'm a baritone and I sing that song a lot myself, I'll be nice and refrain from comment. I noticed about three dozen seminarians in the congregation looking lost, and there were several gaggles of nuns in their formal habits and capes.

Here are a few photos I snapped at the cathedral. Above is a picture of the main doors to the cathedral, draped in mourning. This is the sanctuary of the cathedral:



Cardinal McCarrick censing the altar during the Preparation and the congregation after the service with a shot of the organ in the south transcept of the church:



This is the sanctuary of the cathedral, taken from the left side:



Throngs of press congregated outside the cathedral after the service (there were still a bunch of them inside):

History again

It was the morning of Friday, September 29, 1978. I'd only been in Washington about a month, having come to do an internship at Georgetown. I was confused as I heard radio news stories about the death of the pope. Pope Paul VI had died in early August, but that was old news. They'd just elected a new pope—John Paul somebody or other—about a month ago, so why was this the main news story that morning? And yet, as my mental fog cleared, it was apparent that this was a current story—the new pope had died during the night! A few weeks later, the college of cardinals would call a Polish bishop to lead the Church into the 21st century.

Fast forward to Saturday, April 2, 2005. I've only been in Washington a couple of months, having come to take a new job with the government. As I awoke from my afternoon nap, the television droned on that John Paul's successor had died at 2:37 p.m. Washington time. This time the news came as no shock....we've been having the papal death watch all weekend. It is so eerie, though, that every time I live in Washington, a pope dies.

It rains. It has rained all day. Tonight, the rain is cold and hard, with a bitter wind. Are the skies washing away the sins of the world? Or are these tears of angels?