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Tradition Begone

Chant Choir Thrown Out Of Blessed Sacrament Parish

BY ROBERT KUMPEL

Saint Gregory the Great served as pope from 590 to 604. Called the "Father of the Medieval Papacy" one of Saint Gregory's most notable achievements was standardizing the liturgy for the Church and codifying the choral music known today as Gregorian chant. Yet, even with new parishes being named for Saint Gregory, few Catholics ever get a chance to hear in their parishes the timeless chant that was the sound of Catholicism until 1969.

Enter the Chorus Breviarii, a local men's choir devoted to re-awakening the nearly forgotten deposit of sacred music that was shelved by most parishes in favor of folksy Glory and Praise music. For the past six months, the Chorus Breviarii has been using Blessed Sacrament Church to pray and rehearse their music, so it only follows that on the feast of Saint Gregory, September 3, they would assist at a Mass in his honor. But on Tuesday, September 20, Craig Kelso, a Chorus Breviarii member and parishioner at Blessed Sacrament was informed by the parish secretary that the Chorus Breviarii was no longer welcome at the College Area church.

Apparently, complaints were made to the parish office that the "old Mass" (the Tridentine Liturgy or Mass of Saint Pius V) was illicitly offered on Saint Gregory's day at the 11:00 a.m. Mass. Kelso says that is not the case. "The Mass was in Latin, but it was not the old Mass, it was the Novus Ordo."

Plans were made for this special Mass in advance. Kelso received permission from Blessed Sacrament's pastor, Father Bruce Orsborn, when he promised that even though the Mass would be in Latin, it would be the new rite of the Mass. (The old rite can only be offered with the bishop's permission). Osborn agreed and the Mass was scheduled.

Kelso, 34, converted to the Catholic faith in 2002. Since that time, he has been active in Blessed Sacrament parish as a lector, extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, editor of the parish newsletter, and catechist. "I heard the Chorus Breviarii in a roundabout way out at Holy Cross Mausoleum. I was a catechist with an RCIA group and wanted to take them to see the old Mass. I fell in love with Gregorian chant. I spoke with the chorus' leader, John Polhamus, and he asked me to come to a practice and join them for Compline. They were at Saint John's (in University Heights) at the time. Saint John's is smaller than Blessed Sacrament and not as acoustically conducive to what they were doing. So I looked into using Blessed Sacrament, since it's a bigger church. I asked our pastor at the time, Father Bill Rowland, and he agreed that we could practice there."

"We had hoped to get a traditional flavor into some of the parish Masses. So I offered to Father Bruce Orsborn to have the Mass on Saint Gregory's feast day. He was very nice about it but specified that we could not use the old rite of the Mass. We got Father Reginald De Four to offer the Mass. Our associate pastor, Father Anthony Saroki was also present. Having just been ordained, he had no experience with offering Mass in Latin, so we suggested that he sit in and watch -- just so he wouldn't be stumbling throughout the Mass. He was not insulted at all by the suggestion."

Kelso continued, "There's no prohi bition against the Novus Ordo in Latin, so we didn't think there would be any problem. The only other thing I did ask has to do with the high altar. I asked if we could use it, since the tabernacle had been restored to its central location. I was told that the high altar was no longer 'sacrificial', so we agreed to cooperate. Even without it, Father De Four was still able to celebrate Mass 'Ad Orientum' (facing the tabernacle instead of the congregation). Blessed Sacrament has a 'baseball diamond' sanctuary with Astroturf in it, and they have plays and things like that there all the time. So we also moved the low altar, because it is movable, to the center of the diamond and we set the presider's chair down on the floor. No one said a word about any of those adjustments."

In keeping with tradition, the altar servers were all male, wearing black cassocks with white surplices. After the Mass, several congregants thanked Kelso and members of the chorus. Besides being told how "beautiful" and "solemn" the liturgy was, Kelso says one parishioner said, "This is so very badly needed here." Another commented, "I could actually pray during Mass." There was only one instance of negative feedback, according to Kelso. Kathy Senoff, the music director for the parish was overheard making several negative comments in the sacristy. "During Mass," Kelso says, "she went behind us to get something from the sacristy and she looked very sour. She's a great person in almost every other respect, but in a mocking way, she said, 'It's looking very manly up there. Too much testosterone,' and complained 'There's no participation.' I don't know if she complained [to the pastor], but she seems like the most likely candidate. I've never had any altercations with her before, and to be honest, her comments were just kind of snide, they weren't in our faces."

Senoff denies that she was at the Mass. "I was not there. But we don't generally have that kind of Mass at Blessed Sacrament."

Kelso assumed that if there was any problem Father Orsborn would have called him in to talk about it. "If he had done that, I probably would have stayed with Blessed Sacrament. But instead, the parish secretary emailed me on the 20th of September. She apologized profusely, but gave a very terse explanation. She said that Father said that we could no longer practice there and to find somewhere else for the chorus' Masses. She wrote that if I had any questions, I should contact him."

Kelso immediately called Father Orsborn to get a clearer explanation. "You could tell he was annoyed. He said, 'You guys did the Tridentine Mass and I told you not to do it.' I didn't want to upset him, but I had to tell him, 'No, Father, we didn't do it.' He said that the other priest that was there 'was not allowed to concelebrate and that's old rite.' I had to explain again, that we did not forbid him but only suggested he watch, since this was his first experience with a Mass in Latin. It was simply a matter of courtesy and logistics, not a slight. The rite that we used at that Mass was from a booklet that Bishop Cordi leone gave us. So Father Bruce complained that the Chorus 'pushes the envelope' and that the bishop does not like them. He asked how many parishioners were in the group, and I told him I was the only one. He said that he'd 'had to move funerals' for us, and finally all he could say was that, 'we really just need the parish that night.'"

Shocked by Orsborn's curt dismissal, Kelso and his wife took it as a clear signal that they were no longer welcome in their own parish. They imme diately resigned all of their positions and are looking for a new parish. "We were probably the most active couple in the parish. But honestly, we got far more out of it than we gave. And I don't think I have a 'civil right' to have the Chorus Breviarii there. But the person or persons [who complained] never bothered to speak with us. Instead, assuming complaints were truly made, that person or persons went to the pastor, who was not even there, and made allegations. I just wish they would have taken the time to show us a little respect and sit down to talk with us. Instead, it seemed like we were being made into schismatics.... We've never made snide remarks about all-female altar servers or the over-representation of females in catechetical ministry or extraordinary ministers. We've stomached three-chord guitars, bongos, liturgical dancing, covering the crucifix with a rainbow sash, and we never complained or tattled. We just accepted it as part of the motley quilt that Holy Mother Church has become. I don't think any other group in the parish has been treated this way."

Father Orsborn did not return phone calls for this story.

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