Friends of Liturgical Music

Last November liturgical music at Corpus Christi lost a great friend in Msgr. Myles Bourke. In a eulogy at his funeral, Father Peter Bannan said that one of Monsignor's most endearing qualities was the "he he could really and truly be with everybody." While this didn't include suffering fools gladly, it was true that Msgr. Bourke had an admirable openness to others, which, unexpectedly, included children.

The former principal of Corpus Christi School, Veronica Cook, recalled how Msgr. Bourke, because he knew how important they were, insisted on teaching religion classes himself. Once when Ms. Cook had to take over his class, she needed some time and so gave the seventh-grade students this quiet-work assignment: make a list of the Apostles. One student quickly raised his hand to ask, "Do you want the list from Acts 1:13 or Mark 3?"

The success of our April benefit concert was, I believe, in part because it was dedicated to the memory of Msgr. Bourke. His unflagging devotion to the liturgical life of Corpus Christi was entirely consonant with his love for the music at those liturgies. His spirit continues to inform our efforts, but we also want to acknowledge and thank you for yours.

This, our seventeenth campaign, opens on the date of this letter and continues through the next parish fiscal year ending in September 2006, the centennial anniversary year of the founding of Corpus Christi Parish. News of many special events related thereto will be forthcoming, most of which are already in the planning stage by Father Rafferty and the Centennial Committee. In the meantime, and always, The Friends need your support.

Once again, we enclose for your perusal a Treasurer's Report from Hervé Varenne, which indicates our need to raise a $42,000 budget for the coming year.

I hope you will try your best to make–and even to increase–your contribution for this year by return mail. The sooner we have funds in, the sooner we can plan our activities for the remainder of the year.

Please plan to join us on Sunday, May 29, at the 11:15 choral mass for Corpus Christi, always a highlight of our liturgical year. A special reception will follow. Bring some friends so we can invite them also to become official Friends!

Thank you and God bless you.

Sincerely,

John F. Thornton

Chairman

The Friends of Liturgical Music

P.S.–I hear our new pope likes Mozart!

October 1, 2005

Dear Friend,

On Sunday, October 23, at Corpus Christi we celebrate once again one of my favorite feast days of the year, the mass for the Dedication of the Church. At at the 11:15 a.m. mass we will be singing, and listening to our choir sing, some lovely music (click here for the program). Afterward, there will be a special coffee hour in the Ford Auditorium that is always one of the best we have all year. And note that the 23^rd will mark the one-year countdown to our parish's centenary celebration year planned for 2006/7.

I recently read a passage from The Serenity Prayer, a memoir about Reinhold Niebuhr (who actually composed the famous Serenity Prayer), by his daughter, Elisabeth Sifton. She recalled:

Singing at a church service . . . affirms a joyous popular will. It's a pleasant

sound--the rustle and bustle of . . . people simultaneously standing, stretching,

finding the right page in the hymnbook, clearing their throats and letting go.

It's nice that most hymns have many verses, so that you can work up through

the first and second and third until, with the last stanza, big organ noise thundering

and pealing in the air, you can really open out and make something of the alleluias.

So I hope you will join us to make something of the alleluias on the 23^rd. And be sure to bring with you someone who likes to sing but perhaps has never experienced the beautiful liturgies our parish is famous for.

Since during the current campaign for 2005-6 there will be no special benefit to make up the difference from what we expect to receive from our regular appeal, we ask you here and now please to make your contribution as soon as you receive this, and most of all, to make it a generous as your heart and your budget permit.

Sincerely,

John F. Thornton

Chairman

The Friends of Liturgical Music

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

June 13, 2004

Dear Friend,

Recently I filled out a questionnaire, a kind of parish survey. It asked responses to many routine questions from lists of predictable multiple-choice answers, of which two stand out in my memory: "The participation of the congregation in our Masses is . . . ," to which I picked "very active and enthusiastic." For the other statement, "The liturgical music program in our parish is . . ." I chose "varied and conductive to good worship," the most positive printed response available, but I found myself writing in next to it, It is easily among the finest to be found in American Catholic churches.

There are many acceptable ways of celebrating the Roman liturgy, and there are an amazing number of such ways that are beautiful and appropriate to their communities and times and places, all over the world. I have traveled a bit and have experienced the Mass in many different churches here and throughout this country and other countries. For me, and I know for so many of you, the liturgy and liturgical music at Corpus Christi are incomparable.

Gathering the resources to sustain these liturgies in our modest parish every year may be a struggle, but I know it is one that is not only worthwhile to you but one that in some way defines you--as it does me--as a Christian. So let me begin this letter opening our sixteenth annual appeal with the deepest appreciation and thanks--thanks especially for your heartening response to me Lenten letter asking for last-minute help to meet the substantial deficit we faces for the 2003/4 budget ending in August 2004. Together we have met it!

The coming year (remember, for us it begins September 1, 2004, and concludes on August 31, 2005) will see an up-swelling of interest in Corpus Christi as the parish begins intense preparations for its centennial celebration throughout 2006. It is my hope that the news of this commemoration will bring about a broad-based renewal of possibility for our church, our school, and our special musical tradition, now fostered so sensitively every Sunday and holyday by Father Raymond Rafferty, Louise Basbas, our director of music, and our stalwart professional choir.

The year 2005 will also see the occasion of The Friends' third biannual benefit for the Choir of Corpus Christi Church. Be on the lookout for more details about this event scheduled for Wednesday, April 13.

The annual Treasurer's Report, prepared by our treasurer, Hervé Varenne, tells our goal: to raise $42,000. As we expect--from experience--at least one quarter of the income will come directly from you. I want to ask that you seriously consider increasing your contribution this year, thereby assuming an even more important financial share in our work.

Of course, a substantial part of the budget will come from the generosity of your Committee members. The remainder must be realized from the success of our various efforts (a) to identify new Friends, (b) to make the next benefit a great success, (c) to seek out foundation grants, and (d) to ask your help in building up attendance at the Sunday and holyday liturgies by inviting your likeminded friends and acquaintances to join us regularly at the church.

Sincerely,

John F. Thornton

Chairman

The Friends of Liturgical Music

To help support the Friends of Liturgical Music at Corpus Christi,

make your check payable to "Friends of Liturgical Music" and mail it to

Friends of Liturgical Music

Corpus Christi Church

529 West 121st Street

New York, New York 10027

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