Sing to The Lord. How to Train Church Choirs (Chinese Edition)

Porfiri, Aurelio

Religion & Spirituality

Spring Publications Limited

I Would Like to Meet a Saint: A Spiritual Diary

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Less is more: Selected Writings on Choral Music

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In the Catholic Church it is time for great divisions, divisions on important themes and of great impact for the faithful and also for those who do not profess Catholics. Here is a book that carries on the dialogues on some of the most important nodes behind these divisions, a passionate and suffered book, written by Aldo Maria Valli, well known Vaticanist and Aurelio Porfiri, church musician and writer. Both engaged in intense journalistic activity, have condensed hours of discussions, meditations and reflections against the current narrative.Aldo Maria Valli, journalist and writer, has been a vaticanist for years. In his blog Duc in altum (among the most popular and authoritative) has long been committed to the defense of Catholic tradition, the right doctrine and correct liturgy. For Chorabooks he has already published Uno sguardo nella notte, Sradicati (with Aurelio Porfiri) and Claustrofobia.Aurelio Porfiri is a composer, choirmaster, writer and teacher living between Rome and Hong Kong. He has published more than 30 books and more than 700 articles. His musical works are published in France, Italy, Germany, the United States and China.Table of contentsPrefaceWe are Cradle CatholicsOur Youth in the Post-Conciliar ChurchWhen We ChangedTraditionalists?The Issue of ObedienceThe Church of MercyDivisions In The ChurchCatholics, But…The Issue of The FamilyThe Catholic Church and HomosexualityPriests in CrisisPoor LiturgyThe Role of Social MediaTo Speak…Despite Our ImperfectionsWill We Die As Catholics?

Uprooted: Dialogues on the Liquid Church

Valli, Aldo Maria

I am well aware that the work of a historian says much about historical facts and events but also a lot about the historian himself. I do not pretend that I am able to “tell how it really was” regarding Church music, as German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) noted. We have in any case only a lot of scattered information, but this is not to be seen as a negative thing: we are called to offer the most plausible explanation from these scattered phenomena, an explanation that is not only valid but also valuable. This could be a stepping stone offered to future generations. I have found an interesting quote online attributed to Dana Arnold, a professor of architectural history: "History is about the past. Yet it exists only in the present – the moment of its creation as history provides us with a narrative constructed after the events with which it is concerned. The narrative must then relate to the moment of its creation as much as its historical subject. History presents an historian with the task of producing a dialogue between the past and the present. But as these temporal co-ordinates cannot be fixed, history becomes a continuous interaction between the historian and the past. As such, history can be seen as a process of evaluation whereby the past is always coloured by the intellectual fashions and philosophical concerns of the present. This shifting perspective on the past is matched by the fluid status of the past itself."I am quite in agreement with this quote, especially considering the fact that I am not simply a music historian but also a musician, and as such I am always involved with the materials I am studying in a practical and experiential way. So what is this book? You may call it an introduction to the study of Catholic sacred music. But then we run into a problem with terminology: sacred music? liturgical music? church music? ritual music? There are many ways that the repertoires are called, but we have tried not to lose our mind chasing after all these terminological issues. I know that they may be of interest to some, and I am not playing down the importance of the distinctions among them. Here we have preferred to use "sacred music," for that is also the way the Magisterium still refers to the music for liturgy.

Forever I will sing: A short history of Catholic sacred music

In questo poderoso volume gli autori intendono dimostrare qualcosa di semplice: che negli ultimi decenni nella Chiesa cattolica si sono prese delle direzioni che non aiutano la sua missione spirituale e pastorale. Queste direzioni sono state favorite dall'uso di parole che sono servite come grimaldelli per giustificare certe pratiche e certi atteggiamenti. Qui gli autori ne identificano una decina: dialogo, pastorale, sinodalità, ponti, autoreferenziale, fragilità, misericordia, ecumenismo, discernimento periferie. Naturalmente c'è del buono in queste parole, ma in molti casi (non tutti ovviamente) vengono usate per far passare concetti e idee che non sono congruenti con la tradizione cattolica, a volte addirittura la oppongono.Marcello Veneziani, nella prefazione, dice: "Come se la Chiesa avesse preso nei secoli un colossale abbaglio e avesse seguito una millenaria distorsione del suo compito, e solo oggi abbia la giusta percezione della sua missione nel mondo. Ed ora volesse correggersi, anzi diventare “evangelicamente corretta” tornare alle origini, povera e nuda, dialogica e caritatevole. Anche se poi il dialogo, la tolleranza, l'apertura si arresta quando ha davanti i cattolici della tradizione. A dimostrazione di quel che diceva Augusto del Noce: i cattolici progressisti si sentono più vicini ai progressisti non cattolici che ai cattolici non progressisti; ossia per loro è fondamentale l'essere progressisti, e accessorio l'essere cattolici e credenti".Un testo di piacevole lettura, malgrado la mole, in cui gli autori vogliono comunque testimoniare il loro amore alla Chiesa, malgrado la sofferenza che essi provano nel dover scrivere di cose di cui avrebbero preferito non scrivere. Questo è certamente un libro per far riflettere, non ha nessuna intenzione di favorire una mancanza di rispetto per la Chiesa e i suoi Pastori, atteggiamento da cui gli autori si sentono profondamente lontani.

Decadenza: Le parole d'ordine della Chiesa postconciliare (Italian Edition)

This little work by Aurelio Porfiri is full of love, respect, and insight. It contains a precious interview that the author conducted with Davies back in 2001, which, for circumstantial reasons, never saw the light of day. Pieces like this complete our picture of the man, the times in which he lived, and the cause for which he struggled. The book also features reminiscences from friends who knew Davies well. Naturally, it is not to be assumed that the author and I would concur on every single point expressed in these pages. I am nevertheless pleased to recommend a work that redounds to the benefit of the Church and of her sacred liturgy.May the witness of Michael Davies inspire us in this time of war, and may his work bear ever-increasing fruit in those who receive it with thankful appreciation and attentive care. Dr. Peter A. Kwasniewski (From the Foreword)This book is not meant to provoke a liturgical war; that is not my intention. I just think that Michael Davies was an important part in the development of what we call (improperly) the traditionalist world, a world that I am certainly not eager to idealize or even to see as benign. I am aware of the shortcomings (and there are many) that are present among many traditionalists, but I can also see the legitimate reasons behind most of their protests. The situation of the Church is very harrowing and can no longer be hidden or denied. Those that adhere to the traditionalist wing are people that cannot stand anymore the despairing state of the liturgy, the uncertainty in doctrine, the loss of identity in the Church herself. This is why traditionalists have to be taken very seriously, because they show us in a more evident way the symptoms of a disease that is certainly present. Some would say that they are not the cure. About this I don’t know and to my knowledge the traditionalist world is quite varied. There are fanatics but there are also very well-informed Catholics, who are not fanatics at all but cannot stand anymore the pitiful situation of their Church. Michael Davies was certainly among this latter group. He was a polemicist, but these polemics were not an end in themselves but a means to show that the disease is serious and cannot be taken lightly. And many years later we can really see how true this is.Aurelio Porfiri (from the Introduction)Table of ContentsForewordIntroductionA Welsh TeacherVatican IIA Prolific WriterOther Fighters for the Good CauseIn Defense of the PriesthoodModernismIn the Words of His FriendsInterview with Michael DaviesBibliography

A future in Tradition: Remembering Michael Davies

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